The Textbook
It provides an integrated, system-oriented introduction to the concepts, theories and issues surrounding the quest for a sustainable future for Planet Earth.Research & Education Tools
In this section we are collecting interactive tools that can be used for research and teaching.Featured Content
The idea of ‘waste’
What is waste? A friend once took me to the urban waste treatment plant in Kolkata and I had the strange experience of looking into the stomach and intestines of a huge organism. Across an enormous field, human beings were processing from the right to the left the urban garbage stream in a kind of digestive process. It looked more organized than the thousands of people searching for recyclable material in the huge landfills and municipal waste dumps in Lagos, Rio [...]
Other Educational Material, Narratives and Relevant Content
Chinese Worldviews
In the book Sustainability Science, I have argued that the location of sustainability is in the center of worldview space, where the balance is found between individual and collective and between material and immaterial (§6.3). […]
Decision Making in Politics
Can you please stop telling me ‘all people are different’?
A textbook on sustainable development should address public decision making and politics. Politics can be described as the area in society where issues transcending mere individual […]
[Modelling] Economic Growth
What is the essence of the neoclassical growth model? What is the role of technology? And what is needed to make macro-economic (growth) theory relevant in the 21st century?
The economic system
Real-world economic (growth) dynamics is […]
Materials Transition
Conceptual framework
The gradual change from mining ores to mining in-use-stocks can be considered a materials transition. The ratios between metal in the lithosphere, in in-use stocks and in end-of-lifetime stocks are indicators of the degree […]
Energy Economics
Energy use: economics of energy saving
The dynamics behind the changes in energy intensity is an important topic in energy economics. Goods and services are produced with a variety of inputs and a so-called production function […]
Book and Website Reviews
A simple introduction to system dynamics for sustainability – a report by Hördur Haraldson
We humans make mental ‘maps’ of processes around us in order to live and survive. Many of those maps are simplified, based on a limited set of acquired habits and experienced events. The maps also [...]
System dynamics for real-world complexity: a book by Erik Pruyt
In 2013, Dr. Erik Pruyt (Delft Technical University) has released a book on system dynamics, titled Small System Dynamics Models for Big Issues: Triple Jump towards Real-World Complexity. It is set up as an interactive [...]
Games for sustainability education, research and policy
One way to explore integration of the natural and the social sciences is the construction and use of simulation games and policy exercises (cf. Chapter 10 and 12). Since 2013 several websites have come online [...]