Introduction | Bad Decisions are Easy to Make | Ecosystem Services and Valuation | Valuation | MIMES for Decision Makers
INTRODUCTION
This pathway is designed for group members whether the group identifies itself as a private, public or activist organization. It may be helpful to those making personal decisions but is it has extra considerations to improve the quality of policy decisions within a community. It describes some pitfalls in policy making including a video of expert comments. It gives a brief orientation to complexity, analysis, synthesis, systems thinking, ecosystem services and MIMES as a simulation tool. All of this is in direct terms to help you use information to improve quality of life.
BAD DECISIONS ARE EASY TO MAKE
Watch the Video Clip
There was a retirement party for the President of a prosperous local bank. He expressed his gratitude and vision for the future of the city after a sumptuous banquet and edifying introduction, which enumerated his many accomplishments. As he left the hall he was confronted by an earnest young man whom he recognized as one of the more aggressive loan officers at the Bank from which he was retiring.
“How do you explain your success?” asked the younger man.
“Good luck,“ replied the elder.
“But it must be more than luck,” pressed the loan officer.
“I made the most of my good luck with good decisions,” nodded the retiree.
“But how did you learn to make good decisions?”
The ex-president looked the young man earnestly in the eye and said,“Bad decisions.”
The following are six factors involved in decision making.
| Taking things apart (analysis) Simplicity Parts (elements) | Putting things together (sysnthesis) Complexity Wholes (systems) |
Above I have arranged them in two EITHER or GROUPS. (as if they were opposites). Instead of listing them as opposites we can map them as one web of compliments.
This represents BOTH / AND thinking and recognizes the relationships between elements.
Which pattern of thinking is most common? Which leads to better decisions?
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Modern science and technology have given us many ways to look at human beings. Some views see parts, some views see wholes. Some views see “how?” other views see “why?”. Satisfying choices come from asking both how and why. But science has drawn our attention to how (until recently).
How things work has turned out to be both fascinating and overwhelming. Whether we study outside of ourselves (family, community, marketplace, nation-state…) or inside of ourselves (neurology, psychology, cellular biology…) we find nothing ever really gets simpler: unless we “don’t bite off more than we can chew.” So modern people and their scientists have kept themselves fascinated and protected from being overwhelmed by chewing on tinier and tinier bites. BUT
“If you cut an elephant in half, you don’t get two small elephants.” ~ Peter SengeSo by taking things apart we don’t necessarily study the person, the family, the pond, the forest, the product or the business that we set out to study. This brings us back to both/and thinking (which can seem like more than we can chew).
| both | and |
| "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" | "don't bite off more than you can chew" |
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES and VALUATION; THE CONTRIBUTION OF NATURE TO HUMAN WELLBIENG
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| In this picture the people are obviously enjoying their environment. Raw elements of nature are an indispensable part of the experience. The man made parts are less conspicuous but none the less necessary. | In this picture the man made parts are obvious. The raw elements of nature are overshadowed but nonetheless necessary. |
The reality is that everything is the dependent on the raw elements of nature. The economy makes them useful in one way and the ecology makes them useful in another way. When the ecology makes things useful in a natural way we are calling that ecosystem services. When the economy makes useful things we call them goods and services.
| Supporting NUTRIENT CYCLING SOIL FORMATION PRIMARY PRODUCTION | Regulating CLIMATE REGULATION FLOOD REGULATION DISEASE REGULATION WATER PURIFICATION |
| Cultural AESTHETIC SPIRITUAL EDUCATIONAL RECREATIONAL | Provisioning FOOD FRESH WATER WOOD AND FIBER FUEL |
This is a list of ecosystem labels and categories which you might not agree. These things have been taken for granted so long they don’t really have names. But looking at this table may help you see ecosystem services that benefit you and your community. That is what you will use in decision making.
The original discussion that formed this table was part of the Millennium Assessment of Ecosystem Services. In the full report these services are linked to human well-being in a diagram.
VALUATION
It is easy to put a price tag on manufactured goods like kilowatts, cars and dip nets. It’s not clear how we put a price on ponds to dip the nets in. And a whole experience is priceless, whether it is a day fishing with family, dancing with friends at a nightclub or a lazy back yard barbeque. You can’t price these experiences by adding up the prices of fishing poles, musical instruments or charcoal briquettes. This is what is meant by “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.
Valuing ecosystem services in MIMES draws attention to the whole picture in a way that reflects its pricelessness and tackles the difficult job of estimating prices for ecosystem services. Ponds for fish and trees for fresh air are only partially priced or not at all priced in market trading. Current economic trades can give us nothing for something (ie. gulf coast dead zone for cheaper corn flakes) by assuming we get something for nothing from nature. MIMES will help you make better trades by seeing something where the market sees nothing.
Another meaning of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” is that
Simple cost benefit analysis is an attempt to price everything and often leads to results that look like (and work like) the pictures below.
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But to understand value you must start with some whole before you chose parts and price them. And you must return the parts to the whole before you estimate their value. MIMES holds the parts always in relationship to the whole to improve estimates of value. Used well, MIMES results in policies we can survive and drive into a pleasant future.
MIMES FOR DECISION MAKERS
The story of the bank president tells of the value of experience. And wouldn’t we all like to have the benefits of experience without making the bad decision first?!
In order to learn from bad decisions one has first to survive them and then study them. It is far less painful to study someone else’s bad decisions than to make our own. Another way to make bad decisions less painful is to make them in play. This is the common sense strategy of MIMES; build other peoples experience into a no risk experience for you.
MIMES is very serious play like the “play” that astronauts and airline pilots do in simulation before they leave the ground. Don’t be afraid to play with MIMES, part of the fun and the learning is being able to try things you would never try in real life. The results may surprise you. (Better now than later.)
MIMES is designed to grow more useful with your input. The more MIMES is used the better it becomes.
