MC #1 Characteristics of a Wicked Problem.
Evitt Nashed
edited oct. 12
The Remington-Doucette book explains thoroughly the concept of what a wicked problem is. They are known as “wicked” because these problems have a harder understanding and could possibly need different factors to help it. Wicked problems have 6 different factors that can affect a problem. The six characteristics of a wicked problem include.
- vague problem definition
- undefined solution
- no endpoint
- irreversible
- unique
- urgent
The Botanical Gardens suffers with multiple wicked problems. They go through many undefined and irreversible solutions for plants. The Botanical Gardens go through vague problems that needs attention before things can get worse. The idea of a wicked problem is that there’s no endpoint. The Gardens suffers with many problems that seem to not end.
Evitt took this picture.
Certain people, referred to as botanists, work there to try and figure out if they can grow more of the plants that they have that are endangered. The endangered species the garden has are very unique that we need more of it and that means we need to do a lot of research about the plants. That is an urgent and vague problem the garden suffers with.
https://www.dreamstime.com/photo-two-male-botanist-examining-herbs-plant-nursery-image156725027
While looking through the MOBOT website, I learned that a group of people go to Madagascar to do science research for the garden. it quotes, “The program that has been built in Madagascar is highly respected and we need to leverage the prestigious position the Garden holds there to continue to push for the growth of science and conservation in a country with one of the most threatened floras in the world.” reading this made me realize that the gardens will always have problems that can’t be solved but instead resolved, which means the garden’s problems don’t have an endpoint. An endpoint is an example of a wicked problem.
Us students as a research team needs to do something. We need to protect the garden and its history behind it all. There might not be a complete defined solution, but helping instead of just sitting around will have a better impact. We need to restore the life the garden has brought to us. We should work closely with communities to help us research more about the garden.
A characteristic of a wicked problem can be vague meaning that it can lead to multiple other problems and doesn’t have a definite solution. Even though a problem could be vague, doesn’t mean we can’t find the problems causing it. Us as people need to take different approaches to helping our environment.
Another characteristic of a wicked problem is being irreversible. For example, when you do something, you can’t really time travel into the past and fix it. You just have to learn from it and revise. Some things we do in nature can harm the environment and its quite irreversible to fix when everyone is not caring about our world. Some things we can do to help is documenting and learning about the climate change we have in the world. This can help identify what type of environment is needed for plants to thrive. We should also connect with nutritional needs for the plants. We need to know what type of nutrition it needs to also thrive and not die off. That helps with our endangered species in knowing what can help us produce more of it. Restoring forests that have been dying can help produce more of what we need. Nature is what makes us humans. Without it we wouldn’t be living. All our social norms would be changed upon it. The animals we count on, count on the food nature produces. Without it then the animals will die off and so will we as humans. That is why we all need to take a step and help out our environment.
Wicked problems can also be referred to as unique meaning it can hold special value. The DNA of the plants that are paper pressed in the herbarium holds such a unique feature. Those DNA samples of plants gives us an idea of the families those specimens are related too. DNA can also give us an insight of what living condition it needs to grow in. DNA samples can also help scientist figure out the Latin translation name of the plants.
Wicked problems can be defined as urgent. Urgent meaning that without anyone helping, it will just get worse from there. People need to take action immediately to help our environment.
Disease prevention is a big urgent problem the garden has. Diseases are very easy to catch for plants and once we eat them, then we get a disease. Although this problem cannot be fixed forever, however, it can resolve how we can block these diseases off. Research can help us in many ways. We should research ways to block off diseases in plants and what type of nutrition and environment changed are needed to help in that case. A disease that is common in the garden, is a fungus called Ganoderma lucidum. This disease attaches to either younger or older trees and kills them off immediately. Us as a research team should look up ways to prevent this from happening. This fungus attacks the lower heartwood and causes the tree to be weak and flimsy. This disease can be common around trees that are Maplewood, oaks, or honey locusts. Although it can be found in other trees, but those are those most common ones. Trees affected by fungus can change the color of the tree to a more yellowish color. The leaves are also to be weak and flimsy with weird coloration. To identify this fungus, we look at either the trunk or root of the tree and see if they have this mushroom-like fungus growing out of it. To resolve this problem, we need to focus on the nutrition it gets, the climate its growing in and how to avoid damaging the tree.
references
Search Results (missouribotanicalgarden.org)
Ganoderma Root Rots (missouribotanicalgarden.org)
About – Discover + Share (discoverandshare.org)
Important, Urgent and Knowing the Difference