About James

James Magnus-Johnston has studied and taught in the field of ecological economics and social entrepreneurship for over a decade. ​He is a PhD researcher at McGill University, and an Instructor at Canadian Mennonite University. 

​He previously researched how the debt-based money system influences social and ecological dynamics; now he's studying the roles that emotional processing and eco-anxiety play in fostering (or preventing) necessary social change. 

As awareness of ecological decline grows and feeds collective grief and anxiety about the future, we continue to study, live, and work in contexts that are irreconcilable with adaptation imperatives. How do researchers and working professionals understand the gap between their own subjective experience of ecological decline and the institutional constraints in which they work and live?

Current Initiatives
  • PhD researcher, McGill University, in the Natural Resource Science department's Leadership for the Ecozoic program
  • Research Fellow, Centre for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE)
  • Instructor, Canadian Mennonite University / Co-director, CMU Centre for Resilience  
  • Board Director, Assiniboine Credit Union
  • Strategic Advisor, CAST Inc. (Creative Applications for Sustainable Technologies) 
  • Strategic Advisor, Manoverboard Design​

Background
  • Co-founder, Fools + Horses Coffee
  • Co-chair, Transition Winnipeg
  • Board Director, Green Action Centre / Compost Winnipeg
  • Financial Counselor and Estate Manager, LC Taylor, Trustee in Bankruptcy
  • Policy and communications positions with lawmakers and advocacy organizations, including the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce 
  • Worked in the communications industry as an editor and translator in Asia
  • Named one of Manitoba's "Future 40 Under 40" (2015)
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Education
  • ​PhD (in progress), McGill University, studying the role of emotional processing in fostering social change
  • MPhil, Cambridge University, where I studied the dynamics of the global banking system and its impact on the environment
  • BA in Political Studies (Hons), Theatre (Hons; Gold Medal), and Rhetoric & Communications, University of Winnipeg​
This site is not formally associated with or organization or institution and it has no political affiliation; its work is supported by a community of academics and practitioners with an interest in post-growth theory and practice, including ecological economics. We share resources with the Post Carbon Institute, the Post Growth Institute, the Centre for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy, and Canadian Mennonite University. 

Schedule a meeting with James.