Archive for the ‘Thinking in Systems’ Category

DMI Directors to Crestone, CO for leadership retreat and wilderness solo

Posted by Kindle Loomis, Published: April 2nd, 2013

By Pamela Paquin

April 28 through May 5, DMI’s Co-Directors Marta Ceroni and Pamela Paquin will embark on a Learning Journey with the Academy for Systemic Change and the Way of Nature in Crestone, Colorado. Our board enthusiastically supported this internal development and it is an honor for us to attend–we will truly be among the “Jedi Masters.” As leaders in the Upper [...]

Learning to Connect the Dots: Developing Children’s Systems Literacy

Posted by Kindle Loomis, Published: October 24th, 2012

By Linda Booth Sweeney

A brief interaction between the author and her four-year-old son at a traffic rotary illuminates the awareness young children have, often overlooked, of systems and connectedness. (Image credit: Tauno Tõhk) In Brief How can can adults nurture children’s capacity to “connect the dots” through everyday conversations and activities? How can educators build an environment that leads children to see the patterns that [...]

Managing Complexity: A Simulation’s Insights into Climate Change

Posted by Kindle Loomis, Published: October 19th, 2012

By Sarah Parkinson

Using the En-ROADS simulation tool to visualize our energy choices and understand their implications Elizabeth Sawin When we talk about climate change, we’re really talking about systems—a whole web of linked issues. We can’t really discuss the eroding health of our planet without bringing up the causes of that decline, such as habitat destruction and resource extraction. Mention of resource extraction brings [...]

Envisioning a Sustainable World

Posted by Kindle Loomis, Published: October 8th, 2012

By Donella Meadows

Donella Meadows, one of the founders of the Balaton Group and an early advocate of systems thinking. (image credit: Donella Meadows Institute This is an edited transcript of part of a talk given by Donella Meadows at the 1994 meeting of the International Society for Ecological Economics in San José, Costa Rica, and recorded by Peter Griesinger. Meadows, cofounder of the [...]

Last Call: A Documentary Film About The Limits to Growth

Posted by Kindle Loomis, Published: September 20th, 2012

By Sarah Parkinson

“There are physical limits to growth which, given current trends, are very likely to be encountered even within the lifetime of our children…The most likely outcome of running into these limits if we continue to ignore them is that we’ll overshoot those limits and collapse…Every year we delay decreases our ultimate options.”   –Dennis Meadows, 1972   While this warning has been [...]

About The Donella Meadows Project

The mission of the Donella Meadows Project is to preserve Donella (Dana) H. Meadows’s legacy as an inspiring leader, scholar, writer, and teacher; to manage the intellectual property rights related to Dana’s published work; to provide and maintain a comprehensive and easily accessible archive of her work online, including articles, columns, and letters; to develop new resources and programs that apply her ideas to current issues and make them available to an ever-larger network of students, practitioners, and leaders in social change.  Read More

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