From Nature to Systems Thinking | Meetup Summary (Dec 9, 2020)
How can your green actions have an impact at the local and systemic levels?
Organized by We Are Museums, within the programme ‘Museums Facing Extinction’, our online community meetup took place on December 9, 2020. The event tagged ‘From Nature to Systems Thinking’ hosted two experts in systems thinking: Krzysztof Biliński, a Systems Innovation Design Manager—Experimentation Central and Eastern Europe, EIT Climate-KIC (Poland), and Asha Singhal, Lead Executive Design of Biomimicry Frontiers (Canada/Germany).
Check this link to find all the precious resources shared by the experts.
The online community meet-up started with participants engaging in a little exercise that involved picking up a random object around them and thinking about alternative uses of the object and the most factual use of the object.
Act upon the right leverage points
Krzysztof started off by introducing participants to the first part of systems thinking. Systems Thinking is an excellent methodology to understand and analyse complex systems such as the ‘global food system map’, ‘the two worldviews', and ‘leverage points’.
If you want to impact the entire system of a complex system, we should start identifying different elements, points, or relations that can be considered leverage points for change and that will transform more than one area.
He stressed that growth is the main leverage point that leads to the problems of inequality, world divisions, unemployment, and quality of life. In order to change the narrative, he advised that the measurement of growth should be the happiness index.
Unpack to understand better
Additionally, he spoke about the ability to understand systems by being able to unpack them using the iceberg model. He also explained why thinking should go beyond ‘what to do’ to address a problem. It should encompass ‘how to solve the problem’, and ‘why the problem should be addressed’. In summary, he opined that since the system is evolving, we should also build our readiness to adapt to it.
Nature as a model
Then, Asha Singhal continued by explaining to the participants biomimicry and nature-inspired thinking. In biomimicry, we look at nature as a model, measure, and mentor for specific strategies about life’s principles. She introduced a specific tool or methodology of biomimicry, which is called ‘The Life’s Principles’. She briefly described a diagram illustrating life’s principles with 26 converging patterns that are common to all living organisms on earth. These patterns are the underlying strategies that life has used to survive on Earth for about 3.8 billion years.
Out of about 30 million species on earth, only about 1% of all life has ever existed on earth. These are the species that have learned to survive and thrive within the conditions of Earth. Among this diversity of species, we also have a variety of lessons to learn from their survival strategies. Mimicking the unique survival strategies of various species is known as bio-mimicry.
Life’s principles are another way of looking at this concept. The 26 converging patterns are more like guidelines for the successful survival stories of the species that thrive within the conditions of Earth. These patterns help create conditions that are conducive to more life and serve as an aspirational goal. Life essentially thrives within the operational conditions of Earth. The primary conditions include sunlight, gravity, water, dynamic non-equilibrium, and limiting boundaries.
Aspirational goals are surrounded by six principles, which are known as the main principles of life. These principles provide answers to how we might create conditions that are conducive to more life and adapt to changing conditions.
‘How do you place yourself in an opposition of a system you’re already a subject of in order to unpack the system?’
Krzysztof responded to the question by saying that ‘unpacking a system is not an easy task but can be achieved by making personal mindset and behavioural changes which would eventually scale up to a broader scene’.
Practical exercise: How to overcome competition in the museum field?
Krzysztof considered the challenge of ‘overcoming competition in the museum field’ to be at the top of the iceberg. Going deeper gives rise to questions like ‘what happens that makes overcoming competition relieving for the museum and art sector’, ‘what influences the competition’, ‘who is the audience', ‘who is the target that intends to change this paradigm’, ‘what assertions or beliefs can you spot behind overcoming competitions in our society or systems that we are a part of’.
Participants were urged to lend their voice to their personal challenge of competition, how it affects them, and why it is such a big issue.
Gabrielle, one of the participants, spoke about corporations and lack of communication as causes of competition. She stressed the essence of boosting corporation and communication between museums other than competition. She opined that the lack of communication and corporation is prevalent among museums because of the apparent lack of collaboration tradition. She believes projects and conferences like this would foster collaboration and improve effective communication among museums.
Another participant was of the view that the competition was historical and that the narrative had just begun to change in recent years. In her opinion, the positive change was a result of a change in leadership. Conversely, Krzysztof said that a positive change doesn’t always occur as a result of a change in leadership because sometimes there are behavioural attributes embedded in the daily routine of such positions. Krzysztof further illustrated possible lines of action for the challenge of overcoming competition using the iceberg model.
Asha spoke on overcoming competition using life’s principles to understand how nature works in terms of competition. She spoke about how nature reduces competition and promotes cooperation within an ecosystem. She gave an example using the flowers of a red plant that have certain flowering times. During the flowering season, the plants flower at different points as insects tend to transfer pollen from one flowering plant to the other to sustain life. This implies that every week or every month, there would be a different flower. Through this course of action, nature reduces the competition of red plants and promotes cooperation using a biological system.
Asha correlated the cooperation found in biological systems to museums. She opined that staggering events among museums at different times could help promote cooperation.
One participant asked if the idea of cooperation using life’s principles could apply to a small or localized community.
Asha responded that it is very possible to apply life’s principles, as the localized community can be likened to a single museum or the museums in a city.
Krzysztof added that individual ecosystems can be treated as part of an already existing system. Krzysztof advised participants that looking for the opposite of competition, which is cooperation, could serve as a source of inspiration. According to Krzysztof, models can be learned and created using cooperative systems.
Ask Nature!
Both experts advised participants to make time to think about what they have learned during the course of the online meet-up and how they can apply the tools and methodology that have been discussed.
Asha suggested that you always ask yourself the question, “How would nature have done it?” and check the website Ask Nature which gathered thousands of examples of how nature does things.
Krzysztof also advised participants to consider some weak systems that might be excluded.
Watch the recording of the session here
