Welcome to Second Nature
I write about a Living Systems approach to sustainability practice and offer professional development in the Living Systems Design Lab.

I’m coming to you from Boonwurrung Country, Melbourne (Naarm), Australia!
I write about a Living Systems approach to sustainability practice - an advanced design-led complexity-based approach to activate, implement, embed and sustain the transformation for ecologically sustainable development in any social context – any network, community, organization, institution, group or team - working on any initiative, program, project, process or activity, in any place and at any scale.
The title of my Substack, Second Nature, reflects my purpose where sustainability culture and practice become second nature to us.
I have designed and developed the Living Systems Practice model in response to the failure of conventional approaches to sustainability transformation. Sustainability and its many dimensions are holistic in nature due to the need to change every aspect of how we pursue our lifestyles and livelihoods – and holistic change therefore requires holistic practice.
My writing focusses on the challenge of practice, but my sustainability interests are many and varied, so there will be many things here that may be of interest to you.
Why this, why now?
Having had over 45 years experience in sustainability, I’ve seen a lot, experienced a lot, and have a lot to say about it. I’m at the age where I can be the “professional outsider”, and I believe my best path is to support and mentor the growing number of early and mid-career sustainability professionals, particularly those who want to do more than box-ticking and paperwork.
With so many organizations now on a sustainability path its easy to believe that we are on the way to a positive future. However, most organizations are doing the easy sustainability work - the work that should have been done 20 years ago. Inevitably, when the easy work is done, organizations will find it far more challenging to go further - that’s when things become complex and the linear mechanistic rules don’t apply. This is where early and mid-career professionals will also find that their tools won’t work as well.
My Living Systems Practice approach to sustainability will help to meet the need for new ways of designing the transformation. My approach acknowledges the complexity of the work ahead, embeds a continual strategic design ethos, and seeks to sustain the sustainability with a pattern-based practice approach.
Living Systems Practice is expressed through:
A practice model for advanced sustainability practice: Living Systems Practice (LSP)
A writing platform with Practice Notes to support Living Systems Practice - here on Second Nature
A pattern language with a Pattern Atlas to guide Living Systems Practitioners - here on Second Nature
An experiential learning lab for practitioner development - the Living Systems Design Lab online here on Second Nature; in studio in Melbourne, Australia; and elsewhere by arrangement.
A program to activate, implement, embed and sustain the transition to sustainability in organizations: The Second Nature Program
I also write on a range of contemporary sustainability issues; review new technologies from a living systems perspective; revisit my past writing; and include deeper research pieces from time-to-time in Research Notes.
You can access all my writing and courses through a free subscription.
If you value my work here on Second Nature, consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Paid subscriptions are offered at two levels:
Supporter: $5AUD per month/$50AUD per year
Patron: $150AUD per year
In addition to accessing all writing and courses on Second Nature, Supporters and Patrons can access discounts for my Online and In-Studio Workshops as well as for mentoring sessions.
Community-of-Practice
I’m looking to build a community of practitioners keen to explore sustainability practice at the intersection of complexity, emergence, strategic design, experiential learning, participatory methods and sustainability culture, whether its my model of practice or something adjacent.
If you like my writing and teaching on this way of practice, please join me on the journey!
Regards
Dr Matthew Parnell
Murdoch University: Doctor of Philosophy in Sustainable Development, 2012
University of NSW: Bachelor of Building, 1979
Southern Cross University: Cert. IV Assessment + Workplace Training, 2005
AGC Global College: Cert. IV Training + Assessment 2024