Welcome to the Sustainability Institute

A non-profit organization founded in 1996 by the late Donella (Dana) Meadows, the Sustainability Institute applies systems thinking, system dynamics modeling, and organizational learning to economic, environmental and social challenges.
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  1. B-Green Collaborative feature story highlights Climate Interactive’s tools and their potential uses in policymaker decisions. The feature gives a short analysis of our Climate Momentum and Dynamics tool , which was created to quickly display a pre-calculated set of climate scenarios based on actual C-ROADS output. Using this tool, they conclude that “if the people of the earth don’t change their ways, we will live in a world far warmer than it has been for the last 650,000 years…with an atmosphere and oceans far different than anything man has experienced before.” Thus, it is important that all nations work together to arrive at a path for reduction. More (+)

    Recent Stories


  1. National Geographic Covers Carbon Bathtub

    The December issue of National Geographic Magazine covers the “Carbon Bathtub” as framed and explained by Climate Interactive partner Dr. John Sterman of the Sloan School of Management at MIT. You can find the article here. This beautiful and information-filled graphic illustrates a powerful way to think about the dynamics of the climate system: [...]More (+)


  2. Fellows Alumni Workshop Report

    A powerful and deeply moving workshop with an exceptional group of alumni Fellows who continue to increase the scope and impact of their sustainability and climate change work by helping to transform large systems across sectors, issue areas, and countries. Fellows representing 7 countries and working in government, civil society, business, and philanthropy participated in the "Step Up and Step Out" workshop held at Trinity Conference Center in West Cornwall, Connecticut in September 2009. Click here to read more and download the full report: More (+)


  3. SI has a new leader!

    HARTLAND VT, USA (September 15, 2009) The Sustainability Institute announced today the appointment of Bastiaan “Bas” de Leeuw as their new executive director. Mr. de Leeuw’s move from his current position, leading the United Nations Sustainable Resource Management Program, will help the Institute strengthen its global support program for Climate Change negotiators, its modeling and outreach work addressing other key environmental challenges and its leadership development program, the Donella Meadows Fellowship. More (+)

  1. Donella Meadows Leadership Fellows Program


    The mission of SI’s Fellowship Program is to accelerate the shift to global sustainability by increasing the effectiveness of well-positioned sustainability leaders.  Fellows learn to address social, economic and environmental issues at their root causes while benefiting from a national and international network of talented and supportive colleagues. More (+)

  2. CLIMATE INTERACTIVE


    Climate Interactive, a program of Sustainability Institute, is a collaboration of business people, academics, not-for-profits, and scientists committed to using innovative approaches to address climate change. The mission of this program is to develop, extend, and distribute powerful, open-innovation climate simulations for the world to share.More (+)

  3. THINKING IN SYSTEMS – THE BOOK


    thinking-in-systems-the-book"In Dana Meadows's brilliantly integrative worldview, everything causes everything else; cause and effect loop back on themselves. She was the clearest thinker and writer co-creating the art and science of systems dynamics, and Thinking in Systems distills her lifetime of wisdom. This clear, fun-to-read synthesis will help diverse readers everywhere to grasp and harness how our complex world really works." —Amory B. Lovins, Chairman and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute More about the book (+)

  4. The Voice of a Global Citizen – The Archive


    “Systems thinking can lead us to the edge of what analysis can do and then point beyond - to what can and must be done by the human spirit.”    -Donella (Dana) Meadows More Archives (+)