Dennis Meadows - The Climate Change Playbook

Praise for The Climate Change Playbook

I have lectured and consulted in many dozens of nations, trying to help people understand carrying capacity and its relevance for their communities. Often, I have called upon the teaching tools now shared in The Climate Change Playbook in trainings, with staff, in workshops, and in my own presentations. This book is a treasure trove: It is a practical tool kit for any public policy practitioners who want to engage their counterparts and accelerate learning.

Mathis Wackernagel , founder and CEO, Global Footprint Network

Climate change, like most of our global problems, is a systemic problema web of interconnected issues that is difficult to analyze with conventional linear thinking. This book offers a playful, nonlinear, and largely nonverbal, method for learning how to think systemicallyin other words, in terms of relationships, patterns, and context. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to experience systemic thinking firsthand.

Fritjof Capra , author of The Web of Life ; coauthor of The Systems View of Life

Few subjects are more crucial, more discussed, and more poorly understood than climate change. This is a tragedy because there are a few simple, intuitive insights that can be understood by all and could form a consensual foundation that would allow us to focus more clearly on the complex tradeoffs and choices obscured by our misunderstandings. The Climate Change Playbook is a great way to understand and, more importantly, help others understand these insights.

Peter M. Senge , senior lecturer, MIT; founding chair, Academy for Systemic Change; author of The Fifth Discipline

Many of us experience the problems of climate change as so overwhelming and beyond our control that we dont know where to start to solve them. This book does the reverse: It makes the issues so palpable that it not only motivates us to do more but also gives us 22 tools we can easily use to mobilize others. If you believe that experience is the best teacher and that we have precious little time to influence changes that have serious long-term consequences for everyone on the planet, this book is an invaluable asset.

David Peter Stroh , author of Systems Thinking for Social Change

One of the major obstacles we face in addressing the climate crisis is the general lack of understanding of the climate system and complex systems in general. The Climate Change Playbook provides a novel approach to overcoming this barrier through creative and engaging activities that help move the climate crisis from an abstract threat to a clear and present reality that we can and must act upon today.

Asher Miller , executive director, Post Carbon Institute

In my current work as an environmental scholar and my former work heading the UN-affiliated University for Peace and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, my major goal has always been to help others understand the crucial causes and consequences of environmental issues. These authors are masters of using simple exercises to convey complex issues, and this new book compiles many of their best tools.

Julia Marton-Lefvre , Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; former director general, IUCN

Thousands of government and corporate officials have participated in training programs that I organize in Japan to convey principles related to environment, climate, food, and energy. I have become a fan of the exercises in the Playbook . They are easy to learn and quick to use. They are incredibly effective teaching tools, and they work with participants that do not have English as their first language.

Riichiro Oda , president and CEO, Change Agent Inc.

How can we learn about tough problems like climate change? The research shows that showing people the research doesnt work. To learn, people need to interact, experiment, play. The Climate Change Playbook encourages just that through a diverse set of interactive games. Useful with all ages and in groups large and small, these games help us learn critical lessons about difficult topicsand they are a load of fun.

John Sterman , professor, MIT Sloan School of Management; author of Business Dynamics

The effort to secure a livable planet for future generations just got a little bit easier thanks to The Climate Change Playbook . Whether you are working to educate and empower an audience of students, business leaders, or policy makers, the Playbook will help you add interactive learning exercises to your teaching and outreach. With clear and detailed instructions, it is a great resource for anyone working to build sound understanding and a collective will to act on climate change.

Elizabeth Sawin , codirector, Climate Interactive

Using a game to exemplify a point made in a lecture makes all the difference: The audience, large or small, is eager to participate and remembers the message. The beauty of the games in the Playbook is their simplicity and flexibility. They can be used with school children, university professors, politicians, and business people, and they lend themselves to debriefing that might consist of a just few sentences or an elaborate discussion. I have become a games enthusiast. The Playbook also inspires the creation of variations and even new games to meet specific purposes. We need games to get these vital messages across!

Helga Kromp-Kolb , head, Center for Global Change and Sustainability, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria

Also by Dennis Meadows (selected titles)

The Systems Thinking Playbook , with Linda Booth Sweeney

Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update , with Donella H. Meadows and Jorgen Randers

Also by Linda Booth Sweeney

The Systems Thinking Playbook , with Dennis Meadows

When a Butterfly Sneezes

Connected Wisdom: Living Stories about Living Systems

Also by Gillian Martin Mehers

Achieving Environmental Objectives , coedited with Susanna Calvo

Copyright 2016 by Linda Booth Sweeney

All rights reserved.

Earlier versions of eighteen games in this book appeared in The Systems Thinking Playbook, Linda Booth Sweeney and Dennis Meadows (Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Junction, VT, USA). Copyright 1995 by Linda Booth Sweeney.

No part of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

Editor: Joni Praded

Project Manager: Alexander Bullett

Copy Editor: Alice Colwell

Proofreader: Eileen M. Clawson

Designer: Melissa Jacobson

Printed in the United States of America.

First printing May, 2016.

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Our Commitment to Green Publishing

Chelsea Green sees publishing as a tool for cultural change and ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book manufacturing practices with our editorial mission and to reduce the impact of our business enterprise in the environment. We print our books and catalogs on chlorine-free recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks whenever possible. This book may cost slightly more because it was printed on paper that contains recycled fiber, and we hope youll agree that its worth it. Chelsea Green is a member of the Green Press Initiative ( www.greenpressinitiative.org ), a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the worlds endangered forests and conserve natural resources. The Climate Change Playbook was printed on paper supplied by Thomson-Shore that contains at least 100% postconsumer recycled fiber.