Defining the systems and classifying the drivers of a specific system.
In my CODES 120 cohort, we are reading “The Sustainable World” by the author, Sonya Remington-Doucette. In the novel, Remington-Doucette reveals the concept of taking a deeper dive and exploring the cause and effect of wicked problems. She uses different techniques to start solving these wicked problems. More specifically we are reading chapter 3 of that book. In chapter 3 we look at defining the systems and classifying drivers. Let’s look at exactly what drivers are. Drivers are separated into two different groups: indirect and direct drivers. direct drivers are defined as clearly and unequivocally influence the behavior of that system. Indirect drivers are defined as drivers that influence the behavior of that system in a more diffuse way, by altering one or more direct drivers.
The herbaria at Missouri botanical gardens are a very beautiful place. The herbarium is a home for many species of plants from all around the world. Some as far as China and others as close as down the street. The Missouri botanical gardens have been around for hundreds of years. Henry Shaw became the founder of the Botanical gardens Saint Louis in the year of 1859. It is widely considered one of the top three most famous botanical gardens. The garden is a national and historic landmark right here in Saint Louis Missouri. Though the garden is beautiful and has come a very long way, there is a past that the garden has. Me and my fellow CODE scholars are still trying to uncover the mysteries and the rooted problems the garden is still recovering from.
The herbaria undergo a series of problems. And the Herbarium itself is at a consent state of a loop of problems. Some new problems and some old. Especially with the gardens using and prioritizing western science. Though western science is not a bad concept I believe it takes away from other cultures and their experiences. With prioritizing the Westernized sciences, we are losing many different experiences and thought processes. A lot of those thought processes and experiences can be very helpful tools to the Herbarium.
Within this chart I made above I am taking a deeper dive into the herbarium and its problems. Classifying the drivers and indirect drivers and their connections to the herbarium. As of right now I cannot say we have a defined answer to all of the problems we are facing but we are now a few steps ahead to where we used to be.
Yet we are still nowhere near the finish line of this problem. We can continue to work with the garden and pulling recourses from different gardens and different scholars as well.