Experts & Staff

John Talberth serves as Senior Economist with the People and Ecosystem Program, providing economic analysis for its Southern Forests for the Future (SFF), Mainstreaming Ecosystem Services (MES), and Chesapeake Bay projects. For SFF, John is working to develop innovative economic incentive programs to protect Southern U.S. forests from a litany of threats including suburbanization, commercial development, unsustainable forest practices, and mountaintop removal mining. For MES, he will be engaging policy makers at the federal, state, and local levels on methods to incorporate ecosystem service valuation into economic analysis requirements of existing law. John will also provide economic analysis and advice to shape a nutrient trading program for the Chesapeake Bay.

Prior to WRI, John worked as Director of the Sustainability Indicators Program at Redefining Progress (RP) and concurrently as President and Senior Economist with Center for Sustainable Economy (CSE). At RP, John coordinated scientific advances and policy applications of metrics such as the Genuine Progress Indicator and Ecological Footprint. At CSE, John worked with government agencies, businesses, non-governmental organizations and universities to design and implement sustainability initiatives, including award winning on-line tools. John also provided expert support for litigation to halt deforestation, loss of wetlands, urban sprawl, damaging coastal developments, and communication towers harmful to migratory birds. Prior to CSE, John led several grassroots and national campaigns to protect public forests throughout the United States.

John holds a Ph.D. in International and Environmental Economics from the University of New Mexico, a Masters Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Government from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. His current research interests include economic localization, ecosystem services and the law, alternatives to GDP, and sustainability indicators.