Cradle to cradle design - published: 29/09/2010

Extract

[...] A matter of design Beyond the new legislative threat brought about by the EU initiative, one might wonder why we even have to resort to such extreme action as legislative regulation Why is our economic business model so destructive and why are we using it? According to Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart, it is all a matter of design, or lack thereof. In their book, Cradle-to-Cradle, Remaking the Way we Make Things[17], they explain that “with respect to its negative consequences, the [design] assignment [for the first industrial revolution] would have to read something like this: Design a system of production that: Puts billions of pounds of toxic material into the air, water, and soil every year Produces some materials so dangerous they will require constant vigilance by future generations Results in gigantic amounts of waste Puts valuable materials in holes all over the planet, where they can never be retrieved [i.e. [...]

[...] ii. Industrial cycles and nutrients According to the MBDC website, a technical nutrient is material that remains in a closed-loop system of manufacture, reuse, and recovery (the technical metabolism), maintaining its value through many product life cycles.”[39] These include all the synthetic chemicals and metals that are used in the industry, from polymers (polyethylene, polystyrene ) to alloys. As we saw in part one, some of these nutrients can be hazardous, but others are actually extremely valuable components of the industry food chain that are lost when the product they are a part of is incinerated or landfilled. [...]

[...] The only two companies that rebuked at first came back in the next round of RFPs[61] Benefits to Herman Miller Additionally, the thrust to eliminate unsafe materials from the Mirra™ chair design led to important innovations on the design and materials front. Sometimes, getting rid of one type of material was achieved not through finding a substitute for it, but by altering the original design, irrespective of environmental reasons. For example, HM explains that “polyurethane foam containing Brominated Flame Retardants were eliminated when the design team decided not to use traditional foam materials for seat and back support. [...]

[...] Nature has been doing design for around four billion years now. If it were ineffective design, humans would not even be around. h. When waste equals food One reason (or one proof) why nature's design is so effective lies in the fact that in its “product” cycles, waste equals food. Trees and ants provide two outstanding examples of this remarkable achievement. i. A different look at trees Woody Allen once noted "that of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps most remarkable." And indeed, trees play a hugely important role in their ecosystems. [...]

[...] With the Cradle-to-Cradle design protocol, architect Bill McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart are crafting an economic model that, by mimicking natural ecosystems, will allow us to thrive while restoring, not destroying, the planet. Why our current economic model is unsustainable a. A strained planet i. How our economic model is destroying life-supporting ecosystems 1. An ecological disaster in the making The Earth's ecosystems[3] provide mankind with goods fish, wood, ore . and services waste absorption, oxygen provision, water purification that are indispensable to the proper functioning of our economy, let alone that of our lives. [...]