Biography

I started my career in private sector aquaculture and fisheries development. While working on tropical abalone farm development in Southeast Asia in the early-1990s, I saw the environmental damage that tiger prawn farm development was inflicting throughout the region. That provided me with the motivation to return to school and study environmental economics, policy, and governance – after an M.Sc. at UBC, I completed my Ph.D. in environmental sciences (agricultural and rural policy) at Wageningen University (Netherlands).

I now am of the opinion that getting economic and social incentives correct is necessary, but not sufficient, for protecting our environment in the face of ever-increasing pressure arising from a growing population, escalating affluence and consumption, and the many manifestations of global environmental change. In my view, we need fundamental changes in personal and societal values as well as in institutional evolution. Ultimately we need to consider how peoples’ worldviews influence both their behavior and their satisfaction with life in an environment where we increasingly bump up against hard environmental boundaries.

Among my current duties, I am an Associate Editor with Environmental Management and a Senior Editor with the new University of California open access ‘mega-journal’, Collabra.

Outside of work, I love to travel, spend time in mountains, take pictures (rudd.smugmug.com), stay active (cycling and running primarily), and meditate (sometimes in combination with the various other interests).