What is Sustainability (Part 2)
Systems in Time
Systems have boundaries in space, time, and context. Something is sustainable for a relevant time frame. "Relevant" because it is pointless to worry about sustainability beyond the expiration of our sun, scheduled in about 100 million years.
In practice, a relevant time frame spans several generations. Looking much further than 50 years is rarely feasible. Yet 50 years is a blink in human history. This is where resilience becomes essential. Resilience is a long-term property encompassing patterns of change. Growth is just part of the ebb and flow.
Nothing is eternal. Nothing should be. Sustainability does not mean immortality. Things come and go. A sustainable system pulses like all natural systems, adapting to become better fitted with each cycle. It accepts there is an end, and it resolves gracefully when that moment arrives. Like dead trees becoming habitats for new organisms, leaving room for the cycle of life to continue.
Complex Systems
The word "complex" appears in the definition deliberately. It signals that we are talking about non-linear, infinitely complex entities, almost like biological organisms, not predictable, finite machines.
Non-complex systems can be fully indexed, modeled, and predicted using physics, mathematics, or engineering tools. A house's electrical wiring is non-complex. It can be complicated, but its behavior is predictable from a mechanical perspective. This mode of analysis has dominated the last century.
Complex systems are entirely different. They consist of so many objects and relations that we cannot track all of them. They exhibit behavior that cannot be predicted through normal modeling. The weather is an easy example. No mathematical model can accurately predict weather more than a week ahead. Too many factors interact, and some governing patterns have not yet emerged.
Twelve Properties of Complex Systems
- Numerous. Uncountable components, all influencing each other. Behavior emerges beyond any single component's mechanics.
- Understandable but not predictable. Any action may have unpredictable side effects. Prepare for resilience, not prediction.
- Grow like organisms, perish like organisms. No complex system is meant to exist forever. Aim for longevity, not eternality.
- Require increasing resources per added unit of complexity. Growth always has limits.
- Change through revolutionary jumps and slow evolutionary progression, both at once. Details matter as much as large-scale variables.
- Do not behave the same way given the same conditions. History does not reliably predict the future.
- Always dynamic, never entirely in balance, even when they seem to be.
- May exhibit survival or cognitive-seeming behavior. Thinking of a complex system as a biological entity with a character helps understanding.
- Require incubation periods. Changes take time to register. Be patient. Measure across the full spectrum to catch rebound effects.
- Best understood by human brains, which are themselves organic complex systems. Immerse yourself. Get out from behind your desk.
- Interact beyond their chosen boundary. Maximize beneficial externalizations. Minimize dependency on them.
- Always contain hidden dynamic processes with both beneficial and destructive effects. Find these patterns.
Some complex systems appear non-complex, or have been treated that way. This is dangerous. Economic policies that do not account for complex dynamics are simply not resilient, which means they are bad policy. Expecting complex systems to respond like machines is a road to disaster.
SiD focuses on complex systems because they determine the future of our world. While non-complex modeling can offer useful insight, we must exercise caution when encountering it. The temptation to simplify is strong. It is also hazardous. Complexity is where systems do their special thing, and that is why the word appears in the definition.
Dynamic Systems
SiD defines sustainability as a state of a dynamic system. Sustainability is not a fixed point. It is an edge condition of something that always moves, changes, grows, shrinks, and adapts.
A system can move and change while remaining in the state of sustainability, as long as it does not cross a boundary. This allows us to pursue sustainability without locking into static, rigid structures that would kill resilience.
Because something always changes (climate shifts, natural cycles, entropy), a system needs adaptability to survive. Without dynamism there is no adaptability. Without adaptability there is no resilience. Without resilience, sustainability is impossible.
Resilience, Autonomy, and Harmony (RAH)
The second sentence of SiD's definition identifies what a sustainable state actually consists of. It breaks into three system indicators:
Resilience determines the degree to which a system can survive unexpected events. It is critical for continued existence. A resilient system absorbs shocks and adapts, rather than breaking.
Autonomy (captured in the phrase "without requiring inputs from outside its system boundaries") determines how well a system can meet its own needs and sustain its ability to continue doing so.
Harmony may seem unusual as a technical term, but it is essential. A system can be resilient and autonomous, yet collapse from internal tension. Inharmonious systems (unjust, inequitable, with large divisions of resource control) generate strife and even war. A system that is resilient and autonomous but not harmonious conjures images of hardy evil empires. That is the opposite of what we seek.
Harmony draws intelligence from human rights and ethics: equity, social justice, the perception of value, and how we determine "good" and "bad."
The word "flourish" also appears. It captures the positive values that resist easy quantification: quality of life, cultural expression, artistic value, excitement. Resilient, self-sustained, harmonious life is already good. Flourishing makes it worth celebrating.
How It All Adds Up
With SiD's definition, a sustainable system is self-sufficient, resilient enough to operate under a wide range of expected and unexpected events, and harmonious and just while it flourishes.
Applied to modern society, this means:
- All energy and material loops are closed
- Finite resources are no longer consumed
- Wealth and power are distributed ethically
- Ecosystems and fellow species are thriving
- We benefit from natural resources without breaking them down
- Every person has a chance at a life of quality and meaning
- Resources are equitably distributed
Who does not want that?
Now that we have a basis to align on, the next step is to understand how systems work in practice: their layers, their components, and how to analyze them. That is the subject of the next chapter.
Reflection Exercise
Practice understanding what sustainability means by thinking about how these items relate to a systemic context. Remember: only systems can be sustainable (or not). How would you reframe the following?
- A "sustainable" soda can
- A "sustainable" city
- A "sustainable" house
- A "sustainable" organization
- A "sustainable" policy measure
Suggested format (20 minutes): Assign one term per person. Take 5 minutes to think individually. Then share results, one by one, followed by group discussion.
What to look for: In each case, it helps to reverse the term. A "sustainable" soda can is a soda can that maximally contributes to a sustainable society. A "sustainable" city is a city that contributes positively to the sustainability of the country or the global society. And so on.
Takeaway: Sustainability is not a property of objects. It is a state of a complex, dynamic system, characterized by resilience, autonomy, and harmony. To work with it, we need to understand systems. That is where we go next.
Next chapter: 1.2 The Anatomy of a System
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