Ecological Literacy & Systems Thinking

Why learn about global environmental problems? Instrumental purpose Enriches life, contributes to meaning Empowerment Is knowledge power? Citizenship POL S 384 Lecture 2

Connective learning as empowerment Is knowledge power? Information overload From information to knowledge to wisdom Ecology: the science of living systems Relational thinking Sustainability Meeting today’s needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs A new opening in university education Interdisciplinary and integrative teaching & learning Hands-on learning Multicultural learning POL S 384 Lecture 2

For a critique, see http://www. danielwillingham

How to teach and learn for sustainability? Living within an ecosystem’s carrying capacity “Triple bottom line” & beyond Top-down vs. bottom-up approaches Ecological literacy Need social knowledge, not just facts and numbers Must be experiential -- go outside! Seeking connections Care -- we act upon that which we care about Ecology: the science of living systems POL S 384 Lecture 2

Thinking in Systems “A system is an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something (function or purpose).” Examples? Ecological footprint POL S 384 Lecture 2

Basics of Living Systems Theory Holism: the whole is greater than sum of parts Emergent properties Evolutionary: adaptive & self-generative Composed of symbiotic networks Interdependence & feedback Balancing vs. reinforcing feedback Virtuous cycles: flows of information, energy & matter Surprise & nonlinearity are inevitable. Nested hierarchies Partially decomposable Developmental change: transcend and include POL S 384 Lecture 2

POL S 384 Lecture 2

POL S 384 Lecture 2

Earth Systems Science POL S 384 Lecture 2

Systems thinking means updating the noosphere! We pay too little attention to history and are too fascinated by the events they generate. (pp.90) We are not too skilled in understanding the nature of relationships (pp.91) as the world is full of nonlinearities. We our attached to our mental categories. (pp.98) We lean towards monocausal explanations. We don’t recognize which factor is limiting. Growth depletes or enhances limits and therefore changes what is limiting. (pp. 102) We rarely see the full range of possibilities before us (pp. 106). We are subject to bounded rationality i.e. we make reasonable decisions based on the information we have. (Slide 31 from Sandhya Johnson’s Slideshare summary) POL S 384 Lecture 2

Resilience Thinking A system’s capacity to withstand disturbance while retaining its basic structure & function Change is inevitable Complex systems undergo adaptive cycles From simple, low energy to complex, high energy to decline & reorganization or collapse Resilience and/or sustainability Sustainability  stability Human systems embedded in ecosystems … and vice versa Independence and interdependence POL S 384 Lecture 2

Where is the global economy on the adaptive cycle? POL S 384 Lecture 2

Sustainability What needs to be sustained? What is the purpose of the global economy? Why is purpose important in human systems? POL S 384 Lecture 2

"In wildness is preservation of the world.“ ~Thoreau What did he mean? “Wildness,” not wilderness How might this apply to resilience thinking? … education? POL S 384 Lecture 2