Title: Assessing the human-environment relationship: a complex-systems methodology to modelling climate change

Authors: Catherine M. Banks; John A. Sokolowski

Addresses: Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC), Old Dominion University, 1030 University Boulevard, Suffolk, Virginia 23425, USA. ' Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC), Old Dominion University, 1030 University Boulevard, Suffolk, Virginia 23425, USA

Abstract: Climate change is at the forefront of scientific investigation and socio-political decision-making. The world community of scientists concur with the fact that human activities are both contributing to and affected by changes in the environment that influence the overall well-being of the world population. Importantly, these changes do not discriminate as to region or inhabitants. The body of research has measured climate change via modelling that incorporates the laws of physics and climate data. Neglected in these models is a significant factor: the global human population is increasing at an unprecedented rate that will further stress these geological and ecological variations. This research proffers a complex-systems modelling methodology for climate change to assess current and future concerns, intricately linked facets or pieces, of the human-environment relationship. It requires an interdisciplinary approach to research and model development that combines expertise from the social sciences and disciplines.

Keywords: circular interdependencies; holistic representation; internally displaced persons; population dynamics; social network modelling; global citizens; food security; mapping; change indices; climate change; complex systems; human-environment relationship.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSE.2011.043863

International Journal of System of Systems Engineering, 2011 Vol.2 No.4, pp.329 - 346

Received: 02 Jul 2010
Accepted: 09 Aug 2010

Published online: 16 Oct 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article