continuing education for EMBR

The CSTA certification is a program designed for individuals who want to learn the language of systems and become systems literate. The program delves into the basics of systems thinking, providing a comprehensive understanding of its fundamental concepts and principles.

Cabrera Lab is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

WHY IT MATTERS

We use nature—not just metaphorically, but structurally—as a lens for cognition. Mountains, watersheds, forests, rivers, clouds: these are not just natural forms, but complex systems that reveal the same structural logic found in thought.

Our research reflects this symmetry. As we climb the mountain of knowledge, we ask: Can our thinking match the structure of the world we seek to understand?

Every decision, design, discovery, and dysfunction begins in thought. Yet few scientific fields ask how thought is structured.

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At CRL, we believe that understanding this structure is foundational. It reveals:

• Why complex problems are misunderstood

• How teams and institutions fail to learn

• What makes some ideas fragile and others enduring

• How to design mental models that scale

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The alignment between mind and nature is not philosophical—it is structural, testable, and vital.

The Professional Systems Thinking (PST™) Credential (Sponsored by the National Science Foundation)

"Systems Thinking is a Top 10 Future Job Skill" - Source: World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs 2025 Report

"Today's Most Crucial Leadership Skill Is Systems Thinking" - Source: Forbes 2025

currently only 1 REP in Oklahoma; only 180 in the US; only 352 in the entire world

dope

from Charles Marohn of Strong Towns:

“Abundance is a powerful idea. But what kind of abundance? And who decides?

Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein’s new book, Abundance, is a thoughtful, energetic call to reform the systems holding us back. Housing, infrastructure, clean energy -- it’s all stuck -- and the book rightly asks: why can’t we build?

I agree with much of the diagnosis. But I’ve seen this movie before. From The Lexus and the Olive Tree to JC Nichols’ “Planning for Permanence,” the belief that smart people can fix complex systems from the top down has a long, seductive history and a deeply fragile legacy.

The Strong Towns approach offers something different. Not bigger reform from above, but a culture of bottom-up action. A belief that better decisions come from local feedback, iteration, and care, not from confidence in the machine.

This isn’t about “local control” as a sacred principle. It’s about local capacity: the ability for communities to solve problems at the scale of lived experience. We’re not anti-state or anti-policy. We’re anti-fragility. A system that only works when the “right people” are in charge isn’t strong enough.

Start with a local challenge.
Shift the narrative.
Show one example.
Build on success.

Abundance asks us to empower others to fix what we already have the power to change. We think you don’t need to wait for permission.”

Earthship Academy in Taos, NM or online

see ‘case clinic’ exercise for perceiving a problem/project from an intuitive and sensory standpoint, rather than an analytical, left-brained, logic-/data-driven standpoint.