Multiple-scale integrated assessment of societal metabolism: Introducing the approach

In this paper we present several concepts related to integrated analysis of societal metabolism across scales. First we introduce the concept of "dyna mic energy budget" of human societies, which is based on the distinction be tween exosomatic and endosomatic energy flows and the possibility of establ ishing autocatalytic loops (egg-chicken patterns) among them. Second, we di scuss the nature of the dramatic changes that the industrial revolution ind uced on the characteristics of societal metabolism. Finally, we discuss met hodological problems related to the representation of complex adaptive syst ems. Dealing with sustainability of human societies requires the parallel u se of non-equivalent descriptive domains. This, in turn, requires the abili ty of "scaling up and down" when moving across levels handling parallel non -reducible assessments.