Paradigms & decision making

Over time, how we make decisions often has more effect on the outcome than our specific choices. "Good" choices made in isolation often fail or cause problems.

Allan Savory photo Destocking fails to heal desert, yet people keep doing it. Left: 40 years of no grazing (total rest). Right: 40 years continuous grazing (partial rest). Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA. article

Articles

Paradigms and decision-making frameworks by Peter Donovan. What limits change, and what makes change possible. Until we become aware of our paradigms and beliefs, they rule our choices. 1997.

The Last Battle by Allan Savory. Why "navigating the rapids ahead" may be the wrong metaphor. A gripping keynote address to the 1997 Washington State University Holistic Management project.

Testing technology: what will work for you? by Wilma Keppel. Even technology that passes the Holistic Management testing guidelines may have hidden costs or problems. How to discover them before you invest in the technology and get bitten. Holistic Management In Practice, 1999, revised April 2002. printer-friendly version

Happenings 2 by Peter Donovan. SunEast near Ellensburg, Washington; the Inland NW Land Trust Patterns of Choice, 1997.

Grassroots reporting of paradigm shifts. An Argentine rancher observes, "Once I was able to view myself as a part--and only a part--of larger wholes, all the tenets of conventional management began to fall one after another: nature as a passive object; engineering as a godlike endeavor; species divided into 'good' and 'bad'; weather as a problem; technology as the paramount solution; my family and my personal life as something apart from the way I make my living." Cliff Montagne and Peter Donovan, Journal of Soil Conservation, 1996.

Hwange villagers adopt Holistic Management by Lovemore Ngoma. Near Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, villagers have taken responsibility for their future by changing the way they make decisions. The Zimbabwe Herald, 1996.

Achieving the potential of the federal lands by Peter Donovan. Advocates long-term leasing as a possible solution to some of the major problems involved with the management of U.S. federal lands. Different Drummer, 1995.

Resource-oriented tourism and the solar energy pyramid. Peter Donovan, The Wallowa County Chieftain., 1996.

Paradigm shift at the Broughton Land Company by Doug Warnock. By changing to a later calving date, manager Gene Patton benefited ecology, quality of life, and economics. Patterns of Choice, 1997.

Who will take care of the land? by Peter Donovan. Faced with seemingly insuperable regulatory, economic, social, and ecological challenges, ranchers, environmentalists, and agency people in Challis, Idaho used holistic thinking to solve their problems. Patterns of Choice, 1998.

Beyond partial management by Marcos Gimenez-Zapiola. An Argentinian rancher elegantly summarizes some of the basics of holistic management, including the importance of understanding the whole. The Holistic Resource Management quarterly, 1997.

Improving water cycle function with good grazing management by Peter Donovan. The Wallowa County Chieftain, 1997.

Biodiversity: where's the beef? by Peter Donovan. The beef industry as a whole is often viewed negatively by environmentalists and consumers. Can they take a wider view? Published 1996 in PCC Sound Consumer, 1996.

The Colville Tribe by Peter Donovan. How and why the Colville Confederated Tribes adopted holistic management in 1996. Long article from Patterns of Choice, 1997. Shorter article from The Wallowa County Chieftain, 1996.

Doing the impossible by Peter Donovan. The story of changes on the Colville Reservation, and how Jeff Goebel and Don Nelson influenced the land-grant university itself. Patterns of Choice, 1997.

An evolution, not an event: how the WSU/Kellogg project started and where it's going by Don Nelson, project director. Description here. Patterns of Choice, 1997,.

Washington's Holistic Management Project holds first statewide meeting by Peter Donovan. Notes from the Washington State University/Kellogg Holistic Management project's statewide meeting in Yakima (USA). Patterns of Choice, 1997.

Seeking transformation by Peter Donovan. A brief description of the Washington State University/Kellogg Foundation Holistic Management Training Project. Patterns of Choice, 1997.

Links

The Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management in Albuquerque runs a web page and a listserv discussion, and also publishes a bimonthly journal, Holistic Management in Practice and other learning materials. To subscribe to the listserv, send a blank message to general-subscribe@lists.holisticmanagement.org

Teaching a Caterpillar to Fly by Scott Simmerman: a delightful and humorous essay about change at squarewheels.com.

Wilbur Wood's experiences with Holistic Management at the In Context website.

Landoctor describes investment opportunities with Scott Clifford and Sonia Pensaert in western Canada, using holistic management.

Northland Sheep Dairy is Karl North's site with some outstanding papers about his farm in New York State and holistic decision making.

Holistic Solutions is Christopher Peck's website on holistic financial planning.

The Permaculture Activist, North America's journal of design and sustainable culture, is an inspiring and down-to-earth magazine.

The 6th PERMACULTURE CONVERGENCE in Australia in 1996 has some wonderful proceedings online.

Dick Richardson, who teaches zoology and resource management at the University of Texas, has some information and examples of holistic decision making on his web site.

Articles on/by Allan Savory at the San Diego Earth Times.

Updated 24 June 2002

list of (nearly) all articles (45K)