Global Citizens Blog

Archive for the ‘Thinking in Systems’ Category

Help Last Call “Change the Ending!”

Posted by Sarah Parkinson, Published: April 30th, 2013

Last Call, a new documentary film, revisits the message of The Limits to Growth and shares a compelling vision of a sustainable future. It’s been forty years since Donella Meadows and her team at MIT published The Limits to Growth, but their message still needs to be heard–today more than ever. When their groundbreaking book first came out in 1972, the [...]

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

Posted by Sarah Parkinson, 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 Sarah Parkinson, 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 Sarah Parkinson, 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 Sarah Parkinson, 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 [...]

About DMI

Since its founding in 1996 by environmental leader Donella Meadows, our Institute has been at the forefront of sustainability thinking and training. Our initiatives have addressed economic, environmental, and social challenges from a range of angles and at many levels. In everything we do, the disciplines of systems thinking and organizational learning inform and shape our work. It is this focus on whole-system analysis, combined with careful listening, truth telling, and visioning, that make the Donella Meadows Institute unique among sustainability organizations.  Read More

Newsletter Sign Up

DMI will be producing an E-newsletter with news from the organization, updates on the work of our fellows, and more. Sign up here if you'd like to hear about what we're working on.

Contact Form

captcha