In systems thinking, when we use the term “system”, that generally brings along with it the complement of “environment”, or “environmental”. However, when we use the term “ecological”, how might that change the perspective?
This is explored in some encyclopedia definitions, and an article related to environmental engineering compared to ecological engineering. (I’ve recently been illustrating decentering the discussion away from human beings, by considering whether beavers are or are not part of nature … which may be independent of Tim Allen’s work … but then, I’m influenced by him, so maybe there was a story he told, a while back!)
Environmental c.f. ecological (Francois, 2004; Allen, Giampietro Little 2003) at https://ingbrief.wordpress.com/2020/05/17/environmental-c-f-ecological-francois-2004-allen-giampietro-little-2003/
References
Allen, T. F. H, M Giampietro, and A. M Little. 2003. “Distinguishing Ecological Engineering from Environmental Engineering.” Ecological Engineering , The Philosophy and Energence of Ecological Engineering, 20 (5): 389–407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2003.08.007 .
François, Charles, ed. 2004. International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics | 2nd ed. De Gruyter Saur. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110968019.
