Solving the Sustainability Problem with Root Cause Analysis

Abstract

Countless solutions to the environmental sustain- ability problem have been tried over the last forty years. While there have been some small successes, the overall problem remains unsolved. The global ecological foot- print is at 50% overshoot and rising, with no credible solution in sight. Why is this? Because popular solutions do not resolve root caus- es. Root cause analysis has worked spectacularly well for business problems. So why can’t it work for large- scale social system problems like sustainability? All problems arise from their root causes. For ex- ample, consider the autocratic ruler problem. The root cause of despicable autocratic rulers like kings, war- lords, and dictators was that there was no easy way for an oppressed population to replace a bad ruler with a good one. Democracy resolved the root cause with addi- tion of the voter feedback loop. If you’ve spent decades trying to solve a problem and have failed, then the only possible reason is failure to resolve root causes. This paper presents the results of a seven year root cause analysis of the complete sustainability problem. The paper thus contains a huge amount of novel in- formation, much more than is normally in one paper. A formal problem solving process was developed specifically for this type of problem. Process execution identified four main subproblems. For each subprob- lem the analysis found a main root cause, a high lever- age point for resolving the root cause, and one or more solution elements for pushing on the high leverage point. The key solution element is Common Property Rights, a comprehensive approach to sustainable man- agement of ecosystem services in a generic, efficient, self-replicating manner. Common Property Rights are the mirror image of Private Property Rights, so they promise to be just as generic, efficient, and self- replicating.