Beginning in 1970, the early years of Earth Day were political. Participants made spider webs from yarn to revere the world’s interconnectedness. After a few years, Earth Day became less about politics and more about activities such as cleaning up litter. We also stopped thinking like an ecosystem.Not thinking like an ecosystem entails linear, reductionist, mechanistic thinking. Reductionist-style thinking can be applied to any domain, though is limited in providing thorough explanations. The Newtonian paradigm of science is reductionist. Newton’s first law of motion states a body’s motion will not change unless impinged upon by an outside force. In mainstream economics, similarly, economic crises are seen as anomalies. Continue reading