In the current climate emergency, systems thinking refers to the urgent need to rethink our relationship with economic growth in a way that acknowledges and respects the vital interdependence of all life on the planet. Systems thinking draws on system dynamics and computer modeling to demonstrate how different parts of a system relate to each other and how they influence the entire system’s behavior across time.(1) Donella H. Meadows, a prominent systems thinker and the lead author of the influential report The Limits to Growth (See Climate emergency; Growth), explains that systems thinking allows us to “hone our abilities to understand parts, see interconnections, and ask “what if” questions about possible future behaviors, and be creative and courageous about the system redesign”.(2) In this way, systems thinking can also offer answers for the future of the fashion industry. It enables us to look beyond piecemeal solutions such as new materials or closed-loop recycling that draw on the status quo. Instead, it focuses on core function and purpose, which facilitates a fundamental rethinking of the whole industry as a system.(3,4) As Meadows argues, a holistic view of a system, as opposed to considering only its parts, helps us to see any system “as the source of its own problems” and so “find the courage and wisdom to restructure it”.(2)
SYSTEMS THINKING
