Feedback Loops
So What?
When you were mining and processing Earthsquares, you were participating in a “positive” feedback loop. The use of the word “positive” here can confuse things. That’s because the story you acted out can only lead to one disastrous final chapter: severe human suffering. Many ecologists predict that human suffering will result when the exponential depletion of Earth’s finite resources (like oil, coal, natural gas, metal ores) sneaks up on and surprises the exponentially growing human population. When the human population needs more than what the Earth has to offer, humans will suffer.
A positive feedback loop is a chain of cause-and-effect relationships. It happens when “a change in any one part in the loop changes the original part even more in the same direction. An increase will cause a further increase; a decrease will cause a further decrease. ,,quoted from where?
Positive Feedback Loop
Whenever a positive feedback loop is present in a system [like a forest or a city], that system has the potential to produce exponential growth or exponential decline.”(Meadows, Meadows, & Randers) Positive feedback loops generate runaway growth. Finite Earth cannot support exponential growth.
Feedback Loop A was a “negative” feedback loop. It is a very different story. The name negative feedback loop can also be confusing. This is because a negative feedback loop can be a very positive process. Negative feedback loops can help prevent us from compromising the quality of life for future generations. Negative feedback loops tend to regulate growth. They tend to hold a system in a balance.
Your processing of Earthsquares would have been very different if you acted out a story about negative feedback loops. First, the energy supply would have to be renewable, like trees; and they would have to be replaced faster than they were being consumed. The Miner would change into being a Harvester. Second, there would be no such thing as garbage. The Disposer’s job would be eliminated and replaced with a Recycler or Reuser. Finally, the consumer population would not be growing exponentially. Rather the population would maintain a relative balance around the fluctuating supplies of renewable energy.
This is a similar story to what happens between predators and prey like fox and rabbits. It is like the diagram, “Feedback Loop A.” All you would have to do is replace the human population with the fox population, and replace the renewable Earthsquare supply and consumption with the rabbit population.
Feedback Loop A was a “negative” feedback loop. It is a very different story. The name negative feedback loop can also be confusing. This is because a negative feedback loop can be a very positive process. Negative feedback loops can help prevent us from compromising the quality of life for future generations. Negative feedback loops tend to regulate growth. They tend to hold a system in a balance.
Your processing of Earthsquares would have been very different if you acted out a story about negative feedback loops. First, the energy supply would have to be renewable, like trees; and they would have to be replaced faster than they were being consumed. The Miner would change into being a Harvester. Second, there would be no such thing as garbage. The Disposer’s job would be eliminated and replaced with a Recycler or Reuser. Finally, the consumer population would not be growing exponentially. Rather the population would maintain a relative balance around the fluctuating supplies of renewable energy.
This is a similar story to what happens between predators and prey like fox and rabbits. It is like the diagram, “Feedback Loop A.” All you would have to do is replace the human population with the fox population, and replace the renewable Earthsquare supply and consumption with the rabbit population.
Negative Feedback Loop: A Natural System
Human population, waste production, and consumption of finite resources are all growing exponentially. They are growing exponentially because they are part of a positive feedback loop. They don’t have negative feedback mechanisms in place regulating these human activities.
There are a number of negative feedback mechanisms that can help control these human activities: increased scarcity of resources, pressures from increasing amounts of waste, increased awareness and actions by producers and consumers, and good alternatives to nonrenewable energy sources.
Meadows, Meadows, & Randers, (1992). Beyond the Limits: Confronting Global Collapse; Envisioning a Sustainable Future.
Feedback Loops Research Ideas
There are many ways your school may be contributing directly or indirectly with undesirable positive feedback loops. And there may be ways in which your school is not participating in desirable negative feedback loops. Here’s how you can find out:
(1) Research where your school’s paper comes from. Find out if your school buys recycled or non-recycled paper. If the paper is not recycled, find out if it comes from trees that are harvested sustainably. Prove whether or not the students, teachers, and administrators at your school would use only recycled paper.
(2) Research where the different foods in your school lunch program come from and determine if their production is part of a positive or negative feedback loop.
(3) Investigate the history of other products purchased by your school on a regular basis and determine if their production and consumption are in some way part of a positive or negative feedback loop.
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Continue on to Entropy: So What?
There are a number of negative feedback mechanisms that can help control these human activities: increased scarcity of resources, pressures from increasing amounts of waste, increased awareness and actions by producers and consumers, and good alternatives to nonrenewable energy sources.
Meadows, Meadows, & Randers, (1992). Beyond the Limits: Confronting Global Collapse; Envisioning a Sustainable Future.
Feedback Loops Research Ideas
There are many ways your school may be contributing directly or indirectly with undesirable positive feedback loops. And there may be ways in which your school is not participating in desirable negative feedback loops. Here’s how you can find out:
(1) Research where your school’s paper comes from. Find out if your school buys recycled or non-recycled paper. If the paper is not recycled, find out if it comes from trees that are harvested sustainably. Prove whether or not the students, teachers, and administrators at your school would use only recycled paper.
(2) Research where the different foods in your school lunch program come from and determine if their production is part of a positive or negative feedback loop.
(3) Investigate the history of other products purchased by your school on a regular basis and determine if their production and consumption are in some way part of a positive or negative feedback loop.
Return to Local Research Page Return to the DIY Research Page
Continue on to Entropy: So What?