Biography

Michael M'Gonigle, MSc, LLM, JSD

BA Hon (British Columbia) 1969; MSc (Econ) (London School of Economics) 1970; LLB (Toronto) 1976; LLM (Yale) 1979; JSD (Yale) 1982; Member of the Bar, District of Columbia, United States 1980, and British Columbia 1987.

Dr. Michael M’Gonigle is the founder of POLIS. At the University of Victoria, he holds the Eco-Research Chair in Environmental Law and Policy and is cross-appointed between the School of Environmental Studies and the Faculty of Law. A lawyer and political ecologist, his work with Greenpeace in the 1970s led to the international moratorium on commercial whaling, during which time he also co-founded Greenpeace International. In the 1980s, he was a leader in wilderness conservation and forestry reform in British Columbia. As Chair of the Board of Greenpeace Canada, he initiated its forests campaign in 1990. A co-founder of SmartGrowth BC, Forest Futures (Dogwood Initiative), and the Sierra Legal Defence Fund. His work on campus sustainability reflects his search for new strategies for policy change, in this case by creating a micro-level, place-based example of “comprehensive local innovation” that has broader ripple effects. Michael has written widely on environmental and resource management issues (particularly in forest policy), international and environmental law, and theories of ecological political economy (political ecology). He is author, most recently, of Planet U: Sustaining the World, Reinventing the University (with Justine Starke) (New Society Publishers) (2006).