What a pandemic can say about human–environment relationship

Abstract

In 2020, the new coronavirus disease has seen many countries adopt mitigation activities to interrupt human-to-human transmission, radically changing daily life habits with secondary effects on the environment. The aim of this article is to comment on these events from a systemic point of view, referring to systems theories and the non-linear causal relation between human behaviour and the environment. As Bateson stated, linear thinking has led human beings to exploit the environment, causing an ecological crisis and disequilibrium within the system, because the mutual interrelationship and homeostasis mechanisms between humans and their environment were ignored. Taking into account the pandemic and its effects, the new coronavirus provides an opportunity to see otherwise invisible or obscured relational phenomena, such as the mutual relationship between humans and their environment.

A behavioural system of strategy‐as‐practice for grant acquisition in nonprofits: An investigation through the sensemaking theory and systems theory

“…This study corroborates the findings of LaPointe (1998) because there were dynamic ideational reciprocity among people in the NGO, open communications, goal pursuing intentions and existence for a purpose observed in the strategy‐making for grant acquisition among nonprofits. The study also corroborates the findings of Pettini and Mazzocco (2021), as there was a complex relationship between the sensemaking system of strategy‐making and their social‐organizational environment and competitive environment. In a way, there is a causal loop between strategy‐making and the competitive environment in nonprofits (Panda, 2019); that is, strategy‐making influences the competition environment and vice versa.…”

“…Schweiger et al (2018) investigated how resistance influences organizational change from the systems perspective and found the complex and dynamic connection between resistance and change. In a recent study, Pettini and Mazzocco (2021) examined the relationship between humans and their environment during the pandemic from the systems theory.…”

What do you think about climate change?

“…In 1972, Gregory Bateson's influential book, Steps to an Ecology of Mind , introduced the revolutionary idea that individuals are a part of a system, defined as an “ integrated whole whose essential properties arise from the relationships between its parts” (Pettini & Mazzocco, 2022). It entails that all humans are components of multiple and complex interconnected relationships and networks featuring specific formal characteristics.…”

Development and validation of the Environmental Confinement Stressors Scale (ECSS-20)

“…As is well known, the social environment systematically influences health, considering social, psychological, economic, demographic, local and cultural aspects ( Wild, 2005 ; McMichael, 2011 ; Pettini and Mazzocco, 2022 ; Whipple and Evans, 2022 ; Eyre et al, 2023 ; Gudi-Mindermann et al, 2023 ; Ibanez and Eyre, 2023 ). In this sense, any variation in these aspects will impact the health status of people, being detrimental or beneficial to the population.…”