The Leverage Points Persepective
Leverage points are places to intervene in complex social-ecological systems where a small intervention in one thing, can lead to big changes in everything (see Meadows work for this!)
Despite global efforts, the current trajectory of our planet is unsustainable – hindered by the difficulty to identify and foster the transformative potential of social-ecological systems.
This website is a hub to bring together the bright minds working on leverage points. Together, we have the power to foster change!
Leverage points are places in a system where a small shift may lead to fundamental changes in the system as a whole (see Meadows). According to the original concept developed by Meadows, there is a hierarchy of leverage points with increasing systemic depth at which a system can be intervened. Abson et al. suggest that it is fundamental to address ‘deeper’ (in contrast to ‘shallow’) leverage points, which have a greater potential to bring about transformative change and are often neglected in research. The system thinking lens provided by the leverage points perspective can help to holistically analyse adaptation, mitigation and transformation pathways for its potential to foster sustainability and resilience (Fischer & Riechers; Rölfer et al.) and by considering the synergies and trade-offs between different targets, for example, concerning biodiversity conservation and food security (Rogelj et al.). As a conceptual lens for how to specifically address deep leverage points for sustainability transformation, Abson et al. suggest the following three ‘realms of deep leverage’:
For an Overview of the Leverage Points Perspective on Sustainability, click on the YouTube Video.
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Leverage Points for Climate Action 