Leanne Gabora at UC Berkeley (think she's still there) is doing some really neat stuff on autocatalytic closure in cognitive systems.

Yes--Joanna Macy.

She really knows her stuff. Try reading Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory, or go to her website. www.joannamacy.net She applies her work to many arenas, but her main focus is deep ecology. The precursor to the social and environmental justice work is often psychological application of systems theory for many people.

In other words, people gotta work out some of their bullshit before they can be authentically/actively concerned with helping the world. She wields the weapon of nonviolence brilliantly, and has been doing this work for 50 years. She's built a fortress of a framework and lectures globally.