Kate Linden asks economics students to think about life, not markets

Kate Linden (PhD ’18) opens her ecological economics classes with a request: “When you hear economics, don't think markets. Think life.” She avoided economics as an undergraduate until a final-year course taught by ecological economist Peter Victor tied together ecology, political economy and the environment.

Since joining Cape Breton University in 2023, Linden has earned early promotion to associate professor. Within Homeward Bound, a $12.4 million project and the largest research effort in the university’s history, she heads the stream on economics and wellbeing, which looks at housing, healthcare and community supports that let rural Nova Scotians age in place. She is also Vice-President of ACAP Cape Breton, an environmental nonprofit.

She judges success by whether work continues after a project ends. A Métis calculator she helped develop through the Ecological Footprint Initiative is still used by the community. ENVigorate, the Faculty of Environment’s annual community celebration that she helped found as a graduate student, has carried on years after she left Waterloo.

Linden is a 2026 Recent Alumni Inspiration Award recipient.