I see this as a navigation page, so the explanation is below the chart which will contain numerous links.

Before getting into the list itself - Donella's disclaimer is key even if you don't read the whole article (Places to Intervene in a System - Full Text): "First I want to place the list in a context of humility... Complex systems are, well, complex. It's dangerous to generalize about them. What you are about to read is not a recipe for finding leverage points. Rather it's an invitation to think more broadly about system change."

What this is about to me

As someone who has been obsessed with societal system change for as long as I can remember, Donella Meadows is one of my greatest hero's. She approaches her work with a sensitivity, common-sense clarity, and humility seldom seen. When I talk about social systems, and systems change, what I am concerned with are the things that make our society do what it does when it is humming along on auto-pilot... when we get our food, go to work, pay our taxes, play, we are operating within a set of systems (economic, political, regulatory, structural) that define how we do those things and the cascading results. An indigenous amazonian operates within a very different set of systems than a USA North American. Our current systems make it so well meaning people going about their daily lives create a huge amount of damage. This needs to shift.

The words 'institutional acupuncture' have recently been coming to me as the work I need to be doing. I googled it and it appears Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)'s Amory Lovins coined the term. No surprise, I've long admired RMI, and worked there for a stint. I would broaden their description somewhat -- what I'm talking about are leverage points of which there are many. From Donella:

"Folks who do systems analysis have a great belief in "leverage points." These are places within a complex system (a corporation, an economy, a living body, a city, an ecosystem) where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything..."

I'm also talking about places where a small shift can release energy trying to head that direction anyway - just moving an obstruction. Sometimes this is a leverage point, sometimes it is much simpler than that - just getting 3 people together who really need to talk, or changing the way code officials deal with green building exceptions, or providing seed money to an organization, or hugging a friend. If that seems a little far fetched to call 'institutional acupuncture', you may be right, but each of us has a particular part and role to play in this, and the ways in which we support each other to live into that role are just as key to systems change as the leverage points listed below. Maybe these, along with prayer, are more institutional acupressure - a softer touch, but gets things flowing just the same. The only time I've seen or heard THAT term, was a few weekends ago when John Perkins described a convening of Shamans in prayer over Panama as institutional acupressure. I'd say the creation of WiserEarth was institutional acupressure. Whatever you call it, these shifts are key.