Certificate of Achievement
has completed the following course:
Using Systems Thinking to Tackle the Climate and Biodiversity Crisis
This online course explained why the economic and technological approaches taken to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis over the past few decades have been unsuccessful and the dangers of trying to solve complex, interlinked problems one issue at a time. It presented an alternative approach - that of systems thinking - and introduced tools you can use to start adopting it in your own sphere of influence. It argued for a wholesale transformation of our cultures and values to effect change.
2 weeks, 3 hours per week
Tom Oliver
Professor of Applied Ecology
University of Reading
Transcript
Learning outcomes
- Demonstrate competency in and a mindset attuned to systems thinking
- Critique superficial technological and economic 'solutions' that address one issue but ignore the wider effects on interlinked systems
- Assess your own values to identify how what's important to you affects your actions and priorities
- Engage with diverse worldviews and broaden your perspectives on issues of climate and biodiversity
- Practice analysing problems using simple systems mapping tools to help you understand the bigger picture
Syllabus
- Why mindsets matter: the wicked problem of interlinked global crises, and why superficial economic or technical fixes don’t solve it.
- Examples of current solutions, where narrow, blinkered pursuit of single objectives shifts the burden of problems elsewhere, so that actions are not only ineffective, but actually make the situation worse.
- Experts from the United Nations, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, RSPB Wildlife Charity, and other organisations explain how genuine solutions need more than ‘outer’ change to our economies and technologies; they also need inner change to our values, mindsets and worldviews.
- The big picture approach: what systems thinking is and how, once the system is understood, interventions can lead to virtuous cycles.
- Introduction to practical tools for systems thinking and participatory causal loop mapping.
- How you can make a genuine difference to the climate and biodiversity crisis by thinking differently.
In association with
Issued on 11th April 2023
The person named on this certificate has completed the activities in the transcript above. For more information about Certificates of Achievement and the effort required to become eligible, visit futurelearn.com/proof-of-learning/certificate-of-achievement.
This certificate represents proof of learning. It is not a formal qualification, degree, or part of a degree.
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