Leadership for the
ECOZOIC

Rigo is a PhD Candidate in Ecological Economics in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont (UVM). Rigo is also a Fellow of the Leadership for the Ecozoic (L4E) project (Cohort 1) and the Gund Institute for Environment at the University of Vermont. 

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Rigo’s work is inspired by this quote from Donella Meadows (1993): “The scarcest resource is not oil, metals, clean air, capital, labour, or technology. It is our willingness to listen to each other and learn from each other and to seek the truth rather than seek to be right. Because we have not done that, another resource has become critically scarce: time.” 
 

Melgar is  broadly interested in rethinking and diversifying economics for the 21st century to inform systems change to co-create wellbeing economies from the ground up that can sustain people and the rest of nature within planetary boundaries. 

Rigo’s research at UVM is grounded in diverse and heterodox economic thinking, with specialization in the transdisciplinary field of ecological economics rooted in systems thinking and the biophysical and social foundations of real economies. 

Building on the biophysical understanding that the wellbeing of humans and planetary health depend on the rate of consumption of energy in economic processes. Melgar’s research aims to inform the theory of ecological macroeconomics through system dynamic models and analyses of the implications of the financialization of the U.S. economy for an energy transition, and thinking beyond GDP metrics such as the Genuine Progress Indicator to incorporate the goals of wellbeing economies. Melgar is a past recipient of the Rubenstein School’s Outstanding Ph.D. Research and Scholarship Award, which recognizes doctoral students’ exceptional work and contributions to their field of study.
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Rigo is passionate and dedicated about creating awareness and spreading the knowledge of ecological economics to promote sustainable wellbeing economies. In 2020, with the support and inspiration of his advisors and peers, he founded the Ecological Economics for All (EE4ALL) Initiative. EE4ALL is an open access educational initiative that collaborates with a variety of organizations such as Rethinking Economics International, Wellbeing Economy Alliance, International Society for Ecological Economics, U.S. Society for Ecological Economics, Doughnut Economics Action Lab, the Vermont Prosperity Project, among others, to educate and promote diversity of economic thought to empower people from all walks of life so they can understand how real economies work.