Posts Tagged ‘book’
Thinking In Systems: A Primer
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on November 19th, 2009
From “Straight Talk for the Planetary Era: A Trio of Book Reviews” by Edward Wolf
Thinking in Systems reflects Prof. Donella Meadows’ lifelong effort to understand systems at all scales – their resilience, their pathologies, their response to perturbations, their capacity to defy prediction. “A system,” Meadows writes, “is a set of things – people, cells, molecules, or whatever – interconnected in such a way that they produce their own pattern of behavior over time.” Systems thinking can reveal interconnections, explain behavior, and anticipate outcomes. Changing outcomes – slowing climate disruption, spreading new crop varieties, containing an epidemic – requires action to change a system’s elements, the interconnections among them, or (more likely) both. A reader seeking to understand the anomalies of our time and to prepare mentally for the likelihood of disruptive change needs this book.
The book’s final section, “Creating Change – in Systems and in our Philosophy,” sheds welcome light on topics covered in The End of the Long Summer and Whole Earth Discipline. Chapter 6, “Leverage Points – Places to Intervene in a System” (first published in essay form in Brand’s Whole Earth Review) outlines twelve points of influence over the behavior of complex systems. Chapter 7, “Living in a World of Systems,” takes a step toward an ethics for a new human story, offering a humble acknowledgment that the systems view entails new responsibilities exercised in unfamiliar ways.
“Systems thinking by itself cannot bridge that gap (between understanding and action), but it can lead us to the edge of what analysis can do and then point beyond – to what can and must be done by the human spirit.” Just past that edge is where the activism, politics, diplomacy – and innovation – of this century really begins.
Read the full article by Edward Wolf.
Tags: book, Research, systems thinking
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‘Water Not Down the Drain’ book by the ATA
Posted in Models by Ferne Edwards on January 11th, 2008
Although Christmas is over a book that provides a guide to using rainwater and greywater at home is a good gift all round – especially in our drought-stricken climate. This book recently released by the Alternative Technology Association (ATA) has over 150 pages of comprehensive information and diagrams on how you can sustainably use water around the home.
Topics include:
* Choosing rainwater tanks and harvesting rainwater
* Supplying rainwater to the house and garden
* Setting up a greywater diversion system for the garden
* Greywater treatment systems for the house and gardens
* Health and environmental concerns with greywater
* Creating a raingarden to capture stormwater
* Cutting greenhouse emissions while saving water
The author, Stuart McQuire, has reduced his familys mains water use by 96%, using just two and a half buckets of mains water per day, but still has a thriving garden full of fresh produce.
Published by the Alternative Technology Association and supported by the Smart Water Fund. To find out how to get a copy visit the ATA website at http://www.ata.org.au/home-page-items/new-book-from-ata-water-not-down-the-drain/.
Tags: ATA, book, Stuart McQuire, water, water savings
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