Books like Thinking in systems by Donella H. Meadows

A landmark study that models the limits of Earth’s resources, warning that unchecked growth could trigger ecological and economic collapse within a century.

George Monbiot examines the forces that have led to environmental collapse, inequality and corporate domination, offering a clear-eyed diagnosis and practical solutions for a more equitable and sustainable future.

In many areas of the world, environmental degradation in and around human settlements is undermining prospects for both socioeconomic justice and ecological sustainability. To explore the issues involved in this worldwide problem, Keith Pezzoli focuses on a dramatic instance of conflict that grew out of the unauthorized penetration of human settlements into the Ajusco greenbelt zone, a vital part of Mexico City's ecological reserve. The Mexican government's initial response to these "irregular" human settlements was contradictory and reactive. Social unrest, ecological deterioration, and violence have all been part of the continuing crisis. The heart of the book is the story of what happened when residents of Los Belvederes, a group of Ajusco settlements, fought relocation by proposing that Los Belvederes be transformed into Colonias Ecologicas Productivas, or productive ecology settlements. Through innovative organized resistance, their grassroots movement generated environmental and social action that eventually won crucial state support. Pezzoli draws upon urban and regional planning theory and practice to examine biophysical as well as ethical and social sides of the story, and he uses the Mexican experience to identify planning strategies to link economy, ecology, and community in sustainable development.

This is a book about human population growth, carrying capacities, delayed feedbacks, our environmental impacts, and the possibilities of overshoot and collapse. -- Excerpt: "Any population-economy-environment system that has feedback delays and slow physical responses, that has thresholds and erosive mechanisms, is literally unmanageable. No matter how brilliant its technologies, no matter how efficient its economy, no matter how wise its decision makers, it simply can't steer itself away from hazards unless it tests its limits very, very slowly."