The Systems View of Life Is A Unifying Vision
Author Jeremy Lent suggests that we must understand Nature as a networked system:
Systems thinking means that understanding life requires a shift of focus from objects to relationships. Each species in an ecosystem helps to sustain the entire food web. If one species is decimated by some natural catastrophe, the ecosystem may still be resilient enough to survive if there are other species that can fulfill similar functions. But in other cases, the decimation of one species may have destroy a working ecosystem.
All of this invites the ethical side of systems thinking.
This essay is a list of references about systems thinking that I have found useful in my teaching and my research.
Systems Literacy
Peter Senge: “Systems Thinking for a Better World” – Aalto Systems Forum 2014
Systems Thinking with Dr David Orr, Oberlin College
David Orr – 2011 Systems Symposium
David Orr – Seminar at Schumaker College
PBS Systems literacy
Systems Literacy Network Web Site
The Systems Thinker – A huge systems thinking web site reference list
Systems Education
David Orr – Ecoliteracy and Ecological Education
Systems Thinking in Biology Education
How To Practice Systems Thinking In The Classroom
Linda Booth Sweeney — Learning to Connect the Dots: Developing Children’s Systems Literacy
Linda Booth Sweeney’s systems resource room
Interbeing and Interdependence
Creating An Interdependence Map
Interbeing – No Man Is An Island
Ethics
A wonderful collection of talks (videos) by Kathleen Dean Moore.There is great wisdom in her world views. Her wisdom suggests solutions to humanity’s growing crisis on Earth.
If your time is limited, I recommend this one by Kathleen Dean Moore: on climate change, moral integrity, needed four virtues, moral integrity, wholeness and hope.
Climate Change
Using Systems Thinking To Understand Climate Change
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Our earth is a living system that transports and transforms energy. The key to an active ecoliteracy that results in a healthy environment for all life on earth is the building of a systems view of life into the minds and hearts of humanity, This worldview includes the fact that all of Nature is interconnected and interdependent.
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Environmental education is not simply offering facts. Environmental education must be hands-on and place-based if ideas, facts, and effective conservation strategies are to become a consciousness in the minds and hearts of our youth. Environmental education must include the the passing of this consciousness to future generations.
Why Do I Write These Essays?
My name is Bill Graham. As a Marine Biologist who has worked in the US and Mexico for 30 years, I am a student of Nature, a teacher, a researcher, and a nature photographer. Through my work, I have acquired an ever growing passion for how everything in Nature is connected. Today, I travel extensively contemplating about, writing about, and photographing Nature’s connections. I also work with conservation projects in the USA and Mexico and mentor talented youth.