Fritjof Capra lecture: Systems view of Life

The Franklin College is one of the sponsors of an important Chapel lecture this week by Physicist and systems theorist Fritjof Capra on the "Scientific Understanding of Living Systems and the Systems View of Life" Nov. 13 at 3 p.m.

What is a systems view? That's why we'll attend the lecture but, the namesake of our Odum School of Ecology, Eugene Odum, along with his brother Howard T., was an early pioneer of systems ecology - a holistic view of an ecosystem as a complex system exhibiting emergent properties. Systems ecology focuses on interactions within and between biological and ecological systems, and is especially concerned with the way the functioning of ecosystems can be influenced by human interventions.

It's a fascinating perspective, capable of illuminating much about how we interact as a part of the natural world. I'm sure that Dr. Capra will tell us even more tomorrow. See you at the Chapel, Thursday at 3.

Image: Ecological analysis of CO2 in an ecosystem, via wikipedia commons.