Sustainable Development

interaction effect

combined behaviour is different to what each part would do alone

oscillation

balancing loop corrects system, delay, overshoot, overcorrect

dynamic equilibrium

level doesn’t change

stock

element of a system, which takes time to change 

increasing rate of stock

decrease outflow, increase inflow

balancing loop

goal seeking, stable, constraining

reinforcing loop

exponential growth

one stock systems 

two loops dragging to two goals 

breakdown point

inflow behind outflow

reinforcing loop and balancing loop

shifting dominance

system with delays

causes large oscillations, solution is not to respond immediately

renewable constrained by non-renewable stock

stock limited, shorter lifetime

renewable constrained by renewable stock

no physical system can grow forever, flow limited

resilience

balancing loops cause this, hard to see until limits are exceeded

self-organisation

makes own structure more complex, requires freedom

hierarchy

organised into subsystems, gives stability

suboptimization

subsystem’s goals dominate at expense of total system goal

solving systems

long term behaviour, look for boundaries

bounded rationality

people make quite reasonable decisions based on information they have

policy resistance

pulls further from goals

tragedy of the commons 

abuse of shared resource, unavailable to everyone 

drift to low performance

as performance gets worse, standards keep dropping

escalation

stocks trying to surpass each other

rule beating

gives appearance of obeying rules, distorts system

leverage points

often change in wrong direction, cause large shifts

buffers

stability and inflexibility

balancing loops

keep for emergencies, strengthen through protection

self organisation

strongest form of resilience

earth spheres

atmosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere

anthropocentrism

earth system categorised according to human priorities

alternative growth

efficiency / enhance synergies between business and environment using circular economy

Jevon’s paradox

saving in efficiency creates new capacities that offset the gains

decoupling

produce products and services without carbon output

relative decoupling

reduction in pressure on planet per product, but increase overall

enshittification

slowly chipping away quality of life

new management

invest in limiting factor and act at stress points

doughnut model for progress

inner social foundation and outer ecological ceiling

regenerative economy

works with natural cycles (circular economy)

distributive economy

spread access and power many

Kuznetsk

developed GNP, but was aware of limits (welfare)

Okun’s law

2% increase in output leads to 1% decrease in unemployment

sections of doughnut 

governance, population, distribution, aspiration, technology 

anticipatory competency

ability to envision and evaluate possible, probable and desirable futures

reasons for land system change

deforestation, desertification, tourism, pollution, cropland, marine fisheries

denitrification

turns reactive nitrogen into non-reactive nitrogen

nitrogen cascade

eutrophication, soil depletion, nitrogen warming, land systems change, biodiversity loss

black boxing 

ignores parts of the system 

silver boomerang 

solution that comes back to bite 

reducing effects of nitrogen

reduce creation of reactive nitrogen, increase efficiency, improve waste treatment (back to dinitrogen)

sustainable food production

decarbonise, limit water use, limit land use, close nitrogen and phosphorous loops

normative competency

analysing and negotiating norms, values and targets

critical thinking competency

questioning and reflecting on norms, practices and positionally

worldview shifts (cosmology episodes)

assumptions are challenged, art and fiction are powerful to bypass rationality

function of emotions

drive, threat, soothe

limitarianism 

economic world view against hyper consumption 

degrowth

abandon growth, focus on human needs and wellbeing

reducing demands for growth

progressive tax, collaborative consumption, renovation and repair, community services

earth systems justice

integrating social science with frameworks on planetary boundaries drawn in from natural sciences 

planetary ethics

fair allocation and redistribution in context of great inequality

great inequality

small part of population claiming too many resources

planetary justice

earth systems justice, planetary ethics, distributive justice, decouple GDP from wellbeing

strategic competency

ability to design and implement actions, transitions and transformative strategies for sustainability

phenomenon

manifestation of event, action or system structure

syndemic

synergy + epidemic, eg obesity

elegance 

done just enough to be convincing 

complex system

hard to predict, identifiable patterns in the failures

complicated system

boundary, ruled by cause and effect, can be solved

complex problems 

limiting factor, ubiquitous delays, no boundary, interaction effects, non linear, solver has bounded rationality 

misinformation

false information presented as a fact, no intent to deceive

disinformation

intentionally and maliciously deceptive

individual frame

inferior decisions, must modify actions within existing rules

system frame

root case is rules, solved through reform and regulation

types of transformation 

technological (market), critical (political, social, economic) and interdisciplinary (both)

spheres of transformation

practical, political, personal

denialism

there is no problem

post denialism

the problem isn’t bad

normalisation

integrate into society 

silver boomerang 

pseudo solution that boomerangs back, cancelling out gains 

magic

false dawns that never materialise

knotted web

no clear solution

multi factorial

frames that don’t work work when you combine them