sustainability & systems thinking peg cornell crescent valley high school
Post on 19-Dec-2015
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The Fish Game We are going to run a fishing industry
Each person in the group will fish for swordfish in the same ocean. One person in each group will act as the banker, and control the envelope of fish (“nature”). To start the game, the banker will put 20 fish in the middle of the table (the “ocean”).
Twenty fish is this ocean’s carrying capacity for swordfish.
Traditionally, people fish for swordfish in the three following ways:1) Harpoon fishing: take one fish2) Long-line fishing: take two fish3) Free-for-all long-line fishing: take three fish
Each person can take up to three fish per turn, depending on the instructions for that game.
The Fish Game After each round when all players have taken their fish, the banker (“nature”)
will count the number of swordfish left and add 25% to the pot, up to, but not exceeding, 20 fish (round up if you need to).
Example: If there are 12 fish left, 3 fish (25% of 12) will be added to the pot, bringing the total up to 15.
The added fish represent the number of baby swordfish made by the swordfish that were left after everyone has taken their fish (the ones that were left in the ocean to reproduce).
In real life, swordfish produce far fewer than 25% new offspring each year—they are like humans in that they have few children over the course of their lifetimes.
The goal of each game: To have as many fish as possible after playing all 10 rounds.
The Fish Game There are four ways to play the game:
Game 1: Everyone chooses a fishing technique at the start of the game and sticks with it until the end of the game
Game 2: Everyone chooses a fishing technique, but can change technique each turn during the game
Game 3: Everyone is a harpoon fisher, and can take no more than one fish each round
Game 4: Everyone can choose any fishing technique and can change that technique each turn. At the end of each round, add 10% instead of 25%. (You still can’t exceed the carrying capacity of 20 fish.)
Fish Game DataRound Consumption Accumulation Fish Stock
(# Fish You Took) (Total # Fish You Have) (# Fish in the Ocean
After Restocking)
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10
How many of you made it through all 10 rounds in every game you played?
If your system crashed, why did it crash?
Fish Game ReflectionIf your group ran out of fish before you were able to play 10 rounds,
then the way your group fished collectively resulted in more fish being taken from the ocean than what the ocean was able to replenish.
We call that unsustainable.
We need to teach sustainability in a deliberate and thoughtful
way because students are constantly exposed to
unsustainable practices, which are both easy and common
Sustainability
A sustainable practice is one that does no long-term environmental, social or economic harm, and that meets the needs of the current generation without jeopardizing the ability of future generations of humans and other species to meet their needs.
Sustainable Example
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Time (Rounds)To
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Ocean
Unsustainable Example
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Time (Rounds)
Tota
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Mental Models An individual’s thought process
about how something works in the real world
They help shape our behaviour and define our approach to solving problems and carrying out tasks
Why are they important to recognize and acknowledge?
Classic Mental Model The Titanic
Assumption of Scarcity
There isn’t enough to go around.
We’re going down anyway, so grab all you can, while you can.
Classic Mental Model
The Bummer
Things are the way they are and there is nothing I/we can do about it.
Classic Mental Model
The Social Trap
If others do it, I may as well.
If no one else does it, why should I?
Classic Mental Model The Self-Serve
Maximize Gains for Self
The “invisible hand” leads all individuals, in pursuit of their own self-interests, to produce the greatest benefit for society as a whole (and vice versa).
Classic Mental ModelThe Rescue
Theory of Confidence
The market, technology or someone or something will take care of it.
Classic Mental ModelThe Way We Were
This is the way we have always done things, why should we change?
The way things used to be is the way they are now.
Classic Mental ModelThe Illusion of
Away
Our trash goes away, our pollution goes away, our oil spills go away, our food comes from away, etc.
Classic Mental ModelThe Illusion of Other
You are different from me.
Humans are separate from nature, there is a hierarchy of living things.
Classic Mental Models What’s behind what people say?
“Humans are the central and most significant entities in the universe”
“Resources are unlimited and everything is substitutable”
“We are in control”
“I wasn’t thinking at all”
Mental ModelsIncomplete and constantly changing
Not accurate
Uncertainty about their validity does not prevent them from being used even if incorrect
Results of These Classic Mental Models
We often operate without the information we need
We ignore and/or can’t see the feedback
If we cannot hear or see feedback, we cannot perceive relevant data for our brains to filter
We exhibit characteristics of insanity
Our “fixes” backfire on us or we shift the burden
Mental Models
How might you use the concept of mental models with your students?
How do mental models impact sustainability?
Toward Sustainability
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
~Albert Einstein
Sustainable Mental Model Live by the natural laws
We must operate within natural laws and principles rather than attempting to overcome them.
They are non-negotiable.
Sustainable Mental ModelConsider the 7th
generation when making decisions
What legacy will we leave our children?
A guiding principle of the Iroquois Nation
Sustainable Mental Model
We are all responsible
Everything we do and everything we don’t do makes a difference.
Responsibility“In the face of rapid destruction of the natural
world, how much should we care? First, it is pointless to care for things we cannot affect. Care is squandered where it overreaches our power. Second, our power should not overreach our care. Not to care for things we affect is to act carelessly - that is, destructively.”
~John Nolt Professor, Environmental
Ethics The University of
Tennessee
Sustainable Mental ModelWe are all in this
together
We are dependent on each other and on the natural systems upon which all life depends
We are all connected and part of a system - the web of life
The Systems Game Stand in a large open space,
either indoors or out.
Select two other people in the group, without indicating whom you have chosen.
Move so as to keep at all times an equal distance between you and each of these two people. Note: This does not mean just standing at the midpoint between the two other people.
What did you experience?
The Systems Game This activity provides a
direct experience of the dynamic nature of open systems.
It is very useful in dramatizing the new paradigm view of reality, especially these two features of it:
1) Life is composed not of separate entities, but rather systems - relations between the entities
2) These relations are continually self-organizing
Systems Thinking The parts of a system can
best be understood in the context of relationships with each other and with other systems, rather than in isolation.
Views "problems" as parts of an overall system, rather than reacting to specific parts, outcomes or events and potentially contributing to further development of unintended consequences (“revenge effects”)
Stands in contrast to Descartes' scientific reductionism.
Systems Thinking Reductionism or
mechanistic thinking was the scientific worldview from the Renaissance to the early 1900’s.
Newton’s Laws of Motion
Mechanistic thinking proposed that the universe is completely understandable and completely predictable.
Mechanistic thinking suggests it is possible to understand the whole by understanding the separate parts.
Systems Thinking Systems thinking
suggests that understanding the parts in isolation is not sufficient to understanding the whole.
Can you think of an example in which reductionist thinking resulted in a social, economic or environmental problem?
Systems Thinking The Easter Island society collapsed due
to extensive deforestation and intensive agriculture.
Read Jared Diamond’s account at http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/2
4/042.html
Systems Thinking Many oppose the
reintroduction of the wolf into Yellowstone.
However, the top predator’s return has triggered a cascade of unanticipated positive changes in the park's ecosystem.
Wolves benefit scavengers, young trees, and other associated species.
See William Ripple’s work on trophic cascades at OSU, http://www.cof.orst.edu/cascades/
You can understand systems thinking without understanding sustainability, but you cannot understand
sustainability without understanding systems thinking.
Sustainability, Reprise
A sustainable practice is one that does no long-term environmental, social or economic harm, and that meets the needs of the current generation without jeopardizing the ability of future generations of humans and other species to meet their needs.
SustainabilityThe international organization The Natural
Step (www.naturalstep.org) has identified four systems conditions that must be in place for an entity to be considered truly sustainable
Remember the mnemonic TakeMakePreserveRespect
We’ll consider schools in our examples
Condition 1 Reduce and ultimately
eliminate our dependence on nonrenewable resources such as fossil fuels, metals and minerals.
Use renewable resources whenever possible
Pay attention to what we take from the earth
Condition 1: Take What does this look like in a school?
Use efficient transportation for students and staff Use local items to limit transportation
requirements (e.g., food, office supplies, etc.) Conserve electricity (even in Corvallis, about 70%
comes from coal) Limit the use of plastics, which are petroleum
based Reduce overall number of purchases Purchase items made of recycled content (metals,
minerals, plastics, etc.) Other?
Condition 2 Reduce and ultimately
eliminate our dependence on persistent chemicals and our use of man-made, synthetic substances
Use biologically safe products whenever possible - safe for human health and the health of other species
Pay attention to what we make & leave in the atmosphere, lithosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere of the earth
Condition 2: Make What does this look like in a school?
Use nontoxic cleaning suppliesUse and dispose of laboratory chemicals properlyUse low/no VOC (volatile organic compounds)
paintsLimit the use of plastics and other “disposables” Don’t use pollutants or toxic substancesEvaluate new purchases (computers, printers,
etc.) for toxinsOther?
Condition 3 Reduce and ultimately
eliminate our degradation of and encroachment on nature (e.g., land, water, wildlife, forests, soil, etc.)
Protect natural ecosystems whenever possible
Preserve biodiversity
Condition 3: Preserve What does this look like in school?
Reduce waste to limit landfill requirements (reduce, reuse, and recycle, in that order)
Reduce paper use to preserve forest ecosystems Offer vegetarian and vegan food to reduce pollution and land
and water degradation Conserve water Maintain exterior grounds without pesticides & herbicides Protect riparian areas (in Corvallis, Jackson and Dixon
creeks) Restore native wildlife habitats on campus Remove invasive species Other?
Condition 4 Support people’s capacity
to meet their basic needs fairly and efficiently
Treat people with dignity and purchase materials that are produced using this principle whenever possible
This condition refers to social justice and human rights as an integral part of sustainability
Respect the rights of all people, both local and distant
Condition 4: Respect What does this look like in a school?
Offer sweatshop-free school logo clothing Treat colleagues, students,parents and community
members fairly and with respect Implement school district policies relating to social justice
(e.g., no bullying, no harassment of students or staff, etc.) Evaluate support for low income students (can they succeed
without a computer at home, can they participate in sports, etc.)
Evaluate support for ELL and IEP students Include sustainability as an integral part of classroom
instruction Other?
Triple Bottom Line Consider and evaluate
environmental and social value in addition to economic value
Businesses and organizations
For personal choices visit www.goodguide.com www.cooopamerica.org
(responsible shopper)
Remember as the “Three E’s” Economic Environment Equity
Cradle to Cradle Design Rather than thinking
that all items have a “lifespan”, with an end in the landfill, rethink items as never becoming waste
Items following cradle to cradle philosophy are designed to last forever or to be reused and recycled
There is a certification process (MBDC) for products similar to LEED, ranging from Basic to Platinum (www.mbdc.com).
BASIC All chemicals in product identified
down to 100ppm level (0.01%)
No PVC, chloroprene, or related chemical at any concentration
All materials and chemicals assessed for toxicity to human and environmental health
Strategy developed to optimize all remaining problematic chemicals
All materials defined as technical nutrients to be recycled or biological nutrients to be composted
Resources & ReferencesThe Cloud Institute for Sustainability (CIS), New York
Jamie Cloud (founder and director) The Fish Game, Mental Models www.sustainabilityed.org
The Society for Organizational Learning (SOL), Cambridge Peter Senge (engineer, social systems theorist, founder of SOL, and director of the Center for
Organizational Learning at MIT) Mental Models, Systems Thinking www.solonline.org
The Natural Step (TNS), Sweden, Portland Four Systems Conditions for Sustainability www.naturalstep.org
The Sustainable Oregon School Initiative (SOSI), Portland Lori Stole (manager) Sustainable School Practices www.sustainableschools.org
The Center for Ecoliteracy, Berkeley Frijof Capra (physicist, systems theorist, and director) Books: The Turning Point, The Web of Life, The Hidden Connections Movie: Mindwalk www.ecoliteracy.org
Resources & References: BooksEcology
Silent Spring, The Sea Around Us, Rachel Carson Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things, John Ryan A Green History of the World, Clive Ponting Earth Odyssey, Mark Hertsgaard The Wild Trees, Richard Preston Big Coal, Jeff Goodell Garbageland: On the Secret Trail of Trash, Elizabeth Royt The Diversity of Life, Biophilia, The Future of Life, E.O.Wilson Mama Poc, Anne LaBastille What We Leave Behind, Derrick Jensen
Human Rights & Social Justice The Culture of Make Believe, Derrick Jensen When Corporations Rule the World, David Korten Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich
Food Diet for a New America, The Food Revolution, John Robbins Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser Harvest for Hope, Jane Goodall The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, Food Rules, Michael Pollan Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver