Feedback Loops: Feedback loops determine is a system is resilient or not.
Feedback loops determine if a system is resilient or not. Feedback is when a change in one thing changes a second thing, and then the change in the second thing loops back around and changes the first. There are two different kinds of feedback loops: positive and negative. The definitions don’t really mean good or bad. Instead, positive feedback loops mean that the change to the first thing is increased by the change in the second thing. In negative feedback loops, the change to the first thing is reduced by the change in the second thing.
When you were studying your biosphere, some of you may have noticed that the carbon dioxide in the air was much higher than it was in the classroom. This had to do with feedback loops. Living, breathing organisms like the microbes in your soil breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. When plants photosynthesize, they take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.
In negative feedback loops, when the change to the first thing is reduced, that means that the overall changes to the system are balanced out. If the first change causes the second thing to increase, then the effect will be a decrease somewhere else, and overall, the system will stay balanced. This is how negative feedback loops prevent further changes from happening, and how they can make a system resilient.
Positive feedback loops are when a change causes more changes. If a change causes an increase, then the effect will be more increases elsewhere. Positive feedback loops make systems spiral out of control.
The climate change problem involves a lot of positive feedback loops. The main positive feedback in global warming is the tendency of warming to increase the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, which in turn leads to further warming.
When you were studying your biosphere, some of you may have noticed that the carbon dioxide in the air was much higher than it was in the classroom. This had to do with feedback loops. Living, breathing organisms like the microbes in your soil breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. When plants photosynthesize, they take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.
In negative feedback loops, when the change to the first thing is reduced, that means that the overall changes to the system are balanced out. If the first change causes the second thing to increase, then the effect will be a decrease somewhere else, and overall, the system will stay balanced. This is how negative feedback loops prevent further changes from happening, and how they can make a system resilient.
Positive feedback loops are when a change causes more changes. If a change causes an increase, then the effect will be more increases elsewhere. Positive feedback loops make systems spiral out of control.
The climate change problem involves a lot of positive feedback loops. The main positive feedback in global warming is the tendency of warming to increase the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, which in turn leads to further warming.
Feedback Loops Research Ideas
- Interview your school’s decision makers (like your principal). How do they make decisions? What influences them when they’re making decisions? Who does their decisions impact? What would it take for them to choose more sustainable options?
- Research other students’ efforts around the world to reduce their contributions to climate change and/or prepare themselves for the impacts. Was the feedback loop of their campaign positive or negative? What was successful about their campaigns? What can learn for your own campaign at your own school?
- Student from Sweden protesting for COP24.
- Students’ legal case into the US Government.
- Student from Sweden protesting for COP24.
- Research the various materials your school purchases and determine how those purchases may contribute to creating a positive feedback loop that contributes to climate change rather than reduce it.