Amplifying feedback cycles drive change. Vicious cycles can produce rapidly increasing damage, whereas virtuous cycles can produce constructive change. Yet people are often unaware of these dynamics that shape their lives, societies, and environment.

Here is an example of a vicious cycle I discuss below.

Rising global temperatures		Less ice cover
The Earth absorbs more of the sun’s heat		Less reflection of sunlight back into outer-space

This site explores amplifying feedback across three domains:

• Systems theory and amplifying feedback cycles.
• Climate change and actions to reduce this change.
• Human behaviour: the amplifying cycles linking actions, thoughts, and feelings, which lead to the emergence of the self or character, and the use of feedback-based interventions in counselling.

Long-established “systems theory” recognises amplifying feedback as the fundamental dynamic through which a system can transform itself: ecosystems, minds, and societies – any complex system. This insight gives this website its name: Feedback Reigns. Indeed, virtuous amplifying cycles have organised nothing less than the evolution of life on Earth.

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One of the vicious cycles driving global heating.

Consider one of the vicious cycles that is changing our Earth’s climate, bringing more extreme heat, fires, and floods.

Rising global temperatures		Less ice cover
The Earth absorbs more of the sun’s heat		Less reflection of sunlight back into outer-space

In this cycle: (1) rising global temperatures reduce ice cover, (2) with less ice, the Earth reflects less sunlight back into outer-space, and (3) the planet absorbs more solar energy, so (4) temperatures rise further.

This is a self-reinforcing cycle in which heating drives more heating. Unfortunately, there are many more of these vicious cycles driving climate change. We need radical climate action before these cycles become unstoppable. They threaten rapid, irreversible change and the end of life as we know it on planet Earth.

See The Critical Danger: Climate change’s vicious cycles.

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The vicious cycles driving people’s problems

Self-reinforcing feedback cycles can drive change in humans, including the development of problems and recovery from problems. I present:

• a counselling session in which I identified and presented to a client a vicious cycle driving their presenting problem, and
• a systems theory–based understanding of human behaviour in terms of feedback cycles.

Here is the cycle that was useful for the client in the described counselling session.

For professional counsellors, these pages offer a practical way to generate and deliver counselling interventions, supported by a theoretical framework.

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Australia can be a renewable energy superpower.

There are advantages for Australia in taking action to limit climate change.

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Australia glows orange on this map, indicating that we have strong wind and solar resources relative to most developed countries. We also have abundant minerals, like iron ore and lithium. So, Australia can take action on climate change and become a renewable energy superpower. This would be a win for our climate, industry, jobs, and prosperity. See Australia: A Renewable Energy Superpower

Image Source: The global map of wind and solar potential is from the “Beyond Zero Emissions” 2015 publication “Renewable Energy Superpower”.

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The massive cost of importing fossil fuels.

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Australia spends $61 billion annually on fossil fuel imports.

Another benefit of taking climate action is that, as Australia electrifies, we will be able to reduce this enormous flow of money from Australia to countries such as Russia. This would also make our energy supply more secure, as we would no longer rely on easily disrupted fossil fuel imports. We only have a few weeks of stored fossil fuel in Australia.

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A vicious cycle driving right-wing populism

A vicious political feedback cycle can accelerate climate change. Climate action is essential not only to reduce global heating but also to prevent mass displacement, mass migration, and the political backlash it can trigger. When climate impacts worsen, more people are forced to flee their homes; this displacement fuels right-wing populism, which in turn undermines climate policy and drives further warming.

Higher global temperatures		More extreme weather
Less climate action		More conflict over land, water, food & housing
More right-wing populism		More migration

Climate action to reduce migration and right-wing populism.

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Climate change evidence

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See Evidence of human-caused climate change.

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Convergence: The basis for scientific confidence

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See Convergence: The Basis for Scientific Confidence.

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Site Author: Andrew Gunner

See my background.

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Site Map

See the Visitor Site Map: a compact overview of the website.

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Updated: 3 Feb 2026