A Scoping Review of Complexity Science in Nursing One of the things that complexity theory has taught me, is the value of looking at complex systems from a variety of perspectives. The article reviewed here, A Scoping Review of Complexity Science in Nursing, online ahead of press in the June issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing, takes a very broad view of the use of complexity science in nursing literature and so naturally includes a variety of [...]
The Interdependence of Health, Climate, and Equality When the first Earth Day event took place 50 years ago, no one was talking about climate change and the swine flu pandemic of 1918 was a distant memory. Today, in the midst of a global health threat from a novel and poorly understood virus, we also face an increasing number of severe storms, floods, droughts, fires, and ecological disruptions that scientists have been predicting for years. Many scholars remind us [...]
The Hammer and The Dance Metaphors matter, especially in uncertain times, when the only way to frame a complex predicament is to use models from a familiar past. The title of this blog borrows from Tomas Pueyo’s excellent article and the picture that accompanies it is a mashup of one of my ecological images and it. When it comes to the coronavirus, war metaphors abound. British politicians summon the spirit of the Blitz, while Donald Trump describes himself [...]
Complex Challenges of Covid-19 or Coronavirus As business and government leaders struggle to protect public health and forestall economic devastation in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that has already sickened hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, scientists are racing to understand how the novel coronavirus works. Daily updates available here. The disease Covid-19 is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. It’s one of several corona viruses that have caused diseases such as the common cold, flus, SARS, and MERS, [...]
Business & Organization Guidelines for Addressing the Coronavirus How to Take Action Now The role of business and organizational leaders is to provide critical guidance and policies that balance the needs of employees, customers and the greater communities they work and live in. This is a guide for implementing immediate actions to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19. Taking appropriate action begins with understanding and supporting the scientific and best practice protocols for practicing healthy safety throughout an organization. [...]
Hotter Futures for Cities Escalates Plexus Institute's archives of Complexity Matters Posts offer valuable insights into the most pressing issues confronting our world and society. We will continue to link current knowledge, work and thinking in new posts, conversations, projects emerging throughout the Network. During the first half of 2011, Tornados devastated Joplin, Missouri, and Tuscaloosa Alabama. Deadly storms have smashed through Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas, severe droughts have parched the Southwest, record wildfires burned in Texas, [...]
Are Multiage Classrooms Better for Children? Advocates for multi-age education believe children flourish in environments where youngsters of different ages learn together in settings that feature collaboration, leadership, empathy, and social awareness along with academic achievement. They think linearity is a fine principle for some types of manufacturing, but not for kids. So why are most U.S. schools organized by grades that restrict classes to children of the same age? Dr. Sandra J. Stone, author, speaker, and former [...]
Die-offs Endanger Food Webs and Human Health Scientists examining the catastrophe unfolding in the path of Australia’s deadly bushfires may discover mass mortality events, terrifying phenomena in which vast numbers of a species die inexplicably in a very short period of time. A VOX story by Segal Samuel reports that Chris Dickman, a biodiversity expert at the University of Sydney, estimates more than one billion mammals, birds, reptiles, bats, frogs, and invertebrates have perished so far from flames [...]
Clouds of Fire Generate Dangerous New Weather Systems The intense and boundless fires that have already devoured nearly 18 millions of acres of Australia are generating their own distinctive weather systems that spin off dangerous new storms and spread the inferno. Gigantic blazes are sending columns of smoke as high as 30 miles above the earth, according to the Australian government Bureau of Meteorology, triggering electrical storms, as well as dry lightening and high winds that spread burning embers [...]
Understanding the Complexity of Your Diet When I was a diabetes nurse, the first question I would invariably get from a new client was, “What can I eat and what can’t I eat”. It was also the question I most hated because it was so complicated. We are both blessed and cursed that supermarkets have forty to fifty thousand different things we might eat and none of it will either guarantee health or kill us immediately. What we [...]
“Fostering the health of individuals, communities, organizations and our natural environment by helping people recognize, understand and use concepts emerging from the science of complexity.” The carefully crafted mission of Plexus Institute, a not-for-profit organization that was officially formed in 2001, still guides the primary work in the network, sharing knowledge and offering expertise through the continuing exploration of complexity in all our human systems, large and small. Our definition of “health” is broad, holistic, relative and [...]
Age in the Classroom: Keep it Uniform or Mix it UP? Multi-age classrooms, often used today in programs for students whose special needs result from disabilities or advancement, began for practical rather than philosophical reasons. Through much of the Nineteenth Century and earlier, one-room school houses served communities across the country. Youngsters of all ages, abilities and knowledge levels who lived within walking distance of the school came together under the guidance of a teacher who was expected [...]