James Gustave Speth

James Gustave Speth is Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean of the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor in the Practice of Environmental Policy at Yale University.

Recently, I asked him what he was reading. His reply:

Right now, I'm reading Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine to see how it relates to my new book, The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability.

I like good historical fiction, so I'm reading C.J. Sansom's Dissolution, wherein Thomas Cromwell takes on the monasteries for Henry VIII. I'm also reading Wolfgang Benz's, A Concise History of the Third Reich. One can never know enough about that disaster.

Read more about Speth's book, The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability.

From 1993 to 1999, Speth served as administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and chair of the UN Development Group. Prior to his service at the UN, he was founder and president of the World Resources Institute; professor of law at Georgetown University; chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality; and senior attorney and co-founder, Natural Resources Defense Council. He was awarded Japan’s Blue Planet Prize for “a lifetime of creative and visionary leadership in the search for science-based solutions to global environmental problems.”

Read more about Speth's teaching, research, and publications at his Yale faculty webpage.

Visit The Bridge at the End of the World website.

--Marshal Zeringue