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Systems Thinking for the Environmental Problem Solver

Thinking in Systems provides an alternative to “science, logic, and reductionism,” which typically take precedent over “intuition and holism” in postindustrial society (Meadows, 4). The objective of systems thinking is to understand not just the elements of a system, but how those elements relate to each other in order to achieve a greater function or purpose.

The elements of a systems are the tangible or intangible parts that comprise the system as a whole. These are often easiest to see and identify, and cause the least effect when changed. Interconnections are the relationships that hold the elements together. These can often be thought of as flows of resources or information. The function or purpose of the system is the outcome of the interconnections between the elements of a system. It is important to note that the purpose of the system may be distinct from the intent of system actors. For example, “no one intends to produce a society with rampant drug addiction and crime” (Meadows, 15).

This mode of thinking provides a useful lens for environmental challenges, that often have elements and interconnections that vary both across scales and over time. For example, the survival of an endangered species may be governed by the availability of nutrients within an ecosystem, and also by broader land-use patterns at the landscape scale. These elements and interconnections may shift over time within the context of a changing climate or an increasing global population. The ability to understand how elements interact to produce a purpose at a higher scale allows the system thinker to have a more holistic idea of what intervention strategies may look like.

Stock and flow diagrams are useful tools for systems thinkers to understand interactions between system elements, without being overwhelmed by complexity. Stocks are elements of systems that you can “see, feel, count or measure” (Meadows, 17). Flows represent the change in those stocks over time. Dynamics represent the overall behavior of stocks and flows over time. By consciously choosing what to include and exclude in a systems diagram, the systems thinker can understand where the diagram is a simplification of the real-world.

Different types of interconnections can also be used to better understand why a system behaves why the way it does. For example, feedback loops refer to when changes in a stock impact flows into or out of a stock. While balancing feedback loops will drive a system towards greater stability, a reinforcing loop will amplify a growth or destruction behavior. Delays, in which information delivered into a feedback loop affects future behavior, can cause stocks to oscillate, depending on the length of the delay. Finally, recognition of whether a stock is renewable or nonrenewable can help you determine whether the system is stock-limited or flow-limited. The ability to understand and identify these patterns can help the systems thinker predict how a system may behave.

Question: How can we use systems thinking to understand interconnections across scales of analysis? For example, if we are studying decision making among farmers in a certain community, how do we understand the influence of nearby communities, and state and national regulators?

Sustainability and Systems Thinking

Systems are everywhere. They can be as microscopic as the exchanges of oxygen between our cells and as immense as the mechanisms that govern our galaxy. Because systems act on all scales and they are in constant motion all around us, it is imperative that we understand them. As environmentalists, we appreciate the interaction between human beings and our surrounding environment, but we also must take into account the interaction of nature’s elements as well as our own interactions with other people. As Meadows says, “We are complex systems—our own bodies are magnificent examples of integrated, interconnected, self-maintaining complexity. Every person we encounter, every organization, every animal, garden, tree, and forest is a complex system” (3).  Knowing more about the intersection between these systems and the function of each will enable us to have a better understanding of the world around us.

Ideally, we should all be striving for a sustainable future. Thinking back to a Venn diagram that I have seen in many workshops and classes in the past, I realize that sustainability happens only when there is a balance between systems. This Venn diagram showed environmental, social and economic pieces all overlapping to reveal sustainability in the center. I think that without one piece of this “puzzle,” sustainability cannot occur because one part of the system would be neglected. Each of these systems can and do work independently of each other, with their own feedback loops, stocks, signals and flows, but they also work with each other. In the environmental field, I think that it is important to have a systems thinking mindset and holistic point of view in order to make the most positive change.

Question to Consider: How can we apply a systems thinking mindset to tackle the wicked problems that we face (climate change, natural hazards, environmental injustice, etc.)?

Systems Thinking: We are a Part of the Problem

When pondering climate change as an environmentalist it is so simple to remove oneself from the problem and point fingers. The lists of common culprits all seem to include the huge oil companies, giant corporations who seemingly have no regard for the way products are being sourced and produced, and a pool of politicians who claim that business as usual is an acceptable scenario. What is maybe not included as often in the list is the small grocery store down the street down the street from your house, the bank that your family has been loyal members to for multiple lifetimes, and the transportation necessary to get us to some of our favorite adventure spots. Systems thinking urges us to utilize the perspective that we cannot completely remove ourselves from a problem, and cannot also see a problem only for its present face value. In order to contribute to meaningful change we must see ourselves as part of a larger system that is creating the problems that we perceive around us.

This weekend I will be attending the Global Energy Forum in Beaver Creek Colorado with a number of other students from the MENV cohort. This conference is an event which pulls together industry and political leaders to formulate innovative ideas and action steps on many environmental issues, namely energy ones. While this event will most certainly work towards solving environmental issues, it will also inevitably contribute to the problems that it will work to solve. For example, the food we will be served has been shipped hundreds of miles (organic, vegan, gluten-free, does not matter) considering that Avon, Colorado is not well-known for producing food products. Most everyone attending the conference will have traveled to the location using planes, cars, or trains. Additionally many brochures will be printed as well as business cards, presentation posters, and agendas. Lastly, the production of all of these things take massive amounts of energy.

As the reading suggested, these systems are incredibly complex. No one person can understand the energy, food, and consumer world, much less the comprehensive cultural and social factors that drive them. In order to work towards understanding even some small part of a system required to drive change we must first reflect on our involvement in perpetuating that system. Only then can we truly begin to work towards solutions that not only align with social norms and values, but actually have the potential to work as well.

Weekly Question: Identify the one action you do that benefits the environment the most, and then identify the one action you do that harms the environment the most. Is the good you are creating equal to or greater than the bad? (using systems thinking: what is the flow of these two actions?)

Introduction to Systems Thinking

Jurassic Park is not only a great novel and movie, but an excellent example of a complex system. The park itself is a system in that it has elements, interconnections, and a purpose (Meadows, 13), but within it are embedded other systems similar to a Russian nesting doll. Each element in the overall system of the park can be identified and the interactions between these elements cataloged to a surprising degree of accuracy; however, one of the major themes in Jurassic Park is what happens with this increasing complexity. The chaos-mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm argues our one-at-a-time deterministic way of looking at the world is insufficient. He argues this is due to the stochastic nature of reality derived from inherit feedback loops and our inability to process the vast information available. Every step taken further from planning the park introduces an extra element of unpredictability and information not being taken into account. Instead of having a balancing feedback loop, Michael Crichton opts for a reinforcing feedback loop dominated by chaos. I find the concepts of the dominating feedback loop and information flow especially interesting because they help determine the overall behavior of the system.

Another thought that arose from this initial reading was the difference of linear and exponential relationships and their role determining feedback loops within systems. Data on population growth often shows either a linear or exponential relationship, but the exhaustive list of interconnections determining this level of growth and their magnitudes are often unknown. The reading's mention of doubling time (Meadows, 33) for exponential growth was a highlight for me although it was extraordinarily brief. Having a background in mathematics, I could elaborate on the 70/percent growth rule for anyone with interest on it in the future.