Cradle to Cradle

I am impressed with the concepts in the book Cradle to Cradle. It is hard to choose which area to talk about as there are so many new ideas that I must admit to never having thought of before. I will discuss two, eco-effectiveness and using Corporations and business rather than Government and regulations to address environmental problems.

I have always been guilty of thinking in an eco-efficient manner; the only solution lies in producing and consuming less. Improving the environment will take sacrifices and people are not willing to make such sacrifices, therefore the prospects for any real environmental change remains remote. The idea of eco-effectiveness or designing a more environmentally friendly world is a fascinating new way of looking at the problem and, it seems to me, a realistic way to slove these problems. I think people would be excited to support (consume) many shiny new eco-products with the same vigor as any other product and that they would even have a “trendy” quality to them. It is clear that taking things away from people will never be a lasting solution, but re-designing the things people want in a way that is not environmentally destructive could be the answer.

I must admit that my first reaction to involving Industry and Corporations in the solution to the problems of the environment turned me off. After all they are the enemy and cannot be trusted! The Corporations are the greed-mongers whose only ambition is to make more and more useless stuff, and then convince us that we cannot live without this stuff. However, I can see that the best way to truly address environmental problems is not solely through Government and regulations, but through the producers. True environmental change must come from those that are causing the majority of the problem in the first place, the Corporations. McDonough and Braungart are truly sensible to realize that if change does not come from the manufacturers that it will probably not come from anyone.

Cradle to Cradle has definitely made me think in new and positive ways about how our environmental problems can be fixed. They will not be fixed by essentially telling everyone to stop consuming; they must be fixed through innovations of design and a new paradigm of thinking.