Sustainability & Systems Thinking Peg Cornell Crescent Valley High School

1. Sustainability & Systems ThinkingPeg CornellCrescent Valley High School

2. 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 fish 2) Long-line fishing: take two fish 3) 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.)

5. Fish Game Data Round Consumption Accumulation Fish Stock (# Fish You Took) (Total # Fish You Have) (# Fish in the Ocean AfterRestocking) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6. Fish Game Reflection How many of you made it through all 10 rounds in every game you played? If your system crashed, why did it crash?

7. Fish Game Reflection • If 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.

8. 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

9. 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.

11. Fish Game Reflection What were you thinking? Thinking drives behavior. Behavior causes results.

12. 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?

13. “We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are.” ~ Anais Nin

14. 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.

15. Classic Mental Model • The Bummer • Things are the way they are and there is nothing I/we can do about it.

16. Classic Mental Model • The Social Trap • If others do it, I may as well. • If no one else does it, why should I?

17. 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).

18. Classic Mental Model • The Rescue • Theory of Confidence • The market, technology or someone or something will take care of it.

19. Classic Mental Model • The 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.

20. Classic Mental Model • The Illusion of Away • Our trash goes away, our pollution goes away, our oil spills go away, our food comes from away, etc.

21. Classic Mental Model • The Illusion of Other • You are different from me. • Humans are separate from nature, there is a hierarchy of living things.

22. 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”

23. Mental Models • Incomplete and constantly changing • Not accurate • Uncertainty about their validity doesnotprevent them from being used even if incorrect

24. 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

26. Mental Models • How might you use the concept of mental models with your students? • How do mental models impact sustainability?

27. Toward Sustainability “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” ~Albert Einstein

28. 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.

29. Sustainable Mental Model • Consider the 7th generation when making decisions • What legacy will we leave our children? • A guiding principle of the Iroquois Nation

30. Sustainable Mental Model • We are all responsible • Everything we do and everything we don’t do makes a difference.

31. 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

32. Sustainable Mental Model • We 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

33. Systems Thinking Let’s experience a system!

34. 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?

35. 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

36. 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.

37. 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.

38. 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?

39. Systems Thinking • The Easter Island society collapseddue to extensive deforestation and intensive agriculture. • Read Jared Diamond’s account at • http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/24/042.html

40. 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/

41. Towards Systems Thinking

42. Sustainability You can understand systems thinking without understanding sustainability, but you cannot understand sustainability without understanding systems thinking.

43. 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.

44. Sustainability • The 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 • Take • Make • Preserve • Respect • We’ll consider schools in our examples

45. 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

46. 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?

47. 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

48. Condition 2: Make • What does this look like in a school? • Use nontoxic cleaning supplies • Use and dispose of laboratory chemicals properly • Use low/no VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints • Limit the use of plastics and other “disposables” • Don’t use pollutants or toxic substances • Evaluate new purchases (computers, printers, etc.) for toxins • Other?

49. 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

50. 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?