Abstract for: Environmental Special Interest Group Poster Presentation, Annual Meeting, and Roundtable

The Environmental SIG welcomes everyone to join us in this important discussion about the challenges surrounding the use of system dynamics for natural resource modeling. Issue for discussion: Natural resource modelers often need to use data to create model behavior; moreover our cliental often expect to see their data and how it fits into a model. What are the challenges of managing the data driven nature of environmental while still designing system dynamic models. Many people who are not trained in system dynamics pick up software, build models and assume they are doing system dynamics. When they do not get results that are insightful they think that system dynamics is not useful. What can we do as a community of practice to enlighten modelers that system dynamics is much more than software and encourage the (proper) use of system dynamics in this field? The Society has partnered with Carbonfund.org as a means of offsetting the carbon emissions associated with the conference. Carbonfund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has helped us estimate our conference emissions at 900.9 metric tons. The interactive poster presented by the Environmental SIG provides information about each of this offset project.