Top : Science : Systems Science : Systems Theory : Sustainability : Sustainability Projects : STW Sustainable Prosperity Project

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Systemic-Thinking-is-foundation-sustainable-2639211.S.5938564864321531907

Purpose:

Angela Montgomery PhD

Co-Founder and Partner of Intelligent Management Inc. Victoria, BC and Toronto, ON.

Top Contributor

Personally, I see systemic thinking as our greatest hope and protection against the stupidity and greed that dragged us all into a catastrophic financial crisis. That's why I wrote the book. Sustainable actions are those that have the ability to endure over time for the common good. Thinking in silos (non-systemically) leads you to think that what happens to immigrants is not your problem, that dumping waste elsewhere and not in your backyard is a solution, that the market is a mysterious force independent of our will. I believe that teaching young people to think systemically to foresee the implications of their actions for themselves and others is one of the greatest and most urgent challenges of this century.

Richard Green

Software Engineer - Retired

Top Contributor

Change the game. The moves that are allowed define the patterns of play.
In our current world-game rule-system:
Those with few game-assets play to survive as long as they can.
Those with better game-assets play to "win" more assets.

We want a world-game rule-system with no losers and everyone survives.
Beyond that we want a game where everyone survives and lives a pleasant life.

Duane Banks

Holistic Analysis and Solutioning

Top Contributor

Angela,

Yes, systems thinking could be utilized to *protect* against stupidity and greed. However, I agree with Gene, it can also be used "to figure out how best to destroy the system."

So, there must be more to “hope” than the protection provided by systems thinking. I don’t know if Miguel and Eduardo (from the Dan Barber talks) are systems thinker, but what they have done did not require them to be (though, the folks that helped them architect their farms may very well be systems thinkers). The point is that the true value of systems thinking is found in its utility to the one who wields it, not in systems thinking itself.

Borrowing from the paper that Gene referred to…

Systems thinking will help us do “less damage to the environment.” But that’s not good enough, we also need to “participate with the environment.” Miguel and Eduardo seem more focused on the latter than the former.