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Posted by thewrittenone on 25 Jul 10:44
This week’s icon is a man with a belief in the idea that humans can have a positive ecological footprint, one that actually supports Life on earth. He’s also got the academic credentials to back that statement up, and the wherewithal to do something about it, and that is a powerful combination.
He’s also German, and in my book that makes him very efficient.
‘The successfully interdependent nature of biological systems suggests that achieving a sustainable system of consumption and production is not a matter of reducing the footprint of our activities on this planet, but transforming this footprint into a source of replenishment for those systems that depend on it.’ Michael Braungart’s Vision.
The piece goes on to define the central strategy behind this concept – Cradle-to-Cradle design, what Time calls "a unified philosophy that—in demonstrable and practical ways—is changing the design of the world." The design ‘defines a framework for designing products and industrial processes that turn materials into nutrients by enabling the formation of cyclical material flow metabolisms.’
To me it sounds like permaculture, (‘a design system which connects various components so that the waste of one process becomes the raw material for the next’), but one developed in a lab rather than out in the fields. And that is not a bad thing.
His resume is disgustingly brilliant:
What he proves, and what this thread is always trying to highlight and promote, is that there are a lot of very intelligent, practical, dedicated and resourceful individuals out there in a position to tackle head on the problems we face as a nation and as a global community.
What we need to do is give individuals and companies like these the power to put their plans in motion, in much the same way that industrialists in the 19th century did.
I suggest you stop by each of his web-sites and soak up the goodness for a little while. Industry is not going away. Products are not going away. But at least now we know that they can be produced and dispensed in ways that not only avoid harming the earths systems, but add to them as well.
Braungart spoke at Cultivate in Dublin a few years ago and was fascinating, he is also hilarious. Green chemistry is a big part of the solution.
He might be coming back to Ireland in November as part of the REFORM eco-design event in Carlow, and will be giving a public lecture at Cultivate Centre in Temple Bar, Dublin.
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