Introduction : a battle of three paradigms -- Part 1. The laggard. Canada : stuck between business-as-usual and ecological modernization -- "Excuse me, excuse me" : struggles to put sufficiency on Canada's agenda -- Sufficiency's small steps forward in Canada -- Alberta's oil/tar sands : time to step on the brake? -- Part 2. The leader. Ecological modernization in Britain : coalition around a "positive agenda" -- The limits of ecological modernization in the UK -- A new politics of limits? Macro-sufficiency in the UK -- Enough of that already : micro-sufficiency in the UK -- Sufficiency and the state : setting the stage for deeper change? -- Comparison and conclusions -- Appendices. Methods -- Interviews and events attended in the UK -- Interviews and events attended in Canada.