Comments on: From Ecosystems and Economics to Social Systems: Reflections Pt 6 http://rs.resalliance.org/2007/03/01/from-ecosystems-and-economics-to-social-systems-reflections-pt-6/ coping with ecological surprise in a human dominated world Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:54:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Index of Buzz Holling’s Reflections at Resilience Science http://rs.resalliance.org/2007/03/01/from-ecosystems-and-economics-to-social-systems-reflections-pt-6/comment-page-1/#comment-17813 Index of Buzz Holling’s Reflections at Resilience Science Thu, 05 Apr 2007 19:45:27 +0000 http://rs.resalliance.org/2007/03/01/from-ecosystems-and-economics-to-social-systems-reflections-pt-6/#comment-17813 [...] From Ecosystems and Economics to Social Systems [...] [...] From Ecosystems and Economics to Social Systems [...]

]]> By: Xris (Flatbush Gardener) http://rs.resalliance.org/2007/03/01/from-ecosystems-and-economics-to-social-systems-reflections-pt-6/comment-page-1/#comment-2821 Xris (Flatbush Gardener) Sat, 03 Mar 2007 14:53:07 +0000 http://rs.resalliance.org/2007/03/01/from-ecosystems-and-economics-to-social-systems-reflections-pt-6/#comment-2821 We are seeing the same responses now to the release of IPCC #4. Let's seed the oceans with iron. Let's seed the air with sulfur. Let's put mirrors in space around the world. All big, expensive actions which, like war, will ultimately cause even greater harm than the problem they're intended to solve. The operation was a success. The patient died. In my field, we call these anti-patterns. The concept of "slow variables" is important. I've never heard the phrase, but I recognized it immediately. It's intuitively clear that these affect the deep causes, which in turn, sooner or later, lead to the apparent "crises" and our reactionary responses to them. I imagine the slow variables as big dials with hundreds and thousands of positions. Turning the dials slightly will have the effect we desire, just not in our lifetimes, nor in the lifetimes of our nations. We are seeing the same responses now to the release of IPCC #4. Let’s seed the oceans with iron. Let’s seed the air with sulfur. Let’s put mirrors in space around the world. All big, expensive actions which, like war, will ultimately cause even greater harm than the problem they’re intended to solve.

The operation was a success. The patient died. In my field, we call these anti-patterns.

The concept of “slow variables” is important. I’ve never heard the phrase, but I recognized it immediately. It’s intuitively clear that these affect the deep causes, which in turn, sooner or later, lead to the apparent “crises” and our reactionary responses to them.

I imagine the slow variables as big dials with hundreds and thousands of positions. Turning the dials slightly will have the effect we desire, just not in our lifetimes, nor in the lifetimes of our nations.

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