![]() In fact, solution-setting needs to be iterative, continuous, often conducted in parallel, and refined or abandoned as data reveals where efficacies reside. Think about the world problem of overfishing and fishery depletion. This is a problem we (as humanity) continue to face. Increases in global fish consumption since the 1950s have depleted our ocean waters of fish species that many human populations rely on for their primary source of protein. Overfishing disrupts the natural biological food chain in oceans. As highly popular top predators of the ocean (e.g., tuna, grouper) are fished to near extinction, the marine food chain invariably changes to allow for an abundance of smaller species to thrive, such as sardines and anchovies.2 What are the solutions to the over-fishing problem?įor one, global governance of international waters. The problem is no one person or nation “owns” the world’s oceans and thus, they are prone to illegal fish pirating. Another, is local or shared governance (e.g., between governments, NGO’s and local communities) of fisheries to combat pirating. They unfortunately, have had sporadic success due to rules implementation and ownership issues. Third is a new fish ‘industry’: aquaculture (breeding popular fish species in captivity such as Salmon, Oysters, and Shrimp). Aquaculture supports wild fish catch management but has its own serious environmental impacts to wetlands and natural estuaries with issues such as fish waste management and (over)use of antibiotics. Complex Problems Demand Parallel, Iterative SolutionsĪnother aspect of systems thinking is tackling complexity within a system. There is often no one right answer and no one right approach to solving a system’s problems. Simple, easy solutions are inadequate for solving problems within a ‘system’. This is definitely true as problems grow to global proportions. Think about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and their effect on global temperature rises. Every country needs to work towards the reduction of GHGs in its purview but no one country can make a difference unless all (or the majority of polluting countries) work toward the same goal. ![]() It is important to understand a concept of systems thinking as it applies to planetary climate change. That concept is ‘feedback loops’. Systems thinking is an analytical approach to understanding complex problems within a defined system (e.g., the federal government, a city, a corporation, a family unit) where interactions within the system are relationship-based, interdependent, complex and varied in both cause and effect.
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