Source: Based on Fritjof Capra, The Web of Life
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Interdependence
- All members of a community are interconnected in intricate network of relationships
- Existence based on relationships to other things
- Mutual dependence of all life processes on one another
- Success of whole community depends on success of individual members and success of member depends on success of community
- Awareness of multiple relationships among its members
- Systems thinking: from parts to whole, objects to relationships & contents to patterns
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Recycling
- Relationships are nonlinear, involving multiple feedback loops
- Feedback loops are the pathways along which nutrients are continually recycled
- Closed systems w/ respect to matter & open systems in terms of energy
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Partnership
- Cyclical exchanges of energy & resources are sustained by pervasive cooperation
- Democracy & personal empowerment; each member plays an important role
- As partnership proceeds, each part better understands the needs of the other and they co-evolve
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Flexibility
- Consequence of multiple feedback loops, which tends to bring the system back into balance whenever there is a derivation from the norm
- The more variables are kept fluctuating, the more dynamic the system; the greater it’s flexibility, the greater it’s ability to adapt to changing conditions
- Lack of = stress; pushing variables to extreme values over long periods of time induce increased rigidity
- Conflict better resolved by a dynamic balance; both sides of a conflict can be important; contradictions within the community are signs of its diversity and vitality
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Resilience
- Reaction to outside disturbances & adapt to changing conditions
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Diversity
- Many different relationships, many different approaches to the same problem
- Diverse community is resilient, capable of adapting to changing conditions
- Contains many species w/ overlapping ecological functions that can partially replace on another