The Systems View of Life

We may be watching the rise and fall of our own civilization.

We’ve built up a flourishing global society, but those same efforts have put us in jeopardy. Global warming caused by our modern industries and inventions threatens to put entire countries underwater. Expanding urban centers bulldoze the ecosystems we once relied on for natural resources. Medical advancements that have led to longer, healthier lives and a booming population are also to blame for overcrowding and food shortages. It turns out everything really is connected.

Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi offer radical solutions to our twenty-first century challenges by focusing on connectedness and examining life through its inextricable systems. Debates over key issues from climate change to energy to financial security are more intertwined than we previously thought: if the biological, cognitive, social, philosophical, and ecological dimensions of these problems are examined at once, creative new solutions emerge. The Systems View of Life breaks new barriers, with implications and solutions from climate change and public health to law and economics. This sweeping view of science and policy is a practical and essential tool that gives us a systemic understanding of life vital to building a sustainable future.