TOPIC 1: Foundations of ESS

1.1 Environmental Value Systems (EVSs)

1.2 Systems & Models

1.3 Energy & Equilibria

1.4 Sustainability

1.5 Humans & Pollution

1.2 Knowledge & Understanding

1.2 Systems & Models

1. A systems approach is a way of visualizing a complex set of interactions which may be ecological or societal.
2. These interactions produce the emergent properties of the system.
3. The concept of a system can be applied at a range of scales.
4. A system is comprised of storages and flows.
5. The flows provide inputs and outputs of energy and matter.
6. The flows are processes that may be either transfers (a change in location) or transformations (a change in the chemical nature, a change in state, or a change in energy).
7. In system diagrams, storages are usually represented as rectangular boxes and flows as arrows, with the direction of each arrow indicating the direction of each flow. The size of the boxes and the arrows may be representative of the size/magnitude of the storage or flow.
8. An open system exchanges both energy and matter across its boundary while a closed system exchanges only energy across its boundary.
9. An isolated system is a hypothetical concept in which neither energy nor matter is exchanged across the boundary.
10. Ecosystems are open systems, closed systems exist experimentally, although the global geochemical cycles approximate to closed systems.
11. A model is a simplified version of reality and can be used to understand how a system works and to predict how it will respond to change.
12. A model inevitably involves some approximation and therefore loss of accuracy.

1.2 Applications & Skills (IB-style Questions)

1.2 Systems & Models

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• Construct a system diagram or a model from a given set of information.

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• Evaluate the use of models as a tool in a given situation. For example, climate change predictions.

1.2 Vocabulary

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• emergent
• synergy
• reductionism
• model
• boundary
• storage
• sink
• reservoir
• flow
• process
• feedback
• equilibrium
• transfer
• transformation
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1.2 WWW

Boundary?

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Components?

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Processes?

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Feedback?

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Synergy?

1.2.1 WWW

1.2 What is this?

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Axle, bar ends, bar plugs/end caps, basket, bearing, bell, belt-drive, brake cable, bottle cage, bottom bracket, brake, coaster brakes, brake lever, braze-on, cable guide, cable, cartridge bearing, cassette, chain, chainguard, chainring, chainstay, chain tensor, chaintug, cluster, cogset, cone, cranket, cotter, coupler, cup, cyclometer, derailleur hanger, derailleur, down tube, dropout, dustcap, dynamo, eyelet, electronic gear-shifting system, fairing, fender/mudguard, ferrule, fork, fork end, frame, freehub, freewheel, gusset, hanger, handlebar, handlebar plug, handlebar tape, head badge, head tube, headset, hood, hub, hub dynamo, hub gear, indicator, inner tube, jockey wheel, kickstand, Lawyer lips, locknut, lockring, lug, luggage carrier, master link, nipple, pannier, pedal, peg, portage strap, quick release, rack, reflector, removable training wheels, rim, rotor, safety levers, saddle/seat, seat rails, seat lug, seat tube, seat bag, seatpost, seatstay, shaft-drive, shifter, shock absorber, side-view mirror, skirt guard, spindle, spoke, steering tube, stem, tire, toe clips, top tube, valve system, wheel, wingnut.

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1.2 A Two-wheeler “System”!

• Drawing a boundary
• Component parts
• Assemblage

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1.2.2 R. Buckminster Fuller

American architect, designer, systems theorist, author, futurist, inventor (1895-1983)

Most documented human ever? Dymaxion Chronofile

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• Big Ideas:
• Geodesic dome
• Synergetics
• Dymaxion World
• World Game

1.2.3 TOK Scaling Systems

A system is the first subdivision of Universe. It divides all the Universe into 6 parts:

1^st - all the universal events occurring geometrically outside the system;

2^nd - all the universal events occurring geometrically inside the system;

3^rd - all the universal events occurring non-simultaneously, remotely, and unrelatedly prior to the system events;

4^th - the Universe events occurring non-simultaneously, remotely, and unrelatedly subsequent to the system events;

5^th - all the geometrically arrayed set of events constituting the system itself;

6^th - all the Universe events occurring synchronously and or coincidentally to and with the systematic set of events uniquely

- According to R. Buckminster Fuller

1.2.2 Synergy

Properties cannot be predicted through Reductionism and models

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Emergence... “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

A system has properties not present in its components

1.2.4 What is a System?

Boundary - imaginary line between inside/outside the system (Röyksopp)

Components [BOXES] - parts that are storages, sinks, reservoirs, and stocks

Processes [ARROWS] - flows (inputs/outputs), transfers, transformations, and reactions (e.g., photosynthesis & respiration)

Feedback - outputs that become inputs and influence equilibria

Synergy - emergent behavior

1.2.7 Systems Diagrams

Flows - inputs/outputs indicated by (proportional) arrows

Processes - transfers (arrows) or transformations (boxes)

Storages - energy and/or matter indicated by boxes

Think about your house or apartment. Draw and annotate flows and storages of matter (water, air, solids) and energy (heat, electricity). Are all the flows in equilibrium? What is transformed within your house? Are you missing 1’s and 0’s?

1.2.5_6 Processes (2.3.9)

BIG IDEA FOR HEALTHY ECOSYSTEMS

Matter cycles within

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Energy flows through

Transfer - involves the change of location, normally flow through a system

Transformation - involves the change of state or end product, normally interacts within a system

1.3.6 Feedback

Outputs becoming inputs that influence equilibria

Two kinds:

• Positive Feedback - feedback causing increased change to a system’s equilibrium
• Negative Feedback - feedback causing a system to return to or maintain equilibrium

1.2.8_9 System Types

Open systems – energy & matter exchanged across boundary

Examples: classroom, zoos, humans

Closed systems – energy only exchanged across boundary

Examples: batteries, Biosphere II, Earth

Isolated systems – nothing exchanged across boundary

the Universe is the only example

1.2.11 Models

Strengths:

• allows prediction and simplification of complex systems
• inputs changed and outputs measured without waiting (millions of yrs)
• results easily shown to others

Weaknesses:

• may not be accurate - climate models have tens of variables to calculate in air, ocean and land
• rely on creators’ expertise
• outcomes can be concluded differently
• different models may exhibit different results with same inputs

1.2.10 Ecosystem Models

1.2.10 (4.1.1) Qualitative Models

1.2.10 Nitrogen Cycle

1.2.10 Phosphorous Cycle

1.2.10 Quantitative Models

1.2.10 Sulfur Cycle (Tg)

1.2.10 Sankey Diagrams

Used for energy flows

1.2.12 Models-2012

1.2.12 Models-2021

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

- R. Buckminster Fuller