System Thinking

• Which system (type of stakeholder) that Easterbrook identified did you find your own understanding of GMOs most aligned with? Why? What are some of the stakes of these stakeholders?

I think I’m more aligned with system 1: A system of scientists doing research; system 6: A system of global food supply and demand; and system 7: A system of potential threats to human health and well-being. I’ve learned about GMOs during high school and college, I’ve even conducted scientific research and experiments on GMOs. I understand that to scientists, GMOs are their research projects, aiming to gain more knowledge of GMOs and create better gene-modified plants. And I believe one of the greater goals for creating better crops lies in system 6, producing more and better food for people in this world. Although the main cause of hunger and poverty is the unequal redistribution of resources, but increasing food production is also important. However I also picked a opposing system, system 7, because I think gene-modified crops is not a fully developed technology, we haven’t understand everything about gene and its modification, thus there are still potential risks in GMOs.

• Using your own topic for research, can you Identify 3 stakeholders (groups or phenomenon) with different perspectives, and then describe the system (the stakes) from which they are operating? For instance, if the subject is “Safari Parks”, 3 stakeholders could be (1) Animal Rights activists, (2) the region’s Board of Tourism, and (3) the local land itself. The first operates in a system of ethics around the treatment of animals; the second in a networked system of economic benefits for the community (hotels, food, and attractions), and the third, in an ecosystem that the safari park may put at risk, by introducing pollutants from animal waste and fertilizer, and ecological competitors such as escaped non-indigenous plant products used in the landscaping of the Safari Park.

There are several systems that could be taken into consideration about “plantation”.

1. The local economic system.

This system includes the landowner, the workers in the plantation, the workers family, local villagers, etc. The owner of the plantation pays money to hire workers to take care of the plantation. The workers earn money for themselves and families. After they have money, the workers and their families would buy things, benefiting more people in the village, increasing local economy.

2. The world market system.

One key feature of plantations is that they only grow one kind of crops in order to increase the efficiency of the production. Each country or region has a particular type of plantation. So in order for us to get different foods and crops, countries trade for different kinds of crops in the world market. There are sellers who sell crops they grew in their plantations. And there are also sellers who want certain types of crops. The sellers can also be the buyers.

3. The economic system

Plantations are all artificial, meaning that the area of plantation was not naturally that way. Manmade plantations cause changes to the original environment and ecosystems. For example, some native species might not able to survive in artificial plantations; the original animal habitats would be destroyed; animals and plants would die, decreasing the biodiversity.