William McDonough: Designing Cradle to Cradle

May 17th, 2009

and asks what our buildings and products would look like if designers took into account “all children, all species, for all .”

In , McDonough and Braungart argue that the conflict between industry and the environment is not an indictment of but an outgrowth of purely opportunistic . The of products and manufacturing systems growing out of the reflected the spirit of the day-and yielded a host of unintended yet tragic consequences.

“To use something as elegant as a tree. Imagine this design assignment: design something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, accrues solar as fuel, makes complex sugars and food, creates microclimates, changes colors with the seasons, and self-replicates, then say why don’t we knock that down and write on it.”
- William McDonough – 2007

Today, with our growing knowledge of the living earth, design can reflect a new spirit. In fact, the authors write, when designers employ the intelligence of natural systems—the effectiveness of nutrient cycling, the abundance of the sun’s energy—they can create products, industrial systems, buildings, even regional plans that allow nature and commerce to fruitfully co-exist.

Cradle to Cradle maps the lineaments of McDonough and Braungart’s new design paradigm, offering practical steps on how to innovate within today’s economic environment. Part social history, part green business primer, part design manual, the book makes plain that the re-invention of human industry is not only within our grasp, it is our best hope for a future of sustaining .

In addition to describing the hopeful, nature-inspired design principles that are making industry both prosperous and sustainable, the book itself is a physical symbol of the changes to come. It is printed on a synthetic ‘paper,’ made from plastic resins and inorganic fillers, designed to look and feel like top quality paper while also being waterproof and rugged. And the book can be easily recycled in localities with systems to collect polypropylene, like that in yogurt containers. This ‘treeless’ book points the way toward the day when synthetic books, like many other products, can be used, recycled, and used again without losing any material quality—in cradle to cradle cycles.

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Filed under category: Design, Innovation, Talk, Theory by: Dru
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2 Barack Obama Music Videos

July 6th, 2008

A friend sent me this link to these some political music videos for Barak , took the 4.5 minutes to watch it… nice to see a campaign on the idea of , but proof is in the pudding him into office… once that task is done, lets see if we get the back to the values we have lost.

This one is called “Yes We Can” and i am not sure of the source of the speech becuse it is an awesome one.

This is one is called “We Are The Ones” and is probably not as strong as the other.

The movement of the political campaign into the virtual, from Hillary having a presence in Second Life, and Barak doing these videos, to Hillary and Bill already veterans and Barak also having fully embraced the bLogging community, has made for a remarkable campaign and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. In any case, we should be electing our first black president. I applaud the idea, and am saddened it has not happened sooner.

Please share these with everyone you know. I figured by putting them here, maybe they will get seen and shared… this is an important , and we must make the difference. Make sure you CLICK HERE to REGISTER to VOTE!

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Filed under category: Shared, Thoughts by: Dru
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