THOMAS PRINCEN
University of Michigan
Author, Logic of Simplicity
PowerPoint Presentation

Thomas Princen explores issues of social and ecological sustainability at the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan. His primary focus is on the drivers of overconsumption and the conditions for restrained use of resources. He is the author of The Logic of Sufficiency and lead editor of Confronting Consumption, both awarded the International Studies Association's Harold and Margaret Sprout Award for the “best book in the study of international environmental problems.” He was named an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow, sponsored by the Packard Foundation, and before that was a Pew Faculty Fellow for International Affairs. Thomas received his Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University in 1988 and a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Pomona College in 1975. He was a MacArthur Foundation Post-Doctoral Visiting Research Fellow in International Peace & Security at Princeton University from 1988 to 1989. He now serves as an associate professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy at the University of Michigan.