02 Sustainability Frameworks and Systems Thinking Free Online FlashCards

What does systems thinking examine?

Systems thinking examines how parts of a whole interact and change over time, including relationships, feedback, delays, and recurring patterns.

What are stocks and flows in a system?

A stock is an accumulated quantity, such as groundwater or forest biomass; flows add to it or draw it down.

What is a feedback loop?

A feedback loop occurs when a change triggers effects that either reinforce or counteract the original change.

How might road widening recreate congestion over time?

Widening a road may ease congestion initially, then encourage more driving and development farther from the center, potentially recreating congestion and increasing emissions.

What does the planetary boundaries framework assess?

The planetary boundaries framework describes nine major Earth-system processes and helps assess how pressure on them raises risks of large-scale or irreversible change.

What is resilience in a system?

Resilience is a system’s capacity to absorb disturbance, recover, adapt, or transform while maintaining or developing essential functions.

How do absorption and adaptation differ?

Absorption means withstanding a shock without major change; adaptation means adjusting practices or structures as conditions change.

What happens when groundwater pumping exceeds replenishment?

If groundwater is pumped faster than it is replenished, the groundwater stock declines.

How can melting ice create a reinforcing feedback?

Melting ice exposes darker surfaces that absorb more heat, reinforcing warming.

What does the safe operating space mean in the planetary boundaries framework?

Planetary boundaries identify a safe operating space; they are not simple stop lines.

Why may efficiency alone fail to ensure sustainability?

Efficiency alone may not ensure sustainability: total resource use can still rise if production and consumption expand, even when each unit uses fewer resources.

Why can diversity strengthen a food system’s resilience?

A diverse food system may cope better with drought or supply disruptions than one dependent on a single crop or source.