Sustainability Freshman Inquiry Jan. 13, 2011 Jeff Fletcher

Logistics Any questions about Carbon Footprint Reports? – – – Extra Credit Opportunities –MLK service day a great opportunity to get involved (Register Here)MLK service day Register Here –Food Justice Conference in Eugene Feb 19-21Food Justice Conference Read Kolbert Chapters 3 & 4 for Tuesday –Reading notes Movie Night Thursday Jan 20 at 7:30 Mentor session today: Climate Change Model, Sampling

Field notes Chapters 1&2 Chapter 1(Artic Change) –Shishmaref, AK (close up, further)close upfurther –NOAA Artic Ice Extent Sept Sept –Drunken ForestsDrunken Forests –Albedo (ratio of reflected to incident light)Albedo Chapter 2 (History of CO2-warming connection) –Historical John Tyndall (mid 1800s) –Absorption of infrared by CO2, methane, water vapor (but not Oxygen and Nitrogen) Svante Arrhenius –First model of effect of CO2 on global temperature –Composition of Atmosphere (fairly robust in short term)Composition of Atmosphere –Charles Keeling Curve CO2 and global warmingCharles Keeling Curve –Model of Climate ChangeModel of Climate Change

Climate Change

Correlation ≠ Causation There may be confounding or hidden variables! What is a possible hidden variable for this graph?

What is a System? Consider an ecosystem and economic system: what is similar? Why are they both called systems? Why might it be useful to focus on their similar “system-ness” rather than on their uniqueness?

Systems Comprised of: –Elements Ecosystem and Economic system examples? –Interactions or relations Ecosystem and Economic system examples? A common relation between systems is hierarchical –subsystems, supra-systems –Consider some earth systemsearth systems Other ideas –order vs. disorder, order is constraint on relations relations describe structure vs. total disorder (entropy) –system and environment boundaries define systems

What is Systems Science? Consider flocking birds, schooling fish, a group of friends walking together –ornithologist, ichthyologist, sociologist Mario Bunge “Stuff-free science” How is knowledge normally grouped at a University? –System Science not as abstract as math and philosophy –But more abstract (general) than individual disciplines Systems Science emphasizes theories that cut across disciplines –Game Theory, Evolution Theory, Information Theory, Network Theory, Chaos Theory, Complexity Theory, etc Interested in addressing real-world, complicated problems, from a multidisciplinary perspective

Key Ideas About Systems What makes a system? –Elements and Relations –order vs. disorder –system vs. environment Systems States and Dynamics –Equilibria, Stability Positive and Negative Feedbacks –Non-linear dynamics Chaos Theory, Catastrophe Theory –Emergence –Structure Open vs. Closed Matter, Energy, Information