Systems thinking exercise

In class we did an exercise where we traced the path of a cup of coffee from its manufacture to our drinking it during the afternoon break. In groups we had to trace its journey and map any inputs or externalities that had gone into getting the cup there. Our group's diagram got very involved very quickly, as we mapped energy inputs (in the form of fossil fuels and the sun), water, labour, transport etc.

Different groups mapped different types of coffee (one near us did fair trade coffee) and we then compared our diagrams.

Systemic thinking

(Image reproduced from asiasociety.org)

Systems thinking is an approach to problem solving which aims to understand how individual things influence one another within a whole system. Systems thinking aims to view problems or issues as parts of an overall system. Systems thinking is based on the belief that the component parts of a system can best be understood in the context of relationships with each other and with other systems,  rather than in isolation.