Data from history reveals that climate change has always occurred, but the process has been prolonged and not capable of causing a significant impact on the environment and people. Climate change happens over millions of years, but recent times have experienced rapid human-driven changes. According to scientists, since the late 1800s, the world has witnessed an increase in anthropogenic (human-produced) changes due to activities that increase greenhouse gas emissions, such as burning fossil fuels. Systematic measurements started in the 1900s, confirming an increase in human-produced carbon dioxide. The rise in the level of CO2 in the atmosphere and other earth systems, such as oceans and forests, is proof of the anthropogenic changes occurring in the environment. The changes led to the Theory of Anthropogenic Climate Change that developed towards the end of the 1900s and the beginning of the 2000s. While many theories could help understand the changes, the current analysis uses systems thinking to explain the interactions between society and nature that produce anthropogenic climate change and propose a hypothetical solution to the problem.
Systems Thinking and Climate Change
Evidently, the earth has been warming over the last few centuries at a very high rate, in what scientists refer to as climate change. The increase in earth temperature has been especially higher in the past three decades, with the greatest contributor being human activities. Systems thinking is a useful model in understanding the interaction between human activities and the ecological system. Systems thinking is the idea that social systems are an interconnection of various components that interact with each other to create a functional whole (Stroh, 2015). Natural, social, and economic systems, are part of the interconnected whole. Human beings are also members of the constantly changing system, and their actions affect the outcomes of the whole. Systems thinking in the ecological domain helps understand and deal with environmental challenges, such as climate change (Ballew et al., 2019). Human beings contribute to environmental changes, which happen through a subset of proximate causal factors. The causes directly impact elements of the environment with a global reach since it is the whole system.
The systems thinking approach has gained attention in addressing the climate change issue by unraveling the leading causes of the changes in the environment and how to revert them. Systems thinking in ecological research focus on pro-environmental tendencies, such as the interconnectedness to nature, ecological behavior, feelings about the threat of climate change, and climate change policies and programs to mitigate the negative effect. Humans, as part of the natural environment, have a significant relationship and impact with the environment. While they are responsible for protecting the environment, their activities have been causing negative changes, causing challenges, such as global warming. Thus, the systems thinking view seeks to understand the cause-effect relationship between human activities and the natural environment (Ballew et al., 2019). The major proximate causes that affect the environmental system include the production and use of fossil fuels instead of renewable sources, such as from the sun or wind. Thus, humans (as a part of the environmental system) are the leading force in increasing climate change and global warming.
The climate change from systems thinking approach involves the theory that cultural trauma is a social process affecting the system as a whole. The systematic disruptions evident in the environment reveal humans’ role in causing the negative effects on the environment. The human part of the system, including individuals’ routines, ideological beliefs, institutional behaviors, and the entire collection of human activities, negatively and positively (Brulle & Norgaard, 2019). Climate change is a collateral by-product of human activities and practices (Malm, 2013). The capitalist economy provides societies with resources to build their economies and improve their livelihood. Initially, and without their knowledge, humans intended to use the nature to build themselves and advance their life but ended up causing a negative effect on the environment (global warming). The increase in greenhouse gases, particularly CO2, are the cause of global warming when they are released into the atmosphere and cause warming. Therefore, the primary cause of climate change is human activities, such as burning fossil fuel. The fossil economy is the main problem because of high dependence on non-renewable energy to support economic activities.
Since the industrial revolution, greenhouse gas emissions have been increasing, indicating a huge relationship between human activities and the climate change challenge. Human beings have contributed to the high concentrations of CO and CH, especially within the past century, due to economic activities that rely on fossil fuel. The high level of emissions is connected to unprecedented warming of the environment, such as the ocean, and an increase in the sea level (Maslin, 2014). The ecological system also witnesses a growth in the prevalence of extreme weather conditions. The causal-effect relationship within the systems theory is cyclic. Human beings are contributing to the increase in the level of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, causing global warming. In turn, climate change causes an increase in various extreme weather events, such as drought and flooding, which in turn affect human beings’ source of livelihood. For example, the world is witnessing an increase in extreme weather events that are reducing food supply since the capacity of the ecosystem to support the production is diminishing. Therefore, the entire ecological system is affected by human activities that contribute to climate change.
The interaction between the people (humans) and nature is the primary cause of climate change and related collateral outcomes, such as adverse weather events. In obtaining food and other necessary resources from the environment, humans have caused some irreversible or difficult problems to overcome. Population growth and increasing economic activities, especially in the capitalist society, has increased the demand for energy, including fossil fuel. The activities have moved the ecosystem away from the equilibrium. The feedback loop helps to understand the role of human activities in affecting the normal balance in the ecosystem due to human activities. A positive feedback loop enhances or amplifies changes that move it away from the state of equilibrium, making it increasingly unstable (Stroh, 2015). The climate change situation can be explained using the loop feedback system since human activities have amplified changes in the environment that have moved it away from the state of balance. The burning of fossil fuels has increased the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that have changed the climate and weather patterns. The disruption of the ecosystem creates collateral problems, such as the adverse weather events that cause worse problems in the environment and for humans, such as the reduced capacity to support food production.
Hypothetical Solution
The solution for the climate change problem should focus on attempts to reverse the damage that humans cause. Given that humans are responsible for the positive feedback loop, they will also contribute to reversing the issue and creating a negative feedback loop. The negative feedback operates by dampening or buffering changes, which strive to return the system back to equilibrium and make it relatively stable (Stroh, 2015). Although it might be impossible to return the ecosystem back to equilibrium, society can create some changes that will reduce the level of CO2 in the atmosphere and address the negative impact, such as the adverse weather patterns. The hypothetical solution should include the economic democracy model that shifts responsibility from the government and policymakers to society or the publics (Lecture Notes). Since people have contributed to the problem, they should also take responsibility for fixing it and reversing the negative effects. Creating awareness in society is one of the moves that can help to mitigate the climate change challenge since each member of the system contributes to the problem. Current solutions that do not involve the individual cannot work since each person is responsible for the damage to the environment.
Current policies should be geared towards reducing the level of greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere by making people more responsible and accountable for their actions. Although the government has been increasing the production of renewable energy they will only be effective of each member of the society is responsible at a personal level. For example, reducing the usage of transportation modes that use fossil fuel is an individual choice that can mitigate the climate change problem. Thus, the proposed hypothetical solution to the climate change problem is no longer viable at the policy level, but at the societal and individual level (Mikkelson, 2017). For example, a behavior change campaign would work, from a systems thinking theory, since it will affect one of the components of the whole system. The solution will educate people about the need to take responsibility for their individual actions to reverse the disruption in the ecological system to restore the equilibrium.
Conclusion
Various theories have been proposed to understand and address the climate change problem. However, few are as effective as the systems thinking model because it focuses on the causal-effect relationship between the different components in the system (the environment) that cause the damage. The model suggests that human activities, such as burning fossil fuels for transportation or industrial processes, contribute to climate change by increasing the level of greenhouse gas emissions. The cyclic relationship includes the focus on the role of the human in contributing to global warming and the effect of global warming on humans (such as extreme weather events that affect food production). Considering the human contribution to the problem, individuals should also be part of the solution by reducing CO2 emissions into the environment. A behavior change campaign focusing on economic democracy will create awareness about the human contribution to the disruption of the environment and the need to reverse it by being environmentally responsible. The government and policymakers (as part of the system) should support efforts to improve responsibility and accountability for the environment in society. Global collaboration is necessary among the parts of the system (government, individuals, private organizations, communities, and all stakeholders) to address the climate change problem.
References
Ballew, M. T., Goldberg, M. H., Rosenthal, S. A., Gustafson, A., & Leiserowitz, A. (2019). Systems thinking as a pathway to global warming beliefs and attitudes through an ecological worldview. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(17), 8214-8219.
Brulle, R. J., & Norgaard, K. M. (2019). Avoiding cultural trauma: Climate change and social inertia. Environmental Politics, 28(5), 886-908.
Lecture 1, What is Economic Democracy?
Malm, A. (2013). The origins of fossil capital: From water to steam in the British cotton industry. Historical Materialism, 21(1), 15-68.
Maslin, M. (2014). Climate change: a very short introduction. OUP Oxford.
Mikkelson, G. M. (2017). Environmental values, human nature, and economic democracy. Human Ecology, 45(1), 131-134.
Stroh, D. P. (2015). Systems thinking for social change: A practical guide to solving complex problems, avoiding unintended consequences, and achieving lasting results. Chelsea Green Publishing.
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