ABSTRACT
In recent months, we are witnessing a global demonstration of people, predominantly young, spreading a clear message: “we must do something against climate change and do it immediately, the way we live is no longer sustainable”. Despite the urgency of the actions most of the people are not expert in sustainability, thus it is not always trivial to identify the effectiveness of any action, promoted by the collective or individuals, in changing our lifestyle. In the present work, a set of simple system dynamics models are proposed with the aim of helping help the understanding and the teaching of Sustainability and sustainable dynamics to young people and non-specialist. In particular, the study, inspired by the “World Dynamics” work of Jay Forrester, will focus on modelling the dynamics of energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables energy, which is recognised as a priority in fighting climate change and in granting the future society with a clean and long-lasting energy supply.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Prof. Ugo Bardi for the enthusiastic encouragement and useful critiques that helped in shaping this research work. The author also thanks Dr. Davide Natalini and Prof. Aled Jones, who helped expand and strengthen the author’s knowledge in Sustainability during the brief but fruitful visiting fellowship at the Global Sustainability Institute of the Anglia Ruskin University in 2017.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.