EcoTipping point

Origin:
● The "tip point" phrase was coined more than fifty years ago to indicate a threshold
for dramatic change in neighborhood demographics (Grodzins 1957).
● The "tipping point" phrase was later popularized by Malcolm Gladwell's The
Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Gladwell 2000).
○ “tipping point" represents the point in time when a new idea "takes off,"
spreading rapidly through a society.
■ did not use systems jargon such as "feedback loops," their use of
"tipping point" reflected the amplifying effects of feedback loops and
the power of feedback loops to engender change.

WHAT IS ECOTIPPING POINT?

● "tipping point" to mean a “lever” that can tip an eco-social system from one set of
mutually reinforcing processes, called a "system domain,” to a different domain.
● The “tip” sets the system on a completely new course of change.
● EcoTipping Points are levers that set an eco-social system on a positive course of
change. They are catalytic, turning the system from decline to a course of
restoration and sustainability (Marten 2005, 2007, 2008; Marten et al. 2005).
● Combines the right environmental technology with the social organization to put
it into practice
● Demonstrate that citizens and the private sector don’t have to wait for government
action.
■ EcoTipping Points help to solve social problems as well.

EcoTipping Points show how the same forces that endanger environments and
communities can be harnessed to heal them.

How does it work?

● ‘feedback loops’ circular chains of cause and effects which amplify small causes
into large effects
■ identify the cause and effect of the vicious cycle that is destroying
society and ecosystems
■ depict the strategic points where the cycle can be reversed to
restoration.
● “vicious cycles” (Negative tip/Negative tipping points)
 ● “virtuous cycles” mobilization of natural, social, and economic forces to work
for sustainability instead of against it. (Positive Tip/Positive Tipping points)
■ driving positive change with the same power that drove the negative
change.

EcoTipping Points transform the feedback loops (vicious cycles) responsible for
environmental decline into virtuous cycles that power restoration.

Gerald Marten or ‘Gerry’

● an ecologist with fifty years of research experience in a variety of ecosystems
around the world.
● focused increasingly on practical ecological problems, and so did his commitment
to translating science so people and communities can make good use of it.
● biological ecologist, fascinated with the beauty of nature and studying how
ecosystems function. Later I focused on studying ecosystems that are particularly
important for meeting human needs.
● “human ecology,” my perspective as a scientist shifted from focusing only on
ecosystems (as a source of resources for people) to a broader perspective that
included people as an important part of the story.
● Thinks of himself as a “human ecologist” with a mission to convey what human
ecology can offer that people who are not human ecologists should know.

EcoTipping Points Project

"small actions that make a big difference".

They collect stories of ordinary people whom they call "eco-pioneers" - turn ecological
problems around.

● His mission is to spread the principles and the tips of ETPs. Read the
amazing interview of Gerry and know his views on how we can
contribute towards making this world a better place. We also take a
look at the many positive tipping points as this is encouraging and
empowering thing that we can have today to address the challenges.
● Gerry wished to bring to the world the success stories that he learnt
along the way.
● But they’re not magic bullets to solve environmental problems
overnight. What they can do is set eco-social systems moving in
healthier directions.
Concrete Objectives:

● Refine the EcoTipping Points paradigm and its basic principles, explaining how
EcoTipping Points work and how they can be applied.
● Develop a procedural toolkit for people to create EcoTipping Points in their own
communities.
● Disseminate EcoTipping Point principles and procedures through a variety of
media.
● Collaborate to assist people who want to put EcoTipping Points into action.

Creating Ecotipping Points

The key to EcoTipping Points lies in feedback loops. During brainstorming or visioning
processes, communities can:

● Sketch out the chains of cause and effect responsible for their environmental
problems.
● Identify the vicious cycles that are driving negative tips.
● Think of interventions that will build up under their own momentum, connecting
to key elements of the vicious cycles with sufficient force to turn them around. The
newly formed virtuous cycles will take it from there.
● Build “Ingredients for Success” that we have seen in our success stories into the
eco-technology and social organization of the interventions.

The following questions can help bring potential tipping points into focus:

● What vicious cycles have created the problem or made it worse? Instead of looking
at problems in isolation, we consider the whole eco-social system that generates
them. Then we map out the chains of cause and effect.
● What actions might turn those cycles around? Once we map the cycles, we can pick
out points where it’s possible to reverse the flow of change. In Alwar, the key point
was the falling aquifer. When restored rainwater ponds began feeding the aquifer, they
replaced vicious cycles with virtuous ones.
● Does an action offer short-term paybacks? An early success is crucial to launching a
virtuous cycle, because it inspires further action. When Apo Islanders found their new
marine sanctuary teeming with fish, they saw the value of banning destructive fishing
around the whole island.
 ● Does the action create a commons? Through creating a shared physical resource,
like a rainwater catchment or a garden, a community also creates social resources,
like income, quality of life, and cooperation. As people construct a commons, they
develop a social contract and create institutions to manage and protect it.
● Is there a group of pioneers? It doesn’t take a village to launch a virtuous cycle, but
it’s hard for one person to push a lever alone. It often takes a determined leader
and a handful of collaborators to show the rest that it can be done.
● What resources exist to fuel the virtuous cycle? Several kinds of resources can feed the
positive changes, including: social memory (in Alwar, TBS tapped the expertise of
village elders and resurrected local traditions), ecological memory (Apo’s marine
ecosystem was able to reassemble and rebound rapidly once the fishing pressure was
removed), and outside stimulus and facilitation (in New York, the city provided tools,
plants, and horticultural know-how).

Example:

● A marine sanctuary at Apo Island in the Philippines set in motion community

fisheries management that reversed a vicious cycle of destructive fishing and
depletion of fish stocks, restored the island’s coral-reef ecosystem and fishery,
rescued a fishing village’s valued way of life, and created new avenues of prosperity.
● Agroforestry and community forest management in Nakhon Sawan (Thailand)
reversed a vicious cycle of deforestation, watershed degradation, dependence on
expensive agricultural inputs, debt, population exodus, and carbon dioxide release
due to deforestation. (Tropical deforestation is responsible for 30 percent of global
carbon dioxide emissions.) The region’s villages restored local forests and the
ecological health of their watersheds, secured their livelihoods with agriculture
that was sustainable because it mimicked forests, and helped to reduce global
greenhouse gases by returning atmospheric carbon to a once-again verdant
landscape.
● New York City’s “Green Guerillas” created community gardens in vacant lots,
reversing a vicious cycle of urban decay, crime, neglect, and population flight,
while producing food, flowers, community space, and wildlife habitat while
stimulating local residents to renovate their neighborhoods.
● “Water Warriors” in Rajasthan (India) revived traditional rainwater catchment
dams, reversing a vicious cycle of depleted aquifers, dried-up wells and rivers,
fuelwood depletion, agricultural decline, and population exodus, while bringing
back the water, original vegetation, wildlife, and a decent life for the people.
Ingredients for Success in this story
 ● Indigenous communities in the Mixtec region of southern Mexico planted millions
of trees, reversing a centuries-long vicious cycle of deforestation, overgrazing, and
desertification, setting a barren landscape on a course of restoration, and inspiring
the communities to take greater charge of their destinies.
● Freiberg, Germany, is an inspirational “green city” that overcame a vicious cycle of
ever-increasing consumption and dependence on fossil fuels, switching to a course
of sustainable transportation, energy, waste management, and land conservation
while creating a far-reaching green economy that perpetuates even more
environmental progress.

Ingredients for Success.

● Shared community awareness and commitment.Strong democratic institutions
and genuine community participation are prominent in EcoTipping Point stories.
These stories do not typically feature top-down regulation or elaborate
development plans with unrealistic goals. Of particular importance is a shared
understanding of the problem and what to do about it: Shared recognition of why
the problem has occurred, shared vision and knowledge of what can be done to set
a turnabout in motion, and shared ownership of the community action that follows.
The community devises an effective procedure for making this shared
understanding a reality. It draws upon its collective experience and moves forward
with its own decisions, manpower, and financial resources.

● Outside stimulation and facilitation We seldom see EcoTipping points "bubble up

from within." Outsiders can be a source of fresh ideas and encouragement. While
action at the local level is essential, a success story typically begins when people or
information from outside a community stimulate a shared awareness about a
problem and introduce game-changing ideas for dealing with it. EcoTipping Point
success stories will become more common only with explicit programs to provide
this kind of stimulation to local communities – an approach that has been applied
with considerable success during the past century by agricultural extension in the
United States (Rogers 2003).

● Enduring commitment of local leadership. Persistence is a key to success. A

turnabout from decline to restoration seldom comes easily. It requires community
commitment to apply an EcoTipping Points lever with sufficient force to reverse
the vicious cycles driving decline. Trusted and persistent leaders inspire the deep-
 rooted and continuing community commitment and participation necessary for
success (Westley et al. 2007).

● Co-adaption between social system and ecosystem. Social system and ecosystem
fit together, functioning as a sustainable whole (Marten 2001). As an EcoTipping
Point story unfolds, perceptions, values, knowledge, technology, social
organization, and social institutions all evolve in a way that enhances the
sustainability of valuable social and ecological resources (Senge 2008). Social and
environmental gains go hand in hand. At the heart of the process is “social
commons for environmental commons” – organization tailored to managing a
community’s social and environmental capital (Ostrom 1990). Local government
may provide it, or the community may create its own organization for that
particular purpose.
● “Letting nature do the work." Micro-managing the world’s environmental
problems is beyond human capacity. EcoTipping Points give nature the
opportunity to marshal its self-organizing powers to set restoration in motion.

● Transforming waste into resources. What appears to be “waste” – such as degraded

land, abandoned buildings, garbage, sewage, or marginalized people – is mobilized
and transformed into valued social or material capital.

● Rapid results. Quick “payback” helps to mobilize community commitment. Once

positive results begin cascading through the social system and ecosystem, normal
social, economic, and political processes can take it from there.

● A powerful symbol. It is common for a respected leader or champion for a cause, a

beloved but threatened feature of the local landscape, a prominent community
space, a shared community “story,” a compelling idea, a key benefit attributed to
an EcoTipping Point, the EcoTipping Point itself, or some other key aspect of an
EcoTipping Point story to represent the entire process in a way that consolidates
community commitment and mobilizes community action to carry the process
forward. For example, in the Apo Island story, the islanders say that the marine
sanctuary saved the island’s marine ecosystem, the fishery, and their way of life.

● Coping with social complexity (Tainter 1990). In today’s complex society, powerful
obstacles often stand in the way of positive change. For example:
○ People are so “busy” with competing demands for their time, attention, and
energy that they don’t have time to contribute to the community.
○ People who feel threatened by innovation or other change take measures to
suppress or nullify the change. Government authority is sometimes
obstructive.
 ○ Outsiders try to take over valuable resources after the resources are restored
to health.
○ Dysfunctional dependence on some part of the status quo prevents people
from making changes necessary to break away from decline. For example,
pesticides can destroy natural pest control, making farmers dependent on
using even more pesticides (See “Escaping the pesticide trap in India”)
● Social and ecological diversity. Greater diversity of values, perceptions, knowledge,
technology, social organization, and social institutions provides more choices, and
therefore more opportunities for effective choices. Diversity is equally important
for ecosystems. An ecosystem’s species diversity enhances its capacity for self-
restoration.

● Social and ecological memory (Berkes et al. 2002). Learning from the past. Social
institutions, knowledge, and technology from the past have “stood the test of time.”
With adaptation to current conditions, they often can be of value for the present.
“Ecological memory” is a key feature of nature. The time-testing process of
biological evolution has created impressive resilience in living organisms and their
intricate interrelationships in the ecosystems where they live.

● Building resilience (Resilience Alliance, Walker and Salt 2006). “Resilience" is

about “locking” into sustainability. It is the ability to continue functioning despite
severe and sometimes unexpected external disturbances. EcoTipping Points are
most effective when they not only set in motion a course of sustainability, but also
enhance the capacity to withstand inevitable threats to the sustainability. As
EcoTipping Point stories proceed, new virtuous cycles emerge to reinforce and
consolidate the gains. A community’s adaptive capacity – its capacity for change
based on shared community awareness, prudent experimentation, learning from
successes and mistakes, and replicating success – is central to resilience.