LIVING SYSTEMS
by Fritjof Capra

There is widespread agreement today that the '90s will be a critical decade. The survival of humanity and the survival of the planet are at stake. The '90s will be the decade of the environment, not because we say so but because of events almost beyond our control. Concern with the environment is no longer one of many "single issues"; it is the context of everything else -- our lives, our business, our politics.

Today we face a series of global problems that are harming human life and the biosphere in alarming ways that may soon become irreversible. We have ample documentation about the extent and significance of those problems. One of the best sources is a series of annual reports, State of the World, published by the Worldwatch Institute.

In assessing the environmental health of the planet, these reports have observed the same alarming trends year after year. The Earth's forests recede while its deserts expand. Topsoil on our croplands diminishes and the ozone layer, which protects us from harmful ultraviolet radiation, is depleted. Concentrations of heat trapping gases in the atmosphere rise while the number of plant and animal species shrink. World population continues to grow while the gap between rich and poor widens.

The more we study these critical problems, the more we come to realize that they cannot be understood in isolation. They are systemic problems interconnected and interdependent. Stabilizing world population will be possible only when poverty is reduced worldwide. The extinction of animal and plant species on a massive scale will continue as long as the Third World is burdened by massive debts. And only if we stop the international arms race will we have the resources to prevent the many destructive effects on the biosphere and on human life.

Ultimately, all these problems must be seen as different facets of one single crisis, a crisis of perception -- for only if we perceive the world differently will we be able to act differently. We need a shift of perception, a radical change in our world view and value system. Indeed, such a change is now occurring. The old perceptions, which have shaped modern Western society and have significantly influenced the rest of the world, include the view of the universe as a mechanical system composed of separate building blocks, the view of the human body as a machine, the view of life in society as a competitive struggle for existence, and the belief in unlimited material progress to be achieved through economic and technological growth.

A radical revision of all these assumptions is now taking place, both at the forefront of science and in society. The emerging world view may be called a "holistic" view, seeing the world as an integrated whole rather than a disassociated collection of parts. It may also be called an "ecological" view-using the term in a much broader and deeper sense than usual -- because deep ecological awareness is the understanding of the fundamental interdependence of all phenomena: the awareness that, as individuals and as societies, we are embedded in the cyclical processes of nature.

In science, the theory of living systems, which originated in cybernetics in the 1940s and emerged fully only during the last 10 years or so, provides the most appropriate scientific formulation of the new ecological vision of reality. Systems are integrated wholes whose properties cannot be reduced to those of smaller units. The systems approach sees the world in terms of relationships and integration. Examples of systems abound in nature. Every organism -- from the smallest bacterium through plants and animals to human is an integrated whole and, thus, a living system. Cells are living systems, and so are the various tissues and organs of the body, the human brain being the most complex example.

But systems are not confined to individual organisms and their parts. The same aspects of wholeness are exhibited by social systems -- such as a family or a community -- and by ecosystems that consist of a variety of organisms and inanimate matter in mutual interaction. Systemic properties are destroyed when a system is dissected, either physically or theoretically, into isolated elements. Although we can discern individual parts in any system, the nature of the whole is always different from the mere sum of its parts. Accordingly, the systems approach does not concentrate on basic building blocks but rather on basic principles of organization.

So, an essential aspect of the current change of world views is the shift of perception from the world as a series of building blocks or, discrete components to the world as the living system. This change concerns our perception of nature, of the human organism, of society, and also our perception of a business organization.

Companies are also living systems that cannot be comprehended from an economic point of view alone. As a living system, a company has a certain degree of autonomy. Managers who think and act "systematically" recognize the company's own logic and emotionality and try to influence the system rather than attempt to control it. Such a style of leadership is perhaps the most distinctive feature of a new approach to management, which is often called "systemic management" in European management schools and consulting groups. Systemically oriented managers no longer see themselves as dominators and controllers within the company, but rather as "cultivators" or "catalysts." Being aware of the company as a living, relatively autonomous system, they give impulses rather than instructions.

This change of attitude from control to partnership is characteristic of a profound change of values that is implicit in the shift from the mechanistic to the ecological world view. Whereas a machine is properly comprehended through domination and control, the understanding of a living system will be much more successful if approached through cooperation and partnership. Cooperative relationships are an essential characteristic of the web of life.

The shift of emphasis from domination to partnership is connected with other value shifts -- from competition to cooperation, from expansion to conservation, from quantity to quality. As far as business organizations are concerned, the most important example of these shifts is the shift from economic growth to ecological sustainability.

Unrestricted growth is the main driving force of today's economic policies and, tragically, of global environmental destruction. Rejecting the ideology of economic growth does not mean rejecting all growth. Growth, of course, is characteristic of all life. However, in the living world, it has not only a quantitative but also a qualitative meaning. For a human being, for example, to grow means to develop to maturity, not only by getting bigger, but also qualitatively through inner growth. The same is true for all living systems.

The task, then, will be to establish criteria that determine when an enterprise should grow and when it shouldn't. This is where sustainability has emerged as a key concept of ecological thinking and of ecologically conscious business practices. What does it mean? Lester Brown of the Worldwatch Institute has given a simple and clear definition: "A sustainable society is one that satisfies its needs without diminishing the prospects of future generations."

This, in a nutshell, is the challenge of the '90s, to create social and cultural environments in which we can satisfy our needs without diminishing the opportunities and options of future generations to satisfy their needs. And this is also the challenge of ecologically conscious management: to modify corporate growth by introducing sustainability as a key criterion for all business activities.

In order to bring about those radical shifts in our thinking and our values at a time when it is almost too late -- we need dialogue, discussion, and a massive campaign of public education. These are the missions of the Elmwood Institute, an intellectual think tank dedicated to fostering new concepts and values for a sustainable future.

Elmwood's newest project, Global File, is designed to educate the corporate community. It consists of a series of reports on successful ecological practices in business and government worldwide. The most recent -- and most substantial -- report in this series is "The Elmwood Guide to Eco-Auditing and Ecologically Conscious Management."

This 180-page book is a conceptual guide that maps the cultural framework and sets standards for ecoauditing. An eco-audit, as understood by Elmwood, is an examination and review of a company's operations from the perspective of deep ecology. It is motivated by a shift of values in the corporate culture from management by domination to partnership and teamwork, from the ideology of economic growth to that of ecological sustainability. It involves a corresponding shift from mechanistic to systemic thinking and, accordingly, a new style of management known as systemic management. The result is an action plan for minimizing a company's environmental impact and making all its operations ecologically sound.

The practices of eco-auditing and of ecologically conscious management are essential tools for business to meet the challenge of the '9Os, if we are to create and sustain social and cultural environments in which we can satisfy our personal and professional needs without diminishing the options of future generations. As president of the Elmwood Institute, I hope that the Elmwood guide will make a substantial contribution to broadening and deepening an understanding and excitement in this critical new field. I hope, too, that brought together in a deeper understanding of the interdependence of all things, we can -- and will -- make the changes that are now so crucial to the well-being of ourselves and the planet.

This article first appeared in Insight magazine.

Fritjof Capra is an internationally known physicist, systems theorist, and best-selling author of The Turning Point; Uncommon Wisdom: Conversations with Remarkable People; and the Tao of Physics. He is the founder and president of the Elmwood Institute, an international ecological think tank based in Berkeley, California.

Copyright © 1996. The Light Party.