pdc+++ module 4 class 5 dana meadows

Energy & EcoTechnologyModule 4 of the PDC+++PDC

++

+We dedicate this Module to the Mother &

Father of Integral Permaculture: Dana Meadows & Howard Odum, two original

pioneers who helped humanity make great strides in understanding systemic

thinking, in all four quadrants.

Why Dana Meadows as the mother of Integral Permaculture?*

Dana Meadows was a pioneering environmental scientist, a great system thinker & educator, a leading voice in the environmental movement.

*She is best known for being the lead author of Limits to Growth, a milestone which alerted the world to the unsustainable course the western model of development was taking, back

in 1972. The book, which reported on a study of long-term global trends in population, economics, and the environment, sold millions of copies and was translated into 28 languages & inspired the birth of permaculture, amongst its many of other important

influences. *

A long-time organic farmer, professor & journalist, Meadows had a unique insight, passion & ability for translating the complexities of systems dynamics into practical action-points,

some of this we will explore during this class.

Class M4.5

Dana Meadows

M4.5 * Why Dana Meadows as Mother of Integral Permaculture?

Visioning

Life & Works

Thinking in Systems

Leverage Points in a System

Dancing with Systems

Direct Link to her page in the e-book: http://bit.ly/DanaMeadowsEn

A very touching & unique video in YouTube

Dr. Dana Meadows"Down To Earth"October 1994

Changed her technical talk ... not taking for

granted the vision.

In something she has been

systematically un-trained ... visioning.

watch it!it's brilliant :)

RecordedArticles to listen to > gift for mind-map of VisionsLecture :)


Visioning

Life & Works

Thinking in Systems




1941 - 2001 USA

Donella Meadows

bit.ly/DanaMeadowsEn

System Analyst

Journalist

Writer

Teacher

Farmer

Founder of The Sustainability Centre, 1996,

now The Donella

Meadows Institute

to apply systems thinking &

organizational learning to economic,

environmental & social challenges

born 1942 USA

Dennis Meadows

Scientist

Emeritus Professor of

Systems Management

Some great lectures of his

on Dana's page, about

the 30yr update to Limits to Growth

husband & co-authorof Limits to Growth

bit.ly/DanaMeadowsEn


Visioning

Life & Works

Thinking in Systems




Don't worry if some parts of the coursestill don't make sense, or you don't know

where to fit them ... if it's all a bit like this ...We can't

learn systems in a linear way

Relax & TRUST in

your mind - which IS a system!

... it's normal :)

hopefully by now some bits are starting to re-connect in a new way, ... & Meadow's work is

very helpful for this

Towards the beginning of our adventure together we said ...

Systems & SubSystems your circulatory

system

heart

arteries

veins

capillaries

etc.

2) & complex systems in turn are made up of sub-systems

ElementsInterConnexions

Purpose

Systems Design - a Review1) they have these componentsDana Meadows

from class 2.1

HierarchyHolarchy

organ

organism

ecosystem

3) & sub-systems organize themselves into nested hierarchies (holarchies)

2) complex systems in turn are made up of sub-systems

Holons

Systems Design - a Review

ElementsinterConnections

Purpose

1) have these components 2) complex systems made up of sub-systems

3) sub-systems organized in nested hierarchies (holarchies)

4) & we have a great symbols language to make maps (models) of complex life systems

Systems Design - a Review

A System in HarmonyElements

InterConnexionsPurpose

your respiratory system

your digestive system

your circulatory system

heart

arteries

veins

capillaries

etc.

Eg. a healthy body: the whole self-regulates to keep you alive

&

Toward a CommonWork

Purpose

Administrators

balance the budget

Students

Professors

discover knowledge & pass it to future generations

to get good grades

to get tenure

ignore students in order to write their papers

cheat in exams

sack profesors

Sub-systems can enter into

conflict with the intended purpose

A System in Dis-Harmony

Eg. a university: as intended & how can mis-align (bad design)

Purpose

Economy

thriving creativity &

commerce to supply all healthy

human needs (PEOPLE CARE)

Environment

Energy

toward maximum fertility & diversity (EARTH CARE)

use the least amount possible & slowly (REDUCE CONSUMPTION)

A System in Dis-Harmonya Rational System Vision (for our

'system') > a sustainable one > a PermaCulture

For all creatures to thrive

Purpose

Economy

thriving creativity &

commerce to supply all

healthy human needs

(PEOPLE CARE)

Environment

Energy

toward maximum fertility & diversity (EARTH CARE)

use the least amount possible & slowly (REDUCE CONSUMPTION)

make it as cheap, abundant & universally

available as possible, with fast

turn-over

try to adjust & survive under brutal attack

maximum consumption

at highest possible profit

Sub-systems in serious conflict

with Permaculture

Ethics

The current 'system' & how it might be currently mis-aligned or 'off purpose' (discuss in wiki!)

For all creatures to thrive or for humans to dominate all species?

A System in Dis-Harmony

governments that make harmful

substances illegal & use police power

to control

people who want quick relief from psychological pain

farmers, drugdealers & bankers who want to make

money

dealers who are less limited by

the law than the police that

oppose them

rich people who live in the vicinity

of por people non-addicts that are more interested in

protecting themselves than in encouraging

recovery of the addicts

= a system where it is very difficult to eradicate drug addiction & crime

Can we Re-design a Whole Society?

it is only by returning responsibility & self-regulating functions that a

stable life-system can evolve

self-regulates?

Systems are complex, & lots of creativityis also needed to understand them

is this art or science?

Remember... each part might not

Look anything like the whole

or some other part

but there are rules

A Text Book


Visioning

Life & Works

Thinking in Systems




Places to Intervenein a System bit.ly/PlacesToIntervene

Winter 1997

Jay Forrester (MIT, Dana's mentor) > Complex Systems are Counter-Intuitive

"People know intuitively where leverage points are.

Time after time I've done an analysis of a company, and I've figured out a leverage point.

Then I've gone to the company and discovered that everyone is pushing it in the wrong direction!"

Article the result of an "intuition jump" when listening to the new global trade regime, NAFTA & GATT.

"What bubbled up in me that day was distilled from decades of rigorous analysis of many different kinds of systems done by many smart people. But complex systems are, well, complex. It's dangerous to generalize about them. .. this .. is not a recipe for finding leverage points. Rather it's an invitation to think more broadly about system change. "

RecordedArticles to listen to > gift for mind-map of VisionsLecture :)

9) Numbers.

8) Material stocks and flows (11.size of buffers, 10. structure of material stocks & flows, 9. length of delays)

7) Regulating negative feedback loops.

6) Driving positive feedback loops.

5) Information flows.

4) The rules of the system (incentives, punishments, constraints).

3) The power of self-organization

2)The goals of the system

1) The mindset or paradigm out of which the system arises

0) The power to transcend paradigms (1.)

PermaCulture we're building

What we've got / already built

"12 Leverage Points"

Places to Intervenein a System

it is only by returning responsibility & self-regulating functions that a stable life-system can evolve

The role of a successful design is to create a self-

regulating system

self-regulates?

a stable life-system?

3) The power of self-organization



extinction of biodiversity

& the gray wave

PETROL PEAK CLIMATE CHANGE

monetary instability

& the

information revolution

20002020

“In times of extraordinary

change,

the problem isn't not to realize all

that we can dream,

but in not dreaming all we could

realize”

(Dee Hock)

We need to create a new myth ... a modern myth see class 5.10

designing with Myth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgqiwWKNyYc&feature=related

The Founding Mother of Permaculture?

“Limits to Growth” (in the 60s)Club of Roma (in the 70s) > inspired Mollison

The Brudtland Comission (in the 70s-80s)

Local Agenda 21 (in the 80s)




Visioning

Life & Works

Thinking in Systems




Dancing With Systems

Winter 2001

“People who are raised in the industrial world and who get enthused about systems thinking are likely to make a terrible mistake.

They are likely to assume that here, in systems analysis, in interconnection and complication, in the power of the computer, here at last, is the key to prediction and control.

This mistake is likely because the mindset of the industrial world assumes that there is a key to prediction and control.

But self-organizing, nonlinear, feedback systems are inherently unpredictable.

They are not controllable.

They are understandable only in the most general way.

We can't control systems or figure them out.

But we can dance with them!

1) Get the beat.

2) Listen to the wisdom of the system.

3) Expose your mental models to the open air.


4) Stay humble. Stay a learner.

5) Honor and protect information.

6) Locate responsibility in the system.

7) Make feedback policies for feedback systems.

12) Expand the boundary of caring.

13) Celebrate complexity.

14) Hold fast to the goal of goodness.


8) Pay attention to what is important, not just what is quantifiable.

9) Go for the good of the whole.

10) Expand time horizons.

11) Expand thought horizons.


Visioning

Life & Works

Thinking in Systems




RecordedArticles to listen to

> gift for mind-map of VisionsLecture :)

AND ** Permis for articles

presentations **