![Eban Goodstein, 2011 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Eban_Goodstein%2C_2011_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Eban Goodstein (born 1960) is an economist, author, and public educator who directs both the Center for Environmental Policy and the MBA in Sustainability at Bard College. He is known for organizing national educational initiatives on climate change, which have engaged thousands of schools and universities, civic institutions, faith groups, and community organizations in solutions-driven dialogue. He is the author of three books and numerous journal articles. He and his wife, Chungin Chung Goodstein, live in
Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. They have three daughters.
Early life and education
Goodstein was born and grew up in
Sewanee, Tennessee
Sewanee () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,535 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Tullahoma, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Sewanee is best known as the home of ...
. His parents were affiliated with the Highlander Research and Education Center, a networking and skills-training institute that facilitates grassroots organizing for issues of social and environmental justice throughout Appalachia and the South. In partnership with several other families, his parents helped drive the desegregation of the loca
Franklin County public school systemin 1962, (one of 17 school districts in Tennessee still under court orders to unify their desegregated student bodies).
Goodstein received his B.A. from
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...
, in
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Williamstown is a town in the northern part of Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, United States. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolit ...
, and his Ph.D. in economics from the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
in
Ann Arbor.
Academic career
Goodstein was a professor of economics at
Skidmore College
Skidmore College is a Private school, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,650 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Scien ...
and
Lewis and Clark College
Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Originally chartered in 1867 as the Albany Collegiate Institute in Albany, Oregon, the college was relocated to Portland in 1938 and in 1942 adopted the name Lewis & C ...
in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
. In 2009 he relocated to Bard College to Direct the Center for Environmental Policy. His research centers on environmental and natural resource economics, the relationship between jobs and environmental policy, and climate economics.
At Bard CEP, Goodstein launched one of the nation’s first MS in Climate Science and Policy degree offerings. In 2012, with the support of Hunter Lovins, Goodstein also founded Bard’s MBA in Sustainability —one of a handful of programs globally that fully integrates sustainability into a core graduate business curriculum.
Goodstein was a writer-in-residence at the Mesa Refuge Writers' Retreat, is on the steering committee of
Economics for Equity and the Environment Network (E3), and the Editorial Board of Sustainability: The Journal of Record. He also serves on the Board of the Follett Corporation.
Climate education
In 1999, Goodstein founded the Green House Network, an organization dedicated to supporting the clean energy movement. As the volunteer Executive Director of the organization, Goodstein led a series of weekend training workshops in grassroots organization and outreach, based in part on the techniques and principles of the Highlander Center, training over 600 volunteer educators. Goodstein also set up a national speakers’ bureau of climate, energy policy, and environmental experts, preceding Vice-President
Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic no ...
'
Climate Projectspeaker-training initiative.
Between 2000 and 2004, Goodstein worked with Matthew Follett to produce the Race to Stop Global Warming, a 10K non-competitive footrace that involved thousands of runners and their families in eight cities across the United States. These efforts earned the Green House Network the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s "Climate Saver's Award".
In the winter of 2006, a rising sense of personal urgency about the need for action led Goodstein to expand the scale of his work, and launch the first of the national teach-in initiatives, Focus the Nation. Goodstein, with his wife and the project Communications Director, Chungin Chung, spent eighteen months traveling across the country, speaking and organizing on over 150 campuses. In January 2008, over 1900 universities, schools, and civic groups nationwide participated in what amounted to one of the largest teach-in in U.S. history, involving over a million people in an event designed to educate and engage Americans in a discussion of global warming solutions. Goodstein and Chung organized a second teach-in in 2009.
At Bard, Goodstein initiated and directs the C2C Fellows Program —a national network of undergraduates and recent graduates who aspire to sustainability leadership in business and politics. C2C Fellows runs weekend skills training workshops across the country, helping young people develop paths to leadership careers from which they can make a difference in the world, while in their 20s.
Writing
Goodstein's writing has appeared in a number of journals, and his research has been featured in ''
The Chronicle of Higher Education
''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals (staff members and administrators). A subscription is required to re ...
'', ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'', ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', ''
Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...
'', ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'', and ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...
''. He is the author of a college textbook, Economics and the Environment now in its 7th edition, as well as The Trade-off Myth: Fact and Fiction about Jobs and the Environment. His most recent book is Fighting for Love in the Century of Extinction: How Passion and Politics Can Stop Global Warming,.
References
External links
Organizational Videos on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodstein, Eban
People from Sewanee, Tennessee
Writers from Portland, Oregon
Williams College alumni
University of Michigan alumni
1960 births
Living people
Lewis & Clark College faculty
American environmentalists
Climate activists