Putting the Medium Where the Mouth Is...
by Stephanie Gooch

Responses to our April editorial “That Which We Sow” varied from kudos to condemnation to “yes, but it isn’t practical to merge environmental and industrial concerns…” This statement gains a certain level of credibility with a quick trip to the supermarket — the “bio-degradable” plastic bags are so flimsy as to require double- (or triple-) bagging, and they really don’t degrade in the anaerobic environment found in most city dumps.

However, the recently released book Cradle to Cradle, published by North Point Press, New York, NY, describes an industrially and ecologically friendly approach to “eco-effective” design. Furthermore, the book itself illustrates the concept.

The traditional Industrial Revolution modus operandi is product-to-waste, depleting finite resources while creating huge mounds of environmentally-unfriendly trash. On the other hand, the environmentalist mantra of reduce/reuse/recycle merely prolongs the depletion time without addressing the overall linearity of the system; recycled materials are really “downcycled,” many times hazardously and laboriously, into inferior products that are in turn discarded. The authors, architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart, pitch a new paradigm based on nature’s cycle of life. In their model, ecological waste is returned to the natural decomposition-to-feed-new-life cycle, while industrial products are designed to be returned to feed new products. Thus, the book is printed on synthetic “paper” that is easily, non-hazardously disassembled through a process that safely absorbs the adhesive, and the plastic can be melted and refabricated. It can be “upcycled” through infinite industrial cycles without loss of quality. And, unlike paper, the book is completely waterproof; I took it camping with me on a rain-filled trip, with no adverse effects.

The book was a joint effort by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, Charlottesville, VA, and The Moderns, New York, NY. The first is a product and process design firm founded by the authors that specializes in ecological sustainability consulting and on-demand materials research. The Moderns is a solutionist think tank that uses a multidisciplinary collaborative approach to “translate socially relevant strategies and environmentally smart designs into solid business opportunities.”