How can you possibly walk 24,000 steps in your own garden?
The rhetorical question came from Karin the other day, the morning after graduation. The thing is, her garden isn’t very large, but it was graduation after all, which didn’t only mean a lot of steps and many hours of running back and forth, but also lack of sleep and a few other side effects. And, in addition to graduations, hungry children on summer vacation and all kinds of spring activities, you are also supposed to work.
It spins, to say the least. Something supernatural seems to happen to humanity at this time of the year, just as messy, inevitable and intense every year, you know the feeling when everyone suddenly and quite desperately need to clear their to-do lists at the same time; everything must be ticked off, large and small, private and professional. In this time of despair, no one seem to notice tasks are just thrown around. What was just on my to-do list is now on yours and whoever has the shortest list when the holiday bells ring, wins.
We are no exceptions. We run a sustainability agency and often talk about the fact we all need balance in life to last, but after more than nine years of entrepreneurship, we are equally shocked by the supernatural June every year. We are simply stuck in a rut and lack the power to see solutions beyond the crater rim.
Which brings us to what we want to talk about today, namely what drives change. Let’s start with the G7 meeting in Cornwall last week.
Isn’t it fascinating to see how difficult it is for the leaders of the G7 countries to understand the connection between words and deeds? No one is asking them to celebrate their greatness with only hard bread from their own field, or that they should be content watching bumblebees during breaks between their important meetings, but come on. While you can shake your head at this image, most of us make similar mistakes too, again and again. We kind of get stuck in a rut. And that does not lead to change.
We talked about this at lunch yesterday. Well, not really, but it was about ruts. You see, there are plans on setting up filling stations with renewable fuel, such as hydrogen, biogas and charging of your electrical vehicles, in and around Sandviken. Now, voices are being raised that it should also be possible to refuel diesel and petrol there, since most people still drive around in fossil cars. Reasonable idea or totally contra productive?
I think these voices carry traces of ruts. Because how do we drive change if we build new, but keep what we want to get rid of at the same time? Answer: we do not.
So, who drives change?
Gas station owners will probably not drive change when it comes to fuel. They have invested too much in fossils to do that. Nor are the car dealers – they want to get rid of what they have in stock. The one who will drive change is the one who is forced, the one who fears the impending pain of not changing – that is, the car manufacturers. And what hurts them is when customers go to competitors; these troublesome customers who have awakened and started looking for fossil-free alternatives. Political decisions can add pain and promote reliefs in the right places to drive sustainable change, but in order to do so, they need to get out of their ruts and understand which decisions are the most beneficial. It is not easy, but difficult. And absolutely necessary.
We went kayaking during working hours yesterday afternoon. It was at least an attempt to look up over the rim of the deep grooves and maybe find some new perspectives. Maybe Boris, Joe, Emmanuel, Angela, Mario, Yoshihide, Charles, Justin and Ursula should have done something similar when they met in Cornwall last week. At least. something else than they usually do. Eating some hard bread and watching bumblebees slowly sailing by, for instance? Boris could have told the story why Britain has had to import bumblebees from Sweden after having accidentally eradicated them and the team could have discussed how they can drive a sustainable development. Just an idea. If they are to be the leaders who drive change, they at least need to find a way to get out of their old and very deep ruts.
