Biting my tongue. Biting my tongue. Biting my tongue~ctm
Public Release: 30-Nov-2018
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Achieving a sustainable world will require a paradigm shift in the way we approach life sciences and ecology, according to a new book cowritten by IIASA researcher Brian Fath, with a focus on a holistic, multi-model view of life and the environment.
‘Life’ is not best viewed as a property of an organism, but as a property of an integrated system of organisms, ecosystems, and the biosphere. Mainstream approaches to tackling sustainability issues treat life as a singular model, rather than as a system. Fath and coauthor Daniel Fiscus, from the Western Maryland Food Council, argue in Foundations for Sustainability: A Coherent Framework of Life-Environment Relations that this simplistic, reductionist approach is partially responsible for the global environmental problems we currently face.
“Symptoms of environmental degradation – climate disruption, mass species extinctions, nitrogen cycle disruption, ocean acidification, crises with food, energy, and water, and many more – are not improving, and we suggest that this situation directly calls into question the existing science, and its foundational ideas, theories, assumptions, and paradigm,” says Fiscus.
The book aims to challenge the mainstream view, and presents a roadmap for the reform of current thinking, presenting the case for a multi-model view of life on earth. Through describing better basic science and applied science results, Fath and Fiscus hope to increase the understanding of what is needed to achieve a world which is both environmentally and economically sustainable.
In the nine chapters of the book, the authors say that many of the symptoms of the current environmental crisis relate to the prevailing approach, which treats living and environmental systems as if they are machines. Thus, the core idea in science has produced the conditions we see now – the world is running out of fuel and breaking down, like the mechanical system we have treated it to be. By adopting a multi-model, holistic view of life, science can provide leadership so the world can realize better environmental outcomes.
Fath and Fiscus identify the life-environment system and use this as the fundamental idea of their conceptual framework, which integrates the holistic ideas of other scientists taking the systems thinking approach to the environment, with the intention of building a larger movement. They cite examples where the holistic approach has been successful, such as that of the Research Alliance for Regenerative Economics (RARE – capitalinstitute.org/research-alliance-for-regenerative-economics/), which promotes building an economy and financial systems that support sustainability. Case studies such as local food production and community self-reliance show the value of integrated, holistic approaches to engage networks of individuals and enterprises that regenerate human communities and natural systems.
They propose six principles of holistic life science, including that it must be centered on the value of life, balance the holistic and reductionist approaches, and be able to model and understand complex life systems and be able to recommend actions for interacting with those systems. Fath and Fiscus also look at lessons they have learned from their own work in ecological network analysis and systems ecology to develop a framework and system of ideas to ensure a better relationship between humans and the environment.
“Throughout the book is the thread that life is not only organismal but also ecosystemic and biospheric. We are all integrated, such that if one part suffers, all suffer. And yet there are many win-win situations that make life better. We need to start building life-enhancing goals and structures into all aspects of our actions,” says Fath.
The authors are working on ways to make the messages accessible to general public, but say that their book will be most relevant to academics in biology, ecology, environmental science, sustainability, regenerative economics and related fields, as well as those looking to solve socio-ecological problems. The findings within the book are also important for governments and policymakers working towards sustainability.
“Instead of continuing piecemeal analytical approaches that continue to fail and may make matters worse, the holistic approach of the book holds promise, and explains rigorous science and practical applications by which we can reorganize our science, technology and culture… to achieve a human future in which the environment improves as we live,” says Fiscus.
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Reference
Fiscus D & Fath B (2018). Foundations for Sustainability: A Coherent Framework of Life-Environment Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts, US: Academic Press [pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/15513/]
More information
Book webpage – https://www.elsevier.com/books/foundations-for-sustainability/fiscus/978-0-12-811460-5
Tell me again that “climate change” is not a religion.
“They cite examples where the holistic approach has been successful, such as that of the Research Alliance for Regenerative Economics (RARE – capitalinstitute.org/research-alliance-for-regenerative-economics/)”.
Does anybody know how exactly this has been successful?
“The authors are working on ways to make the messages accessible to general public”. Translate the messages to English, maybe?
“climate disruption, mass species extinctions, nitrogen cycle disruption, ocean acidification, crises with food, energy, and water, and many more”
I lost interest at that point. Mass species extinctions, nitrogen cycle disruptions, ocean “less akaline”, etc have occurred all through the history of the planet. Gaia is apparently constantly trying to commit suicide. Who are we to try and argue with the blessed Gaia?
It makes you wonder how life ever survived on the planet before these feather-brained clowns arrived.
I just wish there was somewhere out of the way we could let them actually try and sustain themselves without the need to involve everyone else in moderating their multiple stupidities.
Moderately East of Cross Anglia: “I just wish there were somewhere….” That was my thought too, and the somewheres I had in mind were Yemen, Venezuela, maybe Nigeria. Their “new paradigm” “holistic” “if one suffers, all suffer” approach would be so welcome. People who are hungry would just eat this book up.
Less than 100 species over the last 200 years is hardly a “mass species extinction”.
Ooooh… are holistic scientists anything like holistic detectives…. or holistic assassins?
A holistic, network approach to life science? Maybe a scientific approach to life science should be tried first. You know – the approach where five centuries of experience tells us that it actually works.
I fear we are fast approaching the societal rot that has resulted in many civilizations failing. Too many people think food products are made by waving a magic wand and materializing meat, vegetables, fruit, etc.
What is the holistic approach to slaughtering a cow, pig, or chicken? What is holistic about using a hoe to slay every grass and weed in the field of grain? What is holistic about killing everything (deer, racoons, etc.) that try to eat your crop before you harvest it?
Too many of these people have never lived poor on a farm and tried subsistence living. Too many of these people have lived in cities all of their lives and have no knowledge about the interactions between animals in the wild, including humans. For all of our science and technological marvels humans are really not very far removed from living hand to mouth. Too bad this isn’t thought about more!
I think Gaia, permaculture and Biodynamics predate such a synthesis by decades to a century. Whether you agree with either is open to discussion, but there is nothing novel here, except in academia where nothing synthesised outside of tenured positions counts!
Ever hear of something called the biosphere?
I is a great opportunity to train the deer, squirrels, ground hogs, raccoons and skunks to be a responsible member of this holistic network approach ecosystem.
What is needed is global commission to develop this concept, like the IPCC, only different.
the world has been sustainable for billions of years, how stupid can people get.
“Biting my tongue. Biting my tongue. Biting my tongue~ctm”
Would that be considered eating meat? Cant have any of that.
You mean that as our models demonstrate that any simplistic mechanism for the complex planetary climate regulation system is no more adequate than a specified genome is without all the functional epigenetic controls, we are now beckoned to impatiently abandon all the hard work of step-wise verification that has brought us thus far (during a fossil fueled prosperity, by the way) and skip past that squishy post-modern relativism right to incantation? I think I’ll just collect my participation trophy and go home.
I used to work in an academic department that included “systems engineering”. They produced some very useful research, applied systems analysis at its best. Made a significant difference, eg sediment transport patterns resulting for dredging, cause of incidents involving shipping in the Great Barrier Reef area. The latter identified that a ship was 35 times more likely to be involved in an incident if a pilot was on board. Thank goodness for GPS. Looks like another useful discipline has been taken over by idiots.
A publication that will “ sink with the sad finality of an outboard motor spark plug accidentally dropped overboard two miles at sea ”
[Willis E.; WUWT – the froth of the fourth]
No, the spark plug was a regrettable accidental loss, the loss of this book would be more on purpose.
We treat the environment as if it were a machine, and lo and behold it breaks down like a machine.
–this is not a very convincing argument for the idea that the environment is not a machine.
It is a good argument that the environment is machine-like, whether we like that or not.
“Fath and Fiscus identify the life-environment system ” Personally I don’t give a Ficus.
Achieving a sustainable world will require a paradigm shift
Right off the bat — eco-loon claptrap.