Appendix E: Pathways for Further Study

1 Purpose of this appendix

This book gives you a language for Earth–economy thinking.

It does not—and cannot—give you mastery of:

  • climate modeling,
  • land-use simulation,
  • computable general equilibrium,
  • ecosystem service modeling,
  • or policy design at scale.

This appendix maps paths forward.

Not a single track, but a set of directions you can follow depending on:

  • your interests,
  • your skills,
  • and your goals.

Each path deepens a different facet of Earth–economy work.

All resources listed here are open-access or openly licensed.

2 Path 1: Economic foundations

If you want stronger economic grounding:

  • Open Principles of Microeconomics (Johnson)
    A bridge between standard theory and Earth–economy framing.
    https://justinandrewjohnson.com/open_principles_of_microeconomics/

  • Principles of Economics (OpenStax / UMN Libraries, CC BY-NC-SA)
    For formal supply–demand, welfare, and policy tools.
    https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/principles-of-economics

What you gain: - rigor in incentives and tradeoffs, - fluency in welfare reasoning, - the grammar of policy analysis.

3 Path 2: Natural resource economics

If you want deeper treatment of renewable and nonrenewable resources:

  • Natural Resources Sustainability: An Introductory Synthesis (CC BY-NC-SA)
    https://uen.pressbooks.pub/naturalresourcessustainability/

  • InTeGrate Teaching Materials (many CC BY-NC-SA)
    https://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/index.html

What you gain: - dynamic thinking about stocks, - fisheries, forests, water, and soils, - institutional design for commons.

4 Path 3: Ecosystems and services

If you want to connect ecology to economics:

  • Open ecosystem service modules from InTeGrate
  • Open textbooks in conservation and sustainability science
  • Public ecosystem service models (e.g., InVEST documentation)

What you gain: - biophysical grounding, - spatial thinking, - service-to-outcome translation.

5 Path 4: Modeling and computation

If you want to build models:

  • Learn one open language well: Python, R, or Julia.
  • Explore:
    • stock–flow modeling,
    • basic simulation,
    • data wrangling,
    • visualization.

Start with:

  • simple dynamic systems,
  • toy models like those in this book,
  • open notebooks and examples.

What you gain: - agency over models, - ability to test futures, - understanding of assumptions.

6 Path 5: Policy and institutions

If you want to work where decisions are made:

  • Study:
    • public finance,
    • development economics,
    • political economy,
    • environmental law.

Pair theory with:

  • policy reports,
  • national climate plans,
  • land-use strategies,
  • development bank frameworks.

What you gain: - fluency in institutional constraints, - realism about implementation, - translation between models and action.

7 A unifying habit

No matter your path, cultivate this habit:

Always ask:
What are the stocks?
What are the feedbacks?
What futures does this create?

That habit is the essence of Earth–economy thinking.

8 Exercises

  1. Choose a path.
    Which of the five paths above is most appealing to you right now?
    Why?

  2. Skill map.
    List three skills you would need to follow that path.

  3. Next step.
    Identify one concrete action you could take this month:

    • a course,
    • a dataset,
    • a project,
    • or a paper.

This appendix is not a bibliography.

It is a map.

The Earth–economy is not a field you finish.

It is a system you enter.