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.Lectures & Tools
In this section we are collecting lectures and interactive tools that can be used for research and teaching.Featured Content
Other Educational Material, Narratives and Relevant Content
Resource scarcity: the Crustal Abundance Geostatistical (CAG) model
In the context of sustainable development, the emphasis is usually on depletion and a key question is: How big is the resource or, in expert jargon, what is the geological resource base? First, I look […]
Social dynamics in Cultural Theory
Cultural Theory interprets social-cultural change as a continuous, dynamic interplay between the adherents of the four perspectives (Thompson 1992, 1997; Vries 2023). Individuals alter their perspective when it is no longer reconcilable with their experience. […]
Fish, gold and pollution: homo economicus vs. homo psychologicus
Can we understand the role of human behaviour in renewable resource exploitation? To explore this question, we constructed an imaginary island called Lakeland, with a local population catching fish for its livelihood, having […]
Free energy flow density as a measure of complexity
The astrophysicist Chaisson (2001) has proposed an interesting link between energy and complexity. Organisms can be viewed as dissipative structures: Ordered objects whose structure can be maintained thanks to a steady input of high-quality energy. […]
Energy: the Colosseum, slaves and containerships
The energy needed to deliver energy has always been a concern for societies. ‘All our societies require enormous flows of high-quality energy just to sustain, let alone raise, their complexity and order (to keep themselves […]