Mission à visions are short and simple; Neither the mission nor vision statements are simple because the ideas themselves are complex. The number of words used to depict the future the MENV program wants to build is excessive. Visions capture a picture of a binary future; Binary, to my understanding,... Continue reading

Today was an odd day. Despite the fact that I am constantly reminded that I seemingly aloof and not part of the group… I maintain that I am a scientist, and as such am entitled to ask weird questions, and to regularly not be within the norm. I felt happier... Continue reading

I’m not entirely sure that this is the right question to be asking in a class devoted to thinking in systems. That said, I’m curious to see how far this thought experiment has to go before I think of something… or resign my position, and admit defeat. Let’s start at... Continue reading

2800 miles in a 2002 Subaru Forester makes for a long, albeit, fast drive. However, speeding along at the upper double digits through the vast emptiness of Utah while listening to “An Omnivours Dilemma,” reduced hours to short periods of intellectual discovery. The best part? That I have the opportunity... Continue reading

What is resilience? What a great question. We all have our own answers, and thoughts. And we all describe resilience differently. Last time I asked you all to tell me how you would describe resilience to a five year old. You did, luckily. However, you each came up with a... Continue reading

I’m going to talk about something new to me, something I saw on the news last night. Now, this isn’t a particularly new story. In fact, I am pretty sure that it has been being reported on for a few years. But it is new to me, and I am... Continue reading

Ok guys, you probably won't get this before class, but I think that is ok. I am attaching a link to a video on Wired's Youtube page. The video is a series of explanations to the same phenomena given at different levels of expertise: starting from a 5 year old,... Continue reading

This week seemed, to me at least, to focus on perception. How we perceive the world, and how the world perceives us. Understanding that we all see problems differently; that even if you know, for a fact, what the fact-based answer is, there will always be someone reticent to believe... Continue reading

Although it was touched on, I think it should be mentioned how much culture can influence the way we approach and solve problems. In the Stan Deetz report, the case of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster is used as a narrative to describe the ‘Human Organizational Factors’ that orientate the way... Continue reading

I want to start by mentioning some things that struck me from this chapter. Firstly, Meadows’s augmentation to the Ten Commandments, “Thou shalt not distort, delay, or withhold information.” No, I don’t mention this out of some desire to “fact check” one’s ability to alter the Ten commandments. In fact,... Continue reading

Seems to me that businesses who opt for environmental sustainable practices have a greater chance of long-term viability in today’s market, which values fair-trade cotton over a cheap t-shirt. In this sense, environmental sustainability leads to economic resilience. People will buy a more expensive product if the materials are sourced... Continue reading

http://thesheetnews.com/2011/09/02/lord-of-the-flies/ The best we can ever do is keep asking questions. To continually look for the novel or the overlooked. To not expect the answer we were expecting. These principals are just a few that come to mind when I am thinking about systems, either environmental, or political. As an... Continue reading

As an ecologist I am trained to see how different species of plants and animals, as well as creeks, trees, and the rest of the biosphere interact with each other. Most of the time these ecosystems interact in a balanced state of equilibrium because they are closed: plants utilize what... Continue reading