No More Groundhog Day — It’s Time to Break from the Past & Build Our Common Future

What if, this year, as we approach Groundhog Day on February 2nd, we do what the 1993 movie of the same name urges us to do: perceive the error of our ways and discover how to thrive? In the movie, Phil, played by Bill Murray, is a self-absorbed TV weatherman caught in a time loop — forced to repeat the same day over and over again. By the end of the movie, and many selfish acts later, Phil learns that understanding and helping others is what brings him joy. The day that began as the worst day of his life becomes the best. Life is a gift, the movie says. You can use it for personal gain, or you can harness it for the common good.

That’s a lesson we all need to apply this Groundhog Day. As we turn the page to 2021, we have a tremendous opportunity to break from the past — from old ways of living and working that fundamentally undermine our collective well-being. We can start fresh. We have a new year, a new Administration, and a global community yearning for change. We’re ready for a new era and a new America — built on solid ground and defined by collaboration and integration, rather than divisiveness and destruction.

The transformation we need begins with a shift in mindset: from perceiving ourselves as separated from one another to believing in our fundamental interconnectedness.

As we know from Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck’s research on “growth mindset”, changing worldviews, beliefs and assumptions has powerful implications for our success and well-being.[1]Donella Meadows, systems scientist, identified mindset as the highest point of leverage for intervening in any complex environment. If we shift mindset, we can radically accelerate change everywhere else: it offers the most direct path to progress.[2]

Crises or traumatic events, especially if universally experienced, often prepare the ground for dramatic shifts in mindset. The entire global population has experienced the profound and deadly effects of COVID-19, and America has been brought to its knees by racially-motivated killings, ideological clashes, and the assault on the Capitol. We are at a breaking point, and it is becoming increasingly clear: our old ways do not serve us. When we behave as if we could isolate ourselves from each other or disconnect from the natural world, we undermine our well-being. We must internalize the clear message from the pandemic, from widespread social anguish, and from growing environmental instability: we live in a highly interconnected and interdependent world. We cannot maximize benefits to one group without hurting another, or optimize one variable without collateral damage. As Martin Luther King Jr. so eloquently said, “We belong to an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny.”

A mindset of interconnectedness inspires holistic and integrative approaches to living. It demands policies, practices and innovations that allow us to thrive by closing loops and opening systems.

Closing loops means tying up the loose ends we’ve made: the linear paths, dead-ends, or “open loops” that have generated social and environmental harm and are figments of a fictitiously fragmented world. Instead of perpetuating our linear “take-make-waste” economic model — where we extract resources from the Earth to make products and then dump them into landfills after short periods of use — we shift to a circular economic model, where we keep resources and energy in circulation for as long as possible, and perhaps even forever.

We know that closing loops is possible. It is how natural systems work. In the Amazon rainforest, for example, animal waste from monkeys and jaguars, or leaf litter that falls to the ground, is broken down by bacteria and fungi, who transform these wastes into nutrients to create healthy soils that support the growth of trees and animals.

In a circular economy, growth is decoupled from the use of scarce natural resources. We prioritize access to goods and services over ownership. We design products for longevity rather than obsolescence. Waste from manufacturing processes is seen as a resource that can be put to use. Some companies have already started down this path. The $1 billion carpet manufacturer, Interface, for example, uses nylon from discarded fishing nets and a recycled component from broken windshields to replace latex in carpet tiles, reducing its carbon footprint by 80%.[3] Michelin sells “tires as a service”, allowing customers to pay per mile driven. By leasing tires rather than selling them, Michelin controls the product throughout its life-cycle, and has an incentive to build long-lasting tires. When returned, good tires are re-leased. Old tires are recycled into playground surfaces, shock absorption or converted into fuel.

The global consulting firm, Accenture, estimates that the traditional linear growth model will result in $4.5 trillion of annual waste by 2030, and cites that our current economic model would demand three times more resources than Earth can provide by 2050.[4] A circular economy is the sound alternative, because it fundamentally honors ecological, economic and social interdependence.

Closing loops is essential, but it is not enough. Operating with a mindset of interconnectedness demands that we also open systems. Opening systems means accepting change in order to cultivate resilience. A fortress mentality, where we try to shut ourselves off from undesirable forces, is a false promise. Closed systems may have the appearance of stability while we fend off disruption, but eventually they fail, as isolation is impossible. Opening systems shifts the paradigm from exclusion and protection to inclusion and adaptation. It allows us to more fully understand the dynamic and complex systems we live in, and design approaches that benefit the whole.

On an individual level, this means that we reach across divides, seek to understand opposing viewpoints, and find common ground. In business, we engage all stakeholders and collaborate for mutual benefit. Sustainable Harvest’s “relationship coffee model” is a powerful example. It aims to break the cycles of poverty and environmental destruction common in coffee growing communities by creating long-term, direct relationships between buyers and growers and helping farmers improve the quality of their coffee, so they can increase their incomes by selling high-value coffee. The company requires total transparency (every member of the supply chain knows exactly what price other members are paid). Sustainable Harvest invests a substantial portion of its profits in farmer education to empower cooperative leaders with the business skills necessary to access global markets directly. Since its launch in 1997, the company has bought half a billion dollars’ worth of coffee from smallholders at premium prices. It has transitioned thousands of growers to organic fertilizing and home gardens with significant improvements in food security, productivity and self-reliance, all while remaining profitable.[5]

Opening systems is not easy. It requires inclusive leadership and can take longer to develop solutions as diverse voices are elevated and complex dynamics are revealed. But the alternative is dangerous. With closed systems, we develop short-term and short-sighted solutions that can pose existential risks, such as climate change, nuclear proliferation, and the loss of healthy soils.

In open systems, we begin to understand the complexity of the problems we face and engage the myriad actors required to develop lasting solutions. With COVID-19, for example, we uncover root causes of the disease, including poverty, habitat destruction, and the illegal wildlife trade — all spurring the rise in animal-human infectious disease transmission. And we engage new actors and leverage creative partnerships to ensure rapid and equitable distribution of vaccines globally. We do not accept a situation in which people from developing countries get vaccinated years after those in the industrialized world, knowing that this would be both unjust and dangerous to the whole.

On Groundhog Day this year, what if we all wake up with a mindset of interconnectedness? We cross a threshold to a thriving world where quick fixes and barriers to collaboration are a thing of the past. We experience the joy of deeper connection and catalyze radical changes in public policy, consumer demand, and corporate leadership to scale up tried and tested holistic approaches. We apply our limitless ingenuity to closing loops and opening systems, nurturing the well-being of all at the expense of none.

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Here are six things you can do:

Live a Connected Life:

1. Talk about interdependence with your family.
2. Reach out to your neighbors and help them.
3. Read or listen to news stories that present alternative views to your own.

Strengthen Interconnected Systems:

1. Buy from certified B corporations, like Sustainable Harvest, that are required by law to pursue social, economic and environmental objectives: https://bcorporation.net/directory
2. Vote for people who support legislation that advances circular economy goals like taxing resource use rather than labor, and making corporations responsible for the full life cycle of their products.
3. Invest your money in long-term sustainability-oriented funds: https://www.morningstar.com/articles/977271/morningstars-quintessential-list-of-sustainable-funds

Most importantly, no one can tell any of us exactly what to do. We each need to reflect on what it means to be interconnected — with one another and the Earth. This helps us consider the broader implications the decisions we make — from words we speak, to products we buy, to how we dispose of things. Our reflections inspire us to ask questions, learn from others, and find new ways of doing things. As we start down new paths, we begin to feel better. Gratitude emerges. We open our hearts, minds, and wills the fulfillment and responsibility that comes with interdependence. We recognize that the changes we need to make are not about sacrifice and loss: they are about abundance and thriving!

[1] Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck, Random House, 2006.

[2] “Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System,” Donella Meadows, The Sustainability Institute, 1999.

[3] Waste to Wealth: The Circular Economy Advantage, Lacy and Rutqvist, 2015, Palgrave MacMillan.

[4] Waste to Wealth: The Circular Economy Advantage, Lacy and Rutqvist, 2015, Palgrave MacMillan.

[5] “Business Built on Relationship and Mutual Benefit: The Story of Sustainable Harvest,” Stanford Change Leadership for Sustainability, Case 1701, 2017.