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
Population overshoot, collapse and recovery: the role of climate change in medieval Europe.
Climatic changes have always played a role in human history. Often, it resulted from large volcanic eruptions, which caused a decline in temperature with serious impacts on food supply. Slow variations in geological evolution and […]
Local fisheries: layers of (over)exploitation
Island are offering examples of how societies did or can evolve – think of the historical reconstructions of Easter Island (see blog on this website). One feature is their openness for external influences – sometimes […]
Networks: one way to understand system behaviour
Definitions
Systems consist of elements and their interrelations or linkages. The relations between elements have received ever more attention in science, reinforced by the advent of ICT and in its applications in social media and AI. […]
The Kaibab narrative: management on ill-understood systems
History of Kaibab plateau
Numerous models of ecosystems have been made – but sometimes one wonders whether somewhere a reality can be found which more or less is described by such a model. The term empirical […]
Forests in Japanese history
Forests in Japan have been under pressure already for millennia (Totman 1989). More than 2000 years ago, rice culture caused the first dramatic modifications of woodlands and bronze and iron smelting started to put pressure […]