Richard Douthwaite studied at Leeds and Essex universities. He worked as a government economist in the West Indies before moving to Ireland to become an economist and writer with a special interest in climate and energy issues and local economic development.

In the 1994 European Parliament election he stood unsuccessfully as the Green Party candidate for the Connacht–Ulster constituency.

Richard’s first book, The Growth Illusion: How Economic Growth Enriched the Few, Impoverished the Many and Endangered the Planet was published in 1992 and was re-issued in an extended and up-dated second edition in 1999.

It explores why the present economic system is dependent on economic growth and the effects that the resulting pursuit of growth has had on the environment and society.

Richard has since helped Feasta devise the “cap and share” framework for emissions reduction which may be adopted by the Irish government.

He’s the editor of a new book, Fleeing Vesuvius: Overcoming the Risks of Economic and Environmental Collapse, which is a collection of essays about the environment and the economy.