"Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes' It is a framework for seeing interrelationships

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Why Systems Thinking

• "Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing
  wholes. It is a framework for seeing
  interrelationships rather than things, for seeing
  patterns of change rather than static
  'snapshots'...Today systems thinking is needed
  more than ever because we are becoming
  overwhelmed by complexity. Perhaps for the first
  time in history, humankind has the capacity to
  create far more information than anyone can
  absorb, to foster far greater interdependency
  than anyone can manage, and to accelerate change
  far faster than anyone's ability to keep pace."
• Peter Senge,The Fifth Discipline

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Why Systems Thinking

• "By becoming ecologically literate, we can apply
  the lessons of ecosystems, the language of
  nature, to our human communities.
• From the Parts to the Whole, Systems Thinking in
  Ecology and Education. Frijtof Capra

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Why Systems Thinking

• Capra tells us that nature does not show us
  isolated building blocks, but rather a complex
  web of relationships between the parts of a
  unified whole. 
• The importance of each component of a system is
  tied to its relationship to the whole. And the
  essential properties of a living system (whether
  an organism or community) are properties of the
  whole. 
• By looking at just one component in isolation
  (for example, an atom), we would not have
  realistic picture of its importance. 

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Why Systems Thinking

• The essential properties of a living system are
  properties of the whole, which none of the parts
  have. 
• A major application of systems thinking is that
  human communities and ecological communities are
  all living systems.
• Systems thinking is reflected in the corporate,
  governmental, and non-profit sectors. 
• The applications of systems thinking have led to
  many innovations in the workplace in terms of how
  employees work together and how organizations
  plan for the future.

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Why Systems Thinking

• The power of systems thinking comes from a focus
  on systemic structures, which is where the
  greatest leverage for problem solving and
  positive change lies.
• A systems approach can help shed light on current
  problemsespecially those that seem to
  continually repeatby viewing them from a
  different perspective.
• Systems thinking offers a range of tools for
  gaining deeper insight into problemsfrom simple
  causal-loop diagrams and systems archetypes to
  more complex computer simulation models.

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Why Systems Thinking

• These are powerful tools to graphically describe,
  and find, the greatest levers for changing the
  systemic structures that have been created around
  the linear take-make-waste production models and
  mechanical organizational designs that dominate
  most public and private organizations today.
• For some two centuries we have known that the
  Earth is a closed system with finite resources.
• As planetary explorers completed the task of
  mapping the lands and waters, people slowly grew
  to understand that there are no "new" resources.

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Why Systems Thinking

• We have only one Earth. All of our activities are
  but a small part of this larger system.
• Viewing our human systems as operating within the
  larger ecosystem is crucial for achieving a
  sustainable relationship with the environment,
  and assuring our own species' continued survival
  on the planet.
• Each natural resource used by human beingsfood,
  water, wood, iron, phosphorous, oil and hundreds
  of othersis limited by both its sources and its
  sinks.

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Why Systems Thinking

• Resources should not be removed faster than they
  can be renewed nor disposed of more quickly than
  they can be absorbed.
• Although environmentalists used to be concerned
  primarily about running out of sources, today
  more people are concerned about running out of
  sinks.
• Global warming, the ozone hole, and conflicts
  over the international shipment of hazardous
  waste are all problems that have arisen from our
  attempts to dispose of resources faster than the
  environment can absorb them.

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Why Systems Thinking

• Systems thinking requires us to understand that
  while there is only one Earth, it is composed of
  a multitude of subsystems all interacting with
  each other.
• A variety of models have been developed to
  explain the Earth's subsystems.
• When measuring our progress toward sustainable
  development, these models provide useful
  frameworks for choosing indicators.
• The differences between the models show the
  specific perspectives which groups bring to
  sustainable development and embody their
  differing values.

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Why Systems Thinking

• These subsystems are connected together by
  intricate feedback loops.
• The science of complexity suggests that in some
  systems a very small occurrence can produce
  unpredictable and sometimes drastic results by
  triggering a series of increasingly significant
  events.
• Emissions in the North have thinned the
  protective ozone layer over Antarctica,
  increasing rates of skin cancer in the South.
• Financial crises in Asia have threatened the
  economies of other countries around the world.
• And ethnic violence in Central Africa has led to
  refugee migrations that are overwhelming the
  support systems of nearby regions, triggering
  further crises and migrations.
• We have learned that the consequences of
  decisions made in one part of the world quickly
  affect us all.

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A framework for Systems Thinking

• Martin Hall (2002) developed a framework within
  which to explore the concept of sustainability.
  It has a number of key characteristics
• the earth as a sustainable system is dependent on
  the activities of a number of well-defined
  bio-geo-chemical cycles
• the earth as a sustainable system is open to
  flows of energy and closed to matter (based on
  the first and second laws of thermodynamics)
• there are four principle ways of undermining the
  bio-geo-chemical cycles
• the framework is set in a future perspective