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Ian Stewart

Systems Thinking Response

Response to Q1: 

My understanding most closely aligns to stakeholders in system 3. I took an environmental studies class in high school, and we spent a couple of weeks focusing exclusively on food systems and GMOs. Invasive species can be devastating to existing ecosystems and can cause harm beyond just the replacement of existing crops. Certain plant and animal life can be rendered extinct as invasive plants come to overwhelm to the ecosystem. Another key issue is that it would be nearly impossible to contain the spread of a GMO if it were to leave containment. Even more alarming is that the GMO could spread at a pace that could quickly devastate surrounding areas. A recent example of an invasive species (nonGMO) is the cane toad in Australia which is spreading at an insane rate and completely destroying wildlife and habitats with little to no solution.

Some of the stakes for these stakeholders are: contamination, ecosystem collapse, limited ability to respond in the event of GMO escape, and the unpredictability of the consequences.

 

Response to Q2: 

There are a lot of stakeholders for landfills, but for the three I will choose (1) the land itself, (2) environmentalists, and (3) government officials. The first is an ecosystem that is often irreparably changed by the presence and maintenance of the landfill. Not only does the landfill require vast amounts of land, it can be difficult to contain with potential to seep chemicals into ground water and eviscerate surrounding plant life/wildlife. The second worries about the carbon and greenhouse gas emissions generated by the landfill. The third operates in a political system requiring them to balance the benefits of landfills (storing trash out of the public eye) and the environmental and economic impacts of landfills (reductions in property value etc).

Initial Research on Landfills (Space)

Landfills are basically places where trash or other forms of disposable waste are gathered and buried as a means of storing garbage. It involves a process of digging a hole (really of any size but generally quite large) and once the hole is full of trash it is then covered with soil or other materials such as wood chips or sand. They can also be used for other purposed such as a pile to sort trash into different categories (example trash vs recycling) or for temporary storage before the contents are moved to a more permanent location. 

The type of landfill is usually determined by its contents. Some landfills might be designated for chemical or industrial waste while other might be for nuclear, household, or toxic waste. The waste is typically compacted prior to dumping in the landfill as a means of adding both stability and increasing the amount of waste that can be put into a given landfill hole. 

Landfills tend to be the most common form of large-scale waste disposal since they are efficient (in that you can store a lot of material in a relatively small area through compaction) and allow for a degradation cycle of the garbage contained in the landfill. Certain material may be grouped together to allow bacteria, fungi, and other microbes to process and dissolve the waste contained within the landfill.

Some common issues associated with landfills are: groundwater contamination (particularly with landfills in areas with high rainfall), landfill gases (several types of gas form within landfills and they can be toxic to the surrounding land and air), carbon/methane emissions, spread of diseases (through rats, mice, and other wildlife that may travel to the landfill in search of food), loss of habitat (landfills require a lot of space), odor, noise, destabilization/soil liquefaction (since landfills are compacted trash, they can degrade and destabilize during earthquakes causing the soil to collapse, potentially creating sinkholes and contaminating groundwater).

Landfill regulation changes based on country/region/state. They are rich in materials and energy and are often harvested for those purposes. There are usually taxes and other municipal regulations that determine how much a landfill will cost to build and maintain as well as how they must be managed, contracted, operated, expanded, etc.

Emergent Strategy Response

Q: Do you find any of these principles more difficult to achieve than others in your own creative practice? How?

I really struggle with the “change is constant” one. For me it’s less about the change outside of my project and more that I can always change and improve the thing I’m working on. It’s really hard for me to let go of projects because the idea of “improvement” makes me feel like they are never truly finished. I often find myself going back to old projects, even scrapped ones, just to see what I can change and update.

 

Q: Without overthinking it: which of these elements brown describes most immediately feels evident as part of your creative work, and how? Or, if none of them do, which feels like one you might intentionally integrate, and why?

I would say the one that feels most evident is the element of “Adaptive”. It’s important to be adaptive in the process because the work should evolve as more information/experience is gained. It should also be adaptive to the changes in conditions surrounding the work (example is was supposed to be a physical work that is now digital due to constraints like COVID). Changes will always occur during the creative process and a work needs to adapt to and with those changes.