Highlighting the archetypes of sustainability management by means of simple dynamics models

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainability
• system dynamics
• carrying capacity
• energy transition
• education

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.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the MEDEAS project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 691287. The opinion expressed in the present work are those of the authors’ only and are not to be attributed to any organisation of the European Union.