Sustainability, Ecology and Frameworks: Coursework Assignment

This assignment delves into the multifaceted concepts of sustainability, ecology, and associated frameworks, examining various definitions and historical contexts. The student explores the integration of economics, social equity, and environmental considerations to mitigate human impact. The assignment covers key topics like systems thinking, social-ecological systems, and resilience, drawing on credible sources to illustrate concepts and real-world examples. It includes discussions, connections between readings and regional events, and potential project ideas. The student analyzes sustainability definitions, historical context, and frameworks while also exploring systems thinking approaches to identify leverage points for sustainability, with references to relevant literature.

Running head: SUSTAINBILITY, ECOLOGY AND FRAMEWORKS
SUSTAINBILITY, ECOLOGY AND FRAMEWORKS
Name of the Students
Name of the University
Authors note

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SUSTAINBILITY, ECOLOGY AND FRAMEWORKS
1 Unit 1 : Sustainability Definition, History, Context and Frameworks
Garren & Brinkmann (2018)
2 Definition
Sandra J. and Robert Brinkmann (1980), highlights the notion of Sustainability, the way it
bring together the themes of economics, social equity and environment in order to reduce
the influence of activity of human on the earth. They sheds light on the sustainability
notion of measuring and assessing by summarizing international, national and number of
local assessment systems using variety of framework (Garren & Brinkmann, 2018).
3 Evidence Extracted from liable sources which give example of the issues-
My viewpoint and judgement on the given evidence as critical thinking:
This concept lies on a common principle that all that we require for our well-being and in
order to survive in this planet depends on our natural environment whether directly or
indirectly, and for the purpose pursuing sustainability it is important to maintain the
environment within which nature and human can survive in productive congruence to
sustain present and support future.
4 Tutorial/ online engagement-
a. Discussions in the unit that I started or participated in and new knowledge I have gained
from them in relation to the reading/s AND/OR
b. Concepts or ideas that I was not sure of and for which I sought clarification from
tutor/peers
With the help of online and tutorial discussion the concept of sustainability is clear to me
and I gathered some concrete examples regarding sustenance of the environment we are

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living in.
5 Examples of connection:
Between readings/concepts and your knowledge of situations/events that have occurred in
your region
 Industries are bringing down agreements, such as, and other taking initiatives to
save it ( Geissdoerfer, et al. 2018).
 Influencers of sustainability are working on conditions, such as, social equity,
climate change, pollution, sustainable business, economic development across the
world including our region ( Baland, Bardhan & Bowles, 2018).
6 Possible ideas for my choice of major project drawing on readings, lectures and
tutorials
I consider taking in account and stopping the cutting of trees here in my home town which
is harmful for the environment (Clayton & Radcliff, 2018).
7 References
Garren, S. J., & Brinkmann, R. (2018). Sustainability definitions, historical context, and
frameworks. In The Palgrave Handbook of Sustainability (pp. 1-18). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Clayton, T., & Radcliffe, N. (2018). Sustainability: a systems approach. Routledge.
Abson, D. J., Fischer, J., Leventon, J., Newig, J., Schomerus, T., Vilsmaier, U., ... & Lang, D. J.
(2017). Leverage points for sustainability transformation. Ambio, 46(1), 30-39.
Geissdoerfer, M., Savaget, P., Bocken, N. M., & Hultink, E. J. (2017). The Circular Economy–A
new sustainability paradigm?. Journal of cleaner production, 143, 757-768.
Baland, J. M., Bardhan, P., & Bowles, S. (Eds.). (2018). Inequality, cooperation, and
environmental sustainability. Princeton University Press.

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SUSTAINBILITY, ECOLOGY AND FRAMEWORKS
1 Unit 2 : Introduction to Systems Thinking
Kim (1999)
2 Definition
Daniel H. Kim, describes the concept of system thinking as a way of observing and
talking regarding reality which helps us understand better and perform with systems in
order to impact the value of our lives (Kim, 1999).
3 Evidence from credible sources that provide examples of concepts/issues:
My analysis and judgement of the evidence provided (critical thinking)
Systems works for maintaining and managing the constancy through feedback, as it is the
broadcast and return of facts and information. Each system comes with a purpose which
describes it as separate entity (Yakoob, et al. 2018).
4 Tutorial/ online engagement:
a. Discussions in the unit that I started or participated in and new knowledge I have gained
from them in relation to the reading/s AND/OR
b. Concepts or ideas that I was not sure of and for which I sought clarification from
tutor/peers
With the help of the tutorial and the online information, I am able to understand the
concept of system and how it works ( Joshi, Kumar & Patil, 2017).
5 Examples of connections:

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SUSTAINBILITY, ECOLOGY AND FRAMEWORKS
Between readings/concepts and your knowledge of situations/events that have occurred in
your region
Family is a good example in this field as it works more like a system than collection
(Jones, Magliocca and Hondula, 2017).
6 Possible ideas for my choice of major project drawing on readings, lectures and
tutorials
This concept can be applied in terms of bowl of vegetables, family and many more
(Griffiths and Stotz, 2018).
7 References
Kim, D. H. (1999). Introduction to systems thinking (Vol. 16). Waltham, MA: Pegasus
Communications.
Yaqoob, T., Usama, M., Qadir, J., & Tyson, G. (2018, August). On Analyzing Self-Driving
Networks: A Systems Thinking Approach. In Proceedings of the Afternoon Workshop on Self-
Driving Networks (pp. 1-7).
Joshi, A., Kumar, A., & Patil, P. (2017). Systems Thinking and Total Quality Management. Supply
Chain Pulse, 8(1), 38-41.
Jones, K., Magliocca, N. R., & Hondula, K. (2017). White paper: An overview of conceptual
frameworks, analytical approaches and research questions in the food-energy-water nexus.
Griffiths, P., & Stotz, K. (2018). Developmental systems theory as a process theory. Everything
flows: towards a processual philosophy of biology, 225.

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1 Unit: A System thinking approach to identify leverage points for sustainability
Nguyen and Bosch (2016)
2 Definition
Nam C. Nguyen and Ockie J. H. Bosch, the practice and nature of sustainability is multi-
dimensional, dynamic and complex. The concept of sustainability advantaged its official
acknowledgement in the year 1987 (Nguyen and Bosch, 2016).
3 Evidence from credible sources that provide examples of concepts/issues:
My analysis and judgement of the evidence provided (critical thinking)
The concept of system is an increasingly popular, as a popular because it delivers a new
way of thinking to manage problems and understand complexities (Ha, et al. 2016),
whether it is globally experienced or under local context (Nguyen, et al. 2016).
4 Tutorial/ online engagement:
a. Discussions in the unit that I started or participated in and new knowledge I have gained
from them in relation to the reading/s AND/OR
b. Concepts or ideas that I was not sure of and for which I sought clarification from
tutor/peers
Using the help from online and tutorial stuff I am able to understand the concept of system
thinking and how it performs under local and international context regarding the complex
understandings (Nguyen, et al. 2016).
5 Examples of connections:

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SUSTAINBILITY, ECOLOGY AND FRAMEWORKS
Between readings/concepts and your knowledge of situations/events that have occurred in
your region.
Education population, services, investment in agriculture are some of the examples of this
field.
6 Possible ideas for my choice of major project drawing on readings, lectures and
tutorials
Use of ground water and livelihood of commoner are some of its possible ideas.
7 References
Nguyen, N. C., & Bosch, O. J. (2013). A systems thinking approach to identify leverage points for
sustainability: a case study in the Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve, Vietnam. Systems Research and
Behavioral Science, 30(2), 104-115.
Ha, T. M., Bosch, O. J., & Nguyen, N. C. (2016, January). Practical Value of the systems-based
evolutionary learning laboratory in solving complex community problems in Vietnam.
In Proceedings of the 59th Annual Meeting of the ISSS-2015 Berlin, Germany (Vol. 1, No. 1).
Van Nguyen, T., Nguyen, N. C., & Bosch, O. J. (2017). Identifying key success factors in supply
chain management for increasing the competitive advantages of Vietnamese
coffee. Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal.
Nguyen, N. C., Banson, K. E., Bosch, O. J., Fang, J. Z., Heng, B. C., Lee, C. S., ... & Nguyen, T.
V. (2016). Using a systems thinking approach to address the affordability of housing for
Singaporeans. International Journal of Markets and Business Systems, 2(3), 206-225.
Nguyen, N. C., Banson, K. E., Bosch, O. J., Nguyen, T. V., Tan, L., Goh, G., ... & Jupary, Z.
(2016). The economic importance of social graciousness index: a systemic approach to Singapore
case. International Journal of Markets and Business Systems, 2(2), 102-125.

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1 Unit: A System thinking approach to identify leverage points for sustainability
Sternman (2012)
2 Definition
John D. Sternman, has described the way sustainable development teaching, researching,
and engagement with the process of policies that can be managed to deliver scientifically
grounded, credible knowledge that symbolises disciplinary boundaries which engages
values, purposes, multiple stakeholders, unavoidable issues of ethics, and leads to action
(Sternman, 2012).
3 Evidence from credible sources that provide examples of concepts/issues:
My analysis and judgement of the evidence provided (critical thinking)
The challenges lies in specific tools which are the keys and processes that helps in the
understanding of the better designed policies, complexities, individual facilities,
organisational learning, and catalyse the social, economic, technical, personal and political
in order to establish a sustainable society (Rooney, 2019).
4 Tutorial/ online engagement:
a. Discussions in the unit that I started or participated in and new knowledge I have gained
from them in relation to the reading/s AND/OR
b. Concepts or ideas that I was not sure of and for which I sought clarification from
tutor/peers

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SUSTAINBILITY, ECOLOGY AND FRAMEWORKS
The online and offline tutorials and information helped in making the concept worth
understanding and helped in knowing the challenges that it deals with, in order to create a
society which is sustainable (Rooney, 2018).
5 Examples of connections:
Between readings/concepts and your knowledge of situations/events that have occurred in
your region.
 Policies regarding health plan, reducing the amount of prescribed drugs and
stopping the excessive of drugs.
 Building roads in order to reduce the traffic jams and congestion over the existing
roads (Saeed, 2019).
6 Possible ideas for my choice of major project drawing on readings, lectures and
tutorials
Making of large dams should be reduced as they causes more bad then good, and causes
harm to the ecosystems and causes loss of species (Gibbons, et al. 2018).
7 References
Sterman, J. D. (2012). Sustaining sustainability: creating a systems science in a fragmented
academy and polarized world. In Sustainability science (pp. 21-58). Springer, New York, NY.
Rooney-Varga, J. N., Kapmeier, F., Sterman, J. D., Jones, A. P., Putko, M., & Rath, K. (2019). The
Climate Action Simulation. Simulation & Gaming, 1046878119890643.
Rooney-Varga, J. N., Sterman, J. D., Fracassi, E., Franck, T., Kapmeier, F., Kurker, V., ... & Rath,
K. (2018). Combining role-play with interactive simulation to motivate informed climate action:
Evidence from the World Climate simulation. PloS one, 13(8).
Saeed, K. (2019). Towards sustainable development: Essays on system analysis of national

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policy. Routledge.
Gibbons, L. V., Cloutier, S. A., Coseo, P. J., & Barakat, A. (2018). Regenerative development as
an integrative paradigm and methodology for landscape sustainability. Sustainability, 10(6), 1910.

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