David Ing @daviding@qoto.org

For those who thought I spoke too quickly at the ISSS 2022 plenary talk, the article on "Appreciating Systems Changes via Multiparadigm Inquiry" in the Proceedings of the 66th Annual Meeting has been formally released.

https://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/appreciating-systems-changes-isss-proceedings/

Rethinking #SystemsThinking

Many of the luminaries of the systems sciences spent a year at the #CASBS (e.g. Kenneth Boulding wrote _The Image_ in a burst of inspiration, with his participation). In the current day, the CASBS continues to encourage inquiries worth following.

> Capitalist democracy needs rethinking and renewal. Our current political economic framework is fixated on GDP, individual achievement, and short-term profit, all the while heightening barriers to widespread prosperity. Faced with mounting climate crises and systemic discrimination, we must reimagine ways to ensure ethical flourishing for all. In response, the Winter 2023 issue of Dædalus focuses on “Creating a New Moral Political Economy,” and addresses these long-standing problems and how to combat the resultant unequal footing across the polity, marketplace, and workplace. In eleven main essays and twenty-two responses, the authors raise questions about how to create supportive social movements that prioritize collective, equitable, and respectful responsibility for care of the earth and its people.

https://www.amacad.org/daedalus/creating-new-moral-political-economy

#SystemsThinking

Web video recording of relaxed conversation on Sensemaking and Theory-Building led by #GarySMetcalf for #SystemsThinking Ontario.

https://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/sensemaking-theory-building-gary-s-metcalf-st-on-2023-02-13/

In #SystemsThinking associated with scientific pluralism, the treatments of world theories as (i) analytic or synthetic have generally received more attention than (ii) dispersive or integrative.

https://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/world-theories-as-analytic-deductive-dispersive-integrative/

#SocioTechnical #SocioEcological #SystemsTheory

Might we have an indicator that lives for Canadians are at a stress level lower than other countries? Either that, or spouses are just nicer to each other.

> Canadian marriages are oddly stable

> In 2020 – the most recent year for which data is available – Canada recorded fewer divorces than at any point since 1973. This is particularly impressive given that Canada has 16 million more people than we did in the early 1970s. The low divorce rate was driven in large part by COVID; couples forced into close proximity by public health lockdowns unexpectedly responded by learning to tolerate one another. But even before the pandemic, Canada was already boasting a crude divorce rate that was one of the lowest in the G7.

National Post: FIRST READING: Canada is a broken disaster (except in these areas).
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/first-reading-canada-is-a-broken-disaster-except-in-these-areas

Any country concerned about population decline could learn from Finland on policies encouraging infertile mothers, balancing personal and societal concerns.

> In Finland – where women first gained suffrage, where a woman is now Prime Minister – it is illegal to pay egg donors more than a basic €250 compensation for temporary discomfort (plus the basic daily allowance and kilometre allowance for transportation).

> Women in Finland donate for various reasons, but a scramble to pay bills is not one of them. Recipients do not pick their donor but are matched by doctors on basic biological criteria (donor height and her skin, eye and hair colour). At an average private clinic in Finland, one round of egg donation IVF treatment costs around €7,000, excluding medication.

> ... I became pregnant with a donor egg from a Finnish clinic. I have since left Finland to resume my university position in the United States

#HeidiMorrison | "I finally got pregnant in Finland - a country that hasn’t commodified infertility" | Dec. 12, 2022 | Globe & Mail (paywall) https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/first-person/article-i-finally-got-pregnant-in-finland-a-country-that-hasnt-commodified/

"An Extended Stay" | September 27, 2022 | UW Lacrosse at https://www.uwlax.edu/news/posts/an-extended-stay/

While institutions are incorporated to live beyond the lifetime of a single human being, perhaps fulfilling its mission can lead to a conclusion that the best course is to wind itself down. Courage at the #IveyFoundation , led by #BruceLourie

> One of Canada’s largest and oldest philanthropic organizations has decided to wind down and distribute its entire endowment – $100-million – to expedite efforts to align the economy with net-zero emission targets.

> The Ivey Foundation has determined that the need to transform industrial policies to meet climate goals is too acute to keep funding projects at its current rate, said Bruce Lourie, the foundation’s chief executive officer. The money will be dispersed to its slate of economic and environmental partner organizations over the next five years.

> Dr. Lourie said slashing carbon emissions by 40 per cent to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and getting to net zero by 2050, as per Ottawa’s international commitments, are only getting tougher to achieve. [....]

> From the foundation’s perspective, the two biggest risks facing the country are failing to adequately deal with climate change and missing related economic opportunities, such as electric vehicle and battery manufacturing and transforming the power grid, as other countries establish dominance in those areas. “So, in our philanthropic work, we’re really trying to integrate those two things – Canada’s competitiveness and prosperousness, together with the need to address our emissions,” Dr. Lourie said.

"Ivey Foundation will distribute $100-million endowment to causes aimed at accelerating progress on climate change" | Jeffrey Jones | Globe & Mail | 2021-11-29 https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-ivey-foundation-endowment-climate-change/