September 18, 2023
And Then, What Do I Do with All This?
The natural way we think helps us solve most of our problems. But there are some problems that this way of thinking not only fails to help us solve, but is actually the reason for them.
We are not very skilled at thinking long-term. Despite our great capacity for reasoning and imagination, like other living beings, we are fundamentally adapted to make instant decisions. The long term is foreign to us, as are statistics, network thinking, and systems thinking. This doesn’t mean we are incapable of understanding these concepts or finding them perfectly reasonable. It means that our automatic cognitive processes don’t use them when making decisions. Long-term thinking, and the rest, are extensions we can install to improve our decision-making abilities. But how do we do this?
Recently, we worked with a company that set out to reduce its waste. They aimed to design what they call a Zero Waste strategy. This means:
“Zero Waste is the conservation of all resources through responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials without burning and without discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.” – Zero Waste definition adopted by the Zero Waste International Alliance.
Speaking with the company’s team, we discussed how, if we search for solutions using our standard “savanna mammal” mindset, we would likely fill our whiteboard with ideas, projects, and metrics that we could implement to gradually reduce waste in the company. However, waste itself is not the problem. To be clear—waste is a problem. But if we want lasting solutions, waste is just another symptom of a much larger issue that affects humans and all living beings on the planet. To achieve a true Zero Waste strategy, we need to think within a different framework, apply new extensions, and find ways to completely eliminate the root causes of the material waste we are so accustomed to.
There is a tool that quantifies the environmental impact of human activity from a systemic perspective, covering everything from resource extraction and processing to production, use, disposal, and transportation. It’s called Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), also known as cradle-to-grave analysis. LCA is widely used to support decisions in transformative strategies such as energy system decarbonization, circular economy, sustainable consumption, and increasingly, sustainable finance. The adoption of such tools can be transformative because they allow us to connect numerous processes and generate a complete, systemic vision. However, they also come with an associated risk. Without a common framework that enables decision-makers to communicate and operate the tool effectively, the standard, non-systemic mindset will hinder progress. For example, it may create knowledge silos that lead to disconnection and prevent people from understanding the reasoning behind technical terms.
Working with tools that provide a comprehensive, long-term vision has made me reflect on how useful it would be if we could add a simple extension to our everyday lives. When we buy something, whether for business or personal use, we should ask ourselves about the future of the materials we are acquiring. What will I do with all this?