Global Dilemmas and the Plausibility of Whole-System Change

摘要

Approaching the global dilemmas of our time with whole-system thinking implies that the much-talked-about problems of environmental degradation, deforestation, desertification, man-made climate change, chronic hunger and poverty, etc. are not so much problems as symptoms of a deeper-level condition that must be dealt with. This has to do with the basic incompatibility between widely proclaimed goals and underlying system assumptions. Pressures toward whole-system change are increasing in intensity. The critical issue is whether that change can be smooth and nondisruptive, or whether it will involve some disintegration of present structures. Constructive interventions are discussed.