Hi!

Do you know this book?

Have you read it?
I bought this book Cradle to cradle in Los Angeles around 12 years ago.
At the time I was setting up my own eco fashion store
for which I was traveling around the globe to meet with sustainable fashion brands.
Do you know what material it is made from?
It is not paper, but… let me quote:
It is made from plastic raisins and inorganic fillers.
It is a prototype for the book as the technical nutrient.
That is, as a product that can be broken down and circulated infinitely in
industrial cycles.
It is extremely durable and waterproof!
The book really expanded my horizons so I encourage you to pick up a copy and learn
more about how cradle to cradle relates to the circular economy.
But first: welcome to this video on what the Circular Economy is and why we need
it!
We’re really happy to have you with us and hope to inspire you to become a circular
changemaker.
What do you need to do for that?
While spurring your curiosity about the topic, look around you as much as you can
to find
local examples of circular thinking. Ideally, you will be able to start having an
impact
in your own community, with the ideas and tools you generate over time.
For example: what do you see in this image?
A famous face?
or electronic waste?
I hear you think: valuable resources end up as waste.
Do you see examples of this in your own environment?
And what are solutions that people come up with to reduce or recycle waste?
Do they make artworks out of it like in this image?
We all know that waste is not the only problem. Precious materials such as copper,
gold and
phosphorus are gradually disappearing.
Water is becoming scarce, pollution of water and air is massive and a lot of food
is thrown away.
Can you think of other problems and how your community, city or country
is currently dealing with them?
The problem is really that somewhere, somehow, some way, something went really
wrong in the
ways we created our society. We have a design problem!
This book speaks about this problem and how we should start designing in such a way
that
we don’t do so much damage to the planet.
Right now we design products from cradle to
grave: from production to consumption to waste, which is a linear model. But we
should design
products from cradle to cradle: in a closed loop whereby they don’t become waste,
but
valuable resources again.
And when we start thinking in circles, we might as well try to reinvent not just
supply
chains, but entire systems.
And while I’m not a fan of too many words on one slide,
I’ll make an exception for this one as this definition is crucial to know:
“The circular economy is an economic system that is waste-free and resilient by
design,
mimicking natural ecosystems in the way we organize our society and businesses.
By following circular strategies and principles, companies can
ensure the highest level of economic and societal value is
attained while minimizing planetary impacts.”
So what does that mean?
It basically entails that we need to re-think man-made concepts and turn to nature
for inspiration
on how to do things in a good way.
Just like the seasons show us how nature flourishes in summer, then decays in Fall
and Winter
only to blossom again in Spring, we should re-design our environment
with those natural cycles in mind.
And when I say: do things in a good way, I mean in a really good way.
Not just a bit better, or less bad.
Because that’s what we have been doing with sustainability: we have been departing
from
the status quo, while cradle to cradle and circular pushes us to think outside of
the box.
This figure shows impact on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis.
What we see is that
conventional understanding of sustainability proposes activities defined in terms
of decreasing
and reducing, such as ‘zero footprint’ and reduction of pollution.
We start with a large negative impact and the aim is to minimize that over time.
We call this eco-efficiency, which is often seen as a goal in itself – we can keep
doing
what we do, just strive to do it a little less.
Cradle to Cradle celebrates abundance;
so we start with little impact and progress to big positive impact over time.
Eco-effectiveness is used as a means to support transformation towards an economy
based on
abundant, renewable, natural resources of both energy and materials.
Keep these concepts in mind: eco-efficiency versus effectiveness and also
cradle to cradle and how it relates to circular economy.
Wouldn’t you rather do more good than only a bit less bad?
I do!