Andrew Jones is an expert in international climate and energy issues. He is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Climate Interactive - the climate change think tank that, along with MIT Sloan School of Management, creates user-friendly climate simulations that are used by thousands of climate analysts, policy makers, activists, academics, community groups, and business leaders around the world. Trained in system dynamics modeling at Dartmouth College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Drew was a protégé of the late Donella Meadows and works closely with systems thinking gurus like Peter Senge. He currently holds a research position at MIT Sloan School of Management and teaches System Dynamics and Sustainability at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Prior to this, Drew was Program Director at The SustainAbility Institute by ERM where he delivered training and coaching to students and sustainability leaders around systems thinking as well as dynamic modeling for environmental, economic, social and health issues.
In this episode, Drew talks about how En-ROADS, one of Climate Interactive's most popular simulations, has been a powerful tool in helping decision makers understand and address complex systems-level challenges and opportunities (e.g. climate change or the Sustainable Development Goals) and to bring about deep changes in thinking that lead to action. He explains how En-ROADS is a simulation that provides a playing field for participants to test different scenarios, hypotheses and strategies; and it allows them to explore radically different ways of thinking, reflect on the outcomes of their decisions, and to learn for themselves through experience.
Drew stresses the importance of using simulations to deal with today’s challenges because, with complex systems, cause and effect are delayed which obscures our ability to understand the long term implications of our decisions and actions. He describes the power of simulations in their ability to provide feedback in ways that are meaningful, contextual, and ‘ridiculously relevant’; connecting the things we do today with data-backed future impacts (in real time). Simulations also help us understand how our mindsets drive our patterns of behavior which in turn shape our realities. And, most importantly, simulations help us uncover deeper truths and insights that enable us to see the future as a choice, not something that is simply handed to us, so that we can create the world for which we yearn.
FOR MORE INFO ABOUT DREW AND CLIMATE INTERACTIVE: Please visit www.climateinteractive.org
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