Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 28, 2026

Using Generative Art to Convey Past and Future Climate Transitions
Published on: March 31, 2023
Characterizing a sustainability transition: goals, targets, trends, and driving forces
Thomas M Parris1, Robert W Kates
1ISciences, LLC, 685 Centre Street, Suite 207, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130-2559,USA parris@isciences.com.
Abstract:
Sustainable development exhibits broad political appeal but has proven difficult to define in precise terms. Recent scholarship has focused on the nature of a sustainability transition, described by the National Research Council as meeting the needs of a stabilizing future world population while reducing hunger and poverty and maintaining the planet's life-support systems. We identify a small set of goals, quantitative targets, and associated indicators that further characterize a sustainability transition by drawing on the consensus embodied in internationally negotiated agreements and plans of action. To illustrate opportunities for accelerating progress, we then examine current scholarship on the processes that influence attainment of four such goals: reducing hunger, promoting literacy, stabilizing greenhouse-gas concentrations, and maintaining fresh-water availability. We find that such analysis can often reveal "levers of change," forces that both control the rate of positive change and are subject to policy intervention.
Related Concept Videos
Global Climate Change
Sustainable Development
Transition State Theory
Motivational Cycle
The cycle begins with a need. This need can arise from various conditions, such as hunger, thirst, or temperature changes. For instance, when an individual feels cold, their body...
Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques VI
Motivation and Self-Determination
Motivation, the driving force behind behavior, plays a pivotal role at every stage of the change process. The research...
Increasing Function
