Lezione 4: Motivazione e Comunicazione

Summary of Jevons Paradox and Feedback Loops

• Jevons Paradox: Improved efficiency of technology often leads to increased resource consumption, not decreased.
• Rebound Effect: The tendency for efficiency gains to lead to increased consumption, exceeding any initial savings.
• Types of Rebound Effects:
  • Direct: Efficiency improvements directly lead to higher resource use.
  • Indirect: Efficiency improvements lead to lower costs, impacting other factors (e.g., prices) that indirectly prompt increased use.
  • Systemic: Broad changes in consumption patterns driven by technology and societal shifts.
• Importance of Feedback Loops: Understanding feedback loops in systems is critical to analyzing resource use, as one change can trigger cascading effects throughout the whole system.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP)

• The GPGP is a large accumulation of plastic and microplastics in the North Pacific Ocean.
• Its formation is due to ocean currents and gyres which concentrate marine debris.
• The large quantities present imply that the problem is complex and requires a multifaceted approach to solve.

Wicked Problems

• Wicked Problems: Complex problems with interconnected aspects, conflicting values, and evolving dynamics.
• Solutions are not definitive, as implemented solutions often create new problems.
• Examples: Climate change, poverty, healthcare, and sustainable development.
• The interconnectedness of wicked problems makes it necessary to adopt a systems-thinking approach to understand and address them.

IPAT Equation

• The IPAT equation (Impact = Population × Affluence × Technology) is a model to estimate the environmental impact of human activities.
• It emphasizes the interplay of population, consumption levels, and technology in causing environmental problems.
• Understanding population, consumption and technological development, helps to understand how it affects human impact on the environment.

Systems Thinking

• Systems Thinking: An approach for understanding complex interdependencies within a system, rather than simply looking at individual parts.
• Systems are composed of interconnected parts. Analyzing their relationships is critical to understand their functionality.
• Understanding feedback loops (effects triggered by actions) helps understand system behaviors, and how it responds to external interventions.
• Feedback Loops: Reinforcing feedback loops amplify initial conditions; balancing feedback loops stabilize a system.

Stock and Flow

• Stock: Anything that builds up over time (e.g., water in a reservoir, carbon in the atmosphere, money in a bank account).
• Flow: The rate at which something enters or leaves a stock (e.g., rainfall, water usage, deposits).
• The balance between Stock and Flow dictates a system's behavior over time.

Prisoner's Dilemma

• The Prisoner's Dilemma: A game theory scenario illustrating the difficulty of cooperation when individuals act in their own self-interest.
• Cooperation results in better outcomes for everyone (even if not immediately apparent), while defection can lead to suboptimal outcomes if all parties defect.
• Used as an analog to resource management (e.g., climate change mitigation or pollution limits).

Corporate Governance and Sustainability

• Corporate Governance: The framework of rules, regulations, and processes that define how a company is directed and controlled.
• Corporate sustainability: How companies' internal management can be adapted to incorporate more sustainable elements.
• Stakeholder Theory: Considers the interests of all stakeholders (e.g., employees, customers, communities) in addition to shareholders' interests, leading to a more holistic consideration of sustainability issues.
• Shareholder Theory: Focuses solely on maximizing shareholder value.

The Trolley Problem

• The Trolley Problem: A philosophical thought experiment used to explore ethical dilemmas.
• Exploring the conflict between maximizing overall outcomes ("utilitarianism") and adhering to moral rules ("deontology").
• Raises complex questions about responsibility, action, and the nature of moral judgment in a variety of real-world settings.

Jevons Paradox

• Jevons Paradox: A paradoxical scenario where technological improvements in efficiency of a resource leads to the increased use of that resource.
• This is a critical concept when dealing with resource management (e.g., energy, water).