A very simple thermodynamic model of a planet, based on first order approximations of its (black body) radiation balance.

Simple stock model illustrating the relationship between increasing temperature and amount of rainforest loss per year

People, generally, do not seem to be conscious of, or care about, the enormous dangers of climate change and even the possibility of a devastating war in the Korean peninsula that could turn nuclear. They carry on with their routine and banal conversations as if that was all that mattered. In the 60s there were peace demonstration, there was more awareness and public engagement in the face of the thread of nuclear war. Could the pressures and demands of modern capitalism, now no longer tamed by a competing communist system that could potentially appear to be more attractive, be a causal factor? People caught up in the turmoil of a positive feedback loop rarely perceive reality beyond it. This simple CLD tries to illustrate the dynamic and feedback loops that could be responsible for this strange apathy and how our present day economic system could be blinding us to imminent danger.

Estresse Térmico

If all Americans believed that extreme weather events, droughts and wildfires are primarily caused by climate change they would soon react and demand immediate action from their political leaders. It is likely that this will happen fairly soon because of the dynamic hidden in the phrase 'Climate Change'. Wolfgang von Goethe the famous German poet and scientist said  ''we only see what we know". Cognitive psychology largely agrees and says that we only understand what we see - and give importance to it -  if we have a schema  (mental model) for what we are looking at.  As the terms 'Climate Change' become more widely used people will try to understand what they mean and start to construct schemas. As a result of this process they will soon  see  extreme weather events and wild fire in a different light as the occur again and again - after all, climate scientists told us that  their numbers and severity would  increase as a result of climate change. This simple CLD tries to illustrate this dynamic. It suggests that if you want to speed up this process, a good strategy would be to point out at every occasion possible that an increase of extreme weather events and droughts is precisely what climate scientists predicted!

A very simple thermodynamic model of a planet, based on first order approximations of its (black bodies) radiation balance, and includes two radiation modulating effects i.e. albedo and green house as well as two heat stores (ocean and atmosphere). It is a lumped model which does not consider spatial variations and resulting mass transports - thus no heat exchange between e.g. equatorial and polar regions. As a consequence all values are surface specific i.e. per square meter. The radiation balance is in  W/m² and the heat reservoirs are in J/m² i.e. water and air columns with a cross section of 1 m².

DRAFT conceptual model of climate change connections in Yamuna river project.

This Insight is a model of Daisyworld created by James Lovelock in 1982 to demonstrate the central idea behind the Gaia hypotheses that life and the environment may be considered two parts of a coupled system.

A model of the potential impact on the elderly population (75+ years) from heat stress, which is increased by climate change in the UK.

DRAFT conceptual model of climate change connections in Yamuna river project.

DRAFT conceptual model of climate change connections in Yamuna river project.

DRAFT conceptual model of climate change connections in Yamuna river project.

Fajardo, Paul Gabriel E.

Market-led Sustainability is  a 'Fix-that-Fails'. It is illustraited in this graph in a very simplified manner. Likely market-led initiatives would be: investment in renewables, electric cars and the development of long-term battery storage as a back-up means to renewable energy. However, all of these lead to undesirable consequences that involve environmental and economic costs that will finally make the whole enterprise fail.

The 3-machines energy transition model is a global system dynamics model based on energy balances,  and used to explore the energy frontiers for stabilizing the Earth's climate. The model comprises a hypothetical fossil engine, a solar engine including energy storage, and a carbon scrubber. These machines interact with Earth's carbon cycle and satisfy humanity’s energy demand. A detailed description can be accessed here: https://osf.io/fcwt8/