Climate change – like the human body or for that matter any living organism – is a complex system of interdependent factors. Addressing climate change as a complex problem demands that we employ systems thinking as we search for solutions. Albert Einstein said, “You cannot solve a problem with the same thinking used to create it” (reference). It goes without saying that we created the climate change problem as a result of decades of industrial and technological innovations that far out-paced our ability to emotionally, socially, and spiritually understand their implications and adapt to them.

James Hollis writes, “The darkening dilemmas of energy overuse and environmental pollution are the results of the assertion of ego control over the primal forces of nature (reference).” As a systems problem climate change will not be solved by…

• switching to electric vehicles.
• building a solar economy.
• adopting a vegetarian or vegan diet.
• switching to reusable bottles instead of plastic bottles.
• recycling waste products.

Any one of these initiatives will allow us to make small gains. If we collectively accomplish all of them, they will make a slightly larger dent. If our mindset remains one of “ego control over the primal forces of nature,” then we will be relegated to continuing our abusive domination over our planetary resources, both living and nonliving. Climate catastrophe will be a problem we hand off to future generations.

Long-term, sustainable change will happen when we understand and acknowledge that our biosphere is a highly complex system (see map below). It can be damaged as a result of our desire to dominate when we take more than we give back. If we become humbled and awed by its beauty and complexity, we will most likely not abuse it beyond recovery. So let’s apply a systems thinking approach to building a long-term climate agenda. Let’s shift our mindset about our place in the hierarchy of life on Earth.

Image of Climate Change Systems Map