Alex's+Reading+Notes

__**Capra and Luisi (1/28/15) **__ The introduction gives a brief overview of how the meaning of science and the values which drive it have changed throughout history. It seemed that before systems thinking, each with each paradigm came a set of glasses with blinders. The new lenses allowed the scientist to see something new, but also block out other ideas and methods. Or there was something missing piece that didn't allow for a new step to be made, like trying to describe natural systems with linear models. Systems thinking seems to take the blinders off, and show each part of science as a piece in a network, where each piece is necessary to try to figure it all out.

__**Cruising the Links Pag **e ** (1/28/15) **__ [|Border Green Energy Team] This is a really interesting project, adopting smaller scale renewable technologies. This is the type of work that inspired me to become a mechanical engineer and the reason I joined Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW). Unfortunately undergraduate engineers don't always know how to do international development work... I definitely will be digging more into their organizational system and how they measure and experience success.

[|Gaia Hypothesis] I have heard this talked about so it was nice to learn what it meant! It seems very nice and sweet, but I feel like something is missing. It seems maybe more like a thought experiment? Or a spiritual philosophy? Maybe that is also because of the name. But maybe that is ok in science? It is a really beautiful idea. Also, according to this theory, why are humans so different?

[|Elinor Ostrom] human-ecosystem interaction