Abstract
Since the early 1970s, we have exceeded the Earth’s carrying capacity. A large body of literature has emerged to analyze the underlying problems and propose solutions. National and international initiatives have been launched worldwide to make economic development sustainable. However, the results so far have not been encouraging. The global ecological footprint has risen to its highest level ever, and there are only few signs of structural improvement. In this paper, we use systems thinking to analyze the underlying mechanisms responsible for the current poor ecological performance. We investigate whether grassroots initiatives can address the shortcomings of public and private initiatives to accelerate the sustainability transition.
Presenters
Dirk InghelsAssociate Professor, School of Business and Economics/ Operations Analytics, VU University Amsterdam, Belgium
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Economic, Social, and Cultural Context
KEYWORDS
Grassroot initiatives, Ecological footprint, Policy modelling
