Abstract
The knowledge of unsustainable human and Earth system interactions is widespread, especially in light of systemic environmental injustices. Systems science has enabled complex and rigorous understandings of human and Earth system dynamics, particularly relating to pollution of Earth’s land, water, air, and organisms. Given that many of these systems are not functioning sustainably or optimally, how might this field enable both rigorous understanding of the issues and experiments aimed at alternative outcomes? Here, we put forth a novel, multiscale systems science approach with three steps: (1) understanding the systemic issues at hand, (2) identifying systemic interventions, and (3) applying experiments to study the efficacy of such interventions. We illustrate this framework through the ubiquitous and yet frequently underrecognized issue of soil lead (Pb). First, we describe the systemic interactions of humans and soil Pb at micro-, meso-, and macroscales in time and space. We then discuss interventions for mitigating soil Pb exposure at each scale. Finally, we provide examples of applied and participatory experiments to mitigate exposure at different scales currently being conducted in New York City, NY, USA. We put forth this framework to be flexibly applied to contamination issues in other regions and to other pressing environmental issues of our time.
Highlights
Understanding, predicting, and responding to rapidly changing processes on Earth’s surface is among “the most pressing challenges of our time” (Harden et al, 2014)
We propose that there is a viable and valuable role for research to play in efforts aimed at environmental remediation and environmental justice (EJ) and that systems science approaches are key to such endeavors
Summary and conclusion Given the magnitude and increasing rate of anthropogenic changes occurring within Earth systems, is urban soil Pb truly a pressing concern? Here, we reviewed decades of research indicating the pervasive presence of Pb in soil, the life-altering and life-shortening health impacts of any form of Pb exposure, the data from a variety of contexts indicating inextricable connections between soil Pb and blood lead level (BLL), the environmental injustices and disproportionate burdens of exposure placed on vulnerable populations, as well as the physical, social, and policy-based feedback mechanisms perpetuating the unjust system at a variety of scales (Figure 7a)
Summary
Understanding, predicting, and responding to rapidly changing processes on Earth’s surface is among “the most pressing challenges of our time” (Harden et al, 2014). We call attention to this urgent issue of environmental injustice and employ a systems approach to understand the interactions between humans and soil Pb at multiple scales, to identify the interventions that have been aimed at limiting exposure, and to inform applied experiments for continuing to protect public health. This approach has already enabled a number of experiments on systemic interventions to limit soil Pb exposure, and we suggest that it can be flexibly adapted to address other pressing social and ecological issues of our time. A system is “more than the sum of its parts” and contains stocks, which are the “memory of the history of changing flows within the system.” Systems contain feedback loops, which are chains of “causal connections from a stock, through a set of decisions or rules or physical laws or actions that are dependent on the level of the stock, and back again through a flow to change the stock” (Meadows, 2008, p. 188)
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