WlWam lloDonoqb • lllobael BraUDpl"t

Nor1h Point Press

A division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux
19 Union Square West, New York 10003

Copyright © 2002 by William Mc Donough and Michad llraungart

AII rights reserved
DistributPd in Ca nada by Douglas & Mc intyre l.td.
Prin~t>d in China
First edition, 2002

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Pu blication Data

McDonough, Will iam.
Crad le to crad le: remaki ng tl w way we make things I William Mc Donough
and Michael Braungar1.
p. ('Ill.

ISB -13: 978-0-86.517-5H7-H

ISB - 10: 0-86.547-.587-3 (lrt-.: alk. ))a per)
I. Hecycling (Waste. etc.) 2. Industrial managenwnt-l•:nvirnnnwntal
aspects. I. Bra uugar1, Mif'hac·l, ) <);}fl.- II. Title.

'1'1)794.5 .M395 2002

745.2- d!'2 1
200 1044245

n csigncd by Junine James I ThP ~luri NnS

www.fsgbooks.com

II I~ 15 17 16 l 4 12
 To our families,
and to all of the children of
all species for all time
The world will not evolve past its current state of crisis by using the same
thinking that created the situation.
- A LBERT E INSTEIN

Glance at the sun.

See the moon and the stars.
Gaze at the beauty of earth's greenings.
Now, think.
- HILDEGARD VON BINGEN

Wha t you people call your natural resources our people call our relatives.
- OREN LYONS , faith keeper of the Onondaga
 Contents

lntr·oduc lion 3
This Book Is Not a Tree

Chapl<'t' One 17

A Question of Design

Chapl et' Two 45

Why Being "Less Bad"

Is No Good

Cha plet' T ht·ce 68

Eco-Effectiveness

C ha plf'l' F'our 92
Waste Equals Food

Chaple •· F'i v(' 118

Respect Diversity

Chaplet' Six 157

Putting Eco-Effectiveness
into Practice

Noh·s 1!17

Ark now iN ignwnts 193

lntrorlu('lion

This Book Is Not a Tree

Atl asl. You have finally found the Li me to s ink into your fa vori te
a rmc ha ir, relax , a nd pick up a book. Your daughter uses a com-
pute r in the next room whil e th e baby crawls on th e carpe l a ncl
pla ys wit h a pil e of colorful pl astic toys . l t certa inl y feels , at this
mome nt , as if a ll is we ll. Could the re be a more compell ing pi c-
ture of pea ce, comfort, and safe ty?
Le t's take a c loser look. Firs t, that comforta ble c hai r you
a re s itting on. Did you know that the fabri c contai ns mutage nic
ma te rials, heavy meta ls, cla ngerous c he mica ls, and dyes tha t
a re often la he lecl haza rdous by regulators-except whe n they
are presente e! and sold to a cus tome r? As you s hift in your seat ,
particles of the fabri c abrade and a re ta ke n up by your nose,
mouth , a nd lungs, hazardous ma te ria ls a nd a ll. Were they on
th e me nu whe n you ord e red tha t c hair?
T ha t comput e r your c hild is us ing-d id you know that it.
cont a ins more tha n a th ousand di ffe re nt k inds of ma teria ls, in-
c lu d ing toxic gases, toxic meta ls (sueh as cadmium , lead, and
me rcury). ac ids, plas tics, c hlorinat ed a nd brominated s ub-
sta nces, a nd other a dditi ves? The dust from some print P.r· tnnP.r
ca rtridges has bee n found to conta in ni ckel, coba lt , and me r-
c ury, substa nces ha rmful to humans that you r ch ild may be in-
ha ling as you read. Is t.hi s sens ible? Is it nee essary? Obvious ly,
some of those thousa nJ mate ri al s a re essenti a l to the fun c tion -
ing of the compute r itse lf. Wha t will happen to the m whe n you r
fa mily outgrows th e compute r in a few years? You will ha ve lit-

3
 CHAIJI. f: TO CRADLE

tie choice but to di spose of it, <tnd both its valuable and it haz-
ardous mate ri als will be throw n " away." You wanted to use a
computer, but somehow you have unwittingly become pa r1y to a
proeess of was te and destru ction.
But wait a min ute- you care about the e nviro nme nl. ln
fact, when you went shoppi ng fo r a ca rpel recent ly, you del iber-
ately chose one made from recycled pol yester soda boll les. Re-
cycled? Pe rhaps it would be more accurate to say downcycled.
Good intentions aside, your rug is made of things that we re
never designed with thi s furt her use in mind, and wrestling
the m into this form has required as muc h energy-and gener-
ated as muc h waste-as producing a new carpel. And a ll that
eff011 has onl y succeeded in postponing the usual fat e of prod-
ucts by a life cycle or two. The rug is still on its way to a land-
fill; it's just stopping off in your house e n rou te. Moreover, the
recycling process may have introduced even more harmful ad-
diti ves than a conventi onal product co ntains, and it mi ght be
off-gassing and abrading them into your home at a n even higher
rate.
The shoes you've kicked off on that ca rpet look innocuous
enough. But c hances a re, they were ma nufac tured in a develop-
ing country where oc-c upati onal health standards-regulations
that determin e how mu ch work ers ca n be ex posed lo (•ertain
chemicals- a re probably less stringe nt than in Western F:urope
or the Unit ed States, perha ps even nonexiste nt. The workers
who rnade them wea r masks tha t provide insuffrcie nt protection
aga inst th e dangerous fumes. How did you end up bringing
home social inequit y and feelings of guilt whe n all you wanted
was new foolwear"?

4
 T i l l S UOOK IS ~OT A THEE

That plas tic raltle the baby is playing with- should she be
putting it in her mouth? Jf it's made of PVC plasti c, there's a
good cha nce it contai ns phtha la tes, known to cause li ver cancer
in a nimals (and s us pected to cause e ndocrine disruption),
a long with tox ic dyes, lubricants, a ntiox idants, a nd ultraviole t-
light sta bilizers . Why? What were the designers at the toy com-
pany thinking?
So much for trying to ma inta in a healthy e n vironme nt, or
e ven a hea lth y home. So muc h for peace, co mfort, a nd safety.
Some thing seems to be te rribly wrong with this pic ture.
Now look a t a nd feel t.he book in your hands .
This book is not a tree.
It is printed on a synthe tic " pape r" a nd bound into a book
format de veloped by innovative book pac kager Charles Mel-
che r of Me lc her Med ia. Unlike the paper with whi c h we a re
famili a r, it does not use a ny wood pulp or colton fiber but is
made from plasti c res ins a nd inorganic fillers. Thi s mate ria l is
not only wate rproof, extre mely durable, and (in ma ny localiti es)
recyc lable by conve nti onaJ means; it is a lso a prototype for th e
book as a " techni cal nutri e nt," that is, as a produc t that can be
broken down a nd c irc ul ated in finitel y in indus trial cycles-
made a nd re made as " paper" or other produc ts.
Th~ 1r~~. a mong th ~ fin~st of nature's creations, plays a
c ruc ial a nd multifaceted role in our interde pe nde nt ecosystem.
As s uch, it h as bee n a n impo rta nt mode l and me ta phor for our
thinking, as yo u will di scover. But a lso as s uc h, it is not a fitting
resource to use in prod ucing so humbl e and tra nsient a s ub-
stance as pape r. The use of a n alternative ma te rial expresses
our inte nti on to evol ve away from the use of wood fibe rs fo r pa-

5
 CBADI.E TO CHH1Lt:

pe r as we seek more effecti ve solutions . lL represents one step

towa rd a radicall y diffe re nt a pproach to designing a nd produc-
ing the objects we use a nd e njoy, an e me rging moveme nt we
see as th e next indu tri aJ revolut ion. Th is re vo lution is founded
on na ture's surpri s ingly e ffecti ve design princ iples, on human
c reati vity a nd prosperity, a nd on respect, fa ir p lay, a nd good-
will. Lt has the powe r to trans form both industry a nd e nviron-
me ntalis m as we know the m.

Toward a New Industrial Revolution

We a re acc us tomed to thinking of indus try a nd the e nvironme nt

as being a t odd s with eac h othe r, because conventional meth -
ods of ex trac ti on, ma nufac ture, and di sposa l are destruc ti ve to
the natural world . E nvironme nta li sts ofte n c ha racte rize bus i-
ness as bad a nd ind ustry itself (and the growth it de mands) as
inevita bly destruc ti ve.
On the othe r ha nd , industri a li sts ofte n vi ew e nvironrn e n-
talis m as a n obstacle to produc tion a nd growth . For the en-
viron me nt to be healthy, the conventi ona l allitude goes,
indus tries must be regul ated a nd restrained. For ind us tries Lo
fatt e n, nature ca nnot Lake rrec:ecle nr.e. It a ppears 1hat th ese two
syste ms ca nnot thrive in the sa me world.
Th e e nvironme nt al message tha t "consumers" take from
all this can be stride nt and de press ing: Stop being so bad, so
mate ri ali sti c, so greedy. Do whateve r you can, no matter how
ineonvenit>n t, to lim it your "co nsumption. " Buy less, s pe nd
less, drive less, have fewer childre n-{)r none. Are n't the major

6
 Till S ROO'-. I S :-l OT A T Rf. F

environmenta l problems today-globa l warming, deforestation,

pollu tion , waste -products of your decadent Western way of
Iife'? If you a re going to help save th e planet, you will have to
make some sacrifices, s hare some rP~ourrP~, pPrhap~ evf'n go
without. And fa irly s oon you mus t face a world of li mits. There
is onl y so muc h the Earth can take .
Sound like fun?
We have worked with both na ture and commerce, and we
don't think so.
One of us (Bill) is an arc hi tect, the other (Mi chael) is a
chemis t. When we met, you might say we came from opposi te
ends of the en vi ron mental spectrum.

Bill recalls:
I was influe nced s trongly by ex perie nces I'd had abroad-first
in Japan, where I spent my early childhood. I reca ll a sense of
la nd a nd resources be ing scarce but a lso th e beauty of trad i-
ti ona l Japanese homes, with the ir pa per walls and dripping gar-
dens, their warm fut ons a nd s tea min g bath . I aJso remembe r
qu ilted winter garme nts and farmhouses wi th thi ck wa lls of clay
a nd straw tha t kl:'pt the interior warm in winter and cool in su m-
me r. Late r, in co ll ege, I accompanied a p1·ofessor of urban de-
s ign to Jorda n to develop housing for the Bedouin who were
settling in the Jordan Rive r valley. The re I encountered an even
greate r scarc ity of loca l resources-food, soil, energy, and es-
pec ially water-but I was aga in stru ck by how simple a nd e le -
gant good des ign cou ld be, a nd how s uited to loca le. The tents
of woven goat hai r the Bedouin had used as nomads drew hot

7
 CHADL~ TO CllADLE

a ir up a nd out, c reating not only shade but a breeze in the ir in-

te riors. Whe n it ra ined, the fibe rs swelled, a nd the structure be-
came tight as a drum . it was portable and easily rep a ired: the
f~tbri c factory-the goa ts -follow ecl the Bedouin arouncl. Thi s
ingenious design, locally relevant, c ultura lly ri c h, a nd us ing
simpl e ma te rials, con trasted sharply with th e typica l modern
des igns I had seen in my own country, designs tha t rarely made
such good use of local ma te ri a l a nd energy flows.
When I re turned to the Sta les a nd en te red grad ua te school ,
e nergy effi c ie ncy was th e onl y real "envi ronme nta l" topi c con-
s id e re d by des igne rs and arc hitects. Interes t in so la r powe r had
hee n piqued in th e seventies when gas prices soa red. I de-
s igned and built the f1rst so la r-heated house in Irela nd (a mea-
s ure of my ambiti on, the re be ing very littl e sun in Ire la nd),
whi c h gave me a taste of th e diffic ulties of applying uni versal
solutions to local c irc umsta nces. Among the s tra tegies expe rts
s uggeste d to me was build ing a huge roc k s torage bin to re tain
heat, whi c h l discovered- a fte r haulin g thirty tons of rock-
was redund ant in a n Iris h house, with its thi c k masonry wa ll s.
After graduate sc hool, I appre nticed with a New York firm
we ll known for its sens iti ve, soc ia ll y respo ns ible urban housing
a nd the n fo unded my own firm in 1981. In 1984 we were co m-
miss ioned to des ign th e offices of the Environm enta l De fe ns e
F'und, the first of th e s o-call e d green offi ces. I wo rk ed on ind oo r
air quality, a subject a lmost no one had studi e d in depth. Of
pari ic ul a r con cern to us were vola tile organic compou nds, car-
c inogenic mate ri a ls, and a nythi ng else in the paints, wall cov-
e rin gs, earpe tings, floorings, a nd fi xt ures that mi ght cause

8
 Til l ~ 1100~ IS \ OT \ T R EF

indoor air qual ity pruulc rns or mull iple chemi cal se nsitivity.
With liule or no resea rc h avai lab le, we turned to the manufac-
turers, who oft e n told us the information was proprietary a nd
gavt> us nothi ng beyond the vague safeguards in the material
safety data sheets ma ndated by law. We d id the best we could at
th e time. We used water-Lased paints. We taeked down carpet
instead of gluing it. We provided thirty cubic feet per minute of
fresh air per pe rson instead of fi ve. We had granite chec ked for
radon. We used wood that was sustainabl y harvested. We tried
to be less bad.
Most lead ing designe rs eschewed envi ronmental concerns.
Many environmentall y minded designe rs app li ed environmen-
tal "solu tions" in isolati on, lack ing new technology onto the
same old model or cornin g up wi th giant solar coll ec tors for
people to li ve in th at overheated in the summer. The resull ing
buildings were oft e n ugly and obtrusive, ami they we re often
not very effecti ve. li:ven as architects a nd ind ustrial designe rs
began to e mbrace recycled or susta inable materials, they til l
dealt primaril y with surfaces -with what looked good, what
was easy to get, what I hey could afford.
J hoped for more. '1\vo projects in pa rti cular inspired me to
think se ri ously a bout my design in tentions. In 1987 members
of the Jewish community in ew York a!<ked me to design a
proposal for a ll oloca ust me morial, a place where people could
reAecl. I visited Auschwitz a nd Birkenau to see what the worst
of hu man intenti ons could accomp lish: giant machines de-
signed to elirninatr huma n life. I realized that design is a ignal
of inte ntion. Wha t is the very best tha t designe rs ean intend, I

9
 C K t\IJ L ~ TO C ti ,\OLI:

wonde red , a nd how might a building manifest tha t in tention?

The second proj ect was a proposa l for a day-care cent er in
Fra nkfurt, Germa ny, whi ch again brought the issue of indoor a ir
CJIIll lity lo the fore. What did it mea n to des ign s omething tha t
would be comple tely safe for c hildre n, parti c ula rly whe n safe
building ma terials did not seem to exist?
l was tired of working hard to be less bad. I wanted to be
in volved in ma king buildings, even produ cts, with comple tely
positive inte ntions .

Michael's story:
I come from a famil y of lite ra ture a nd ph ilosophy schola rs, a nd
turn ed to chemi stry only out of sympathy for my hi gh schoo l
c he mis try teache r. (In the early 1970 s Germa ny was e ngaged in
political debate abou t the use of pesticides a nd othe r proble m-
a tic c he micals, so I was able to jus tify it to my famil y as a
mea ningful purs uit.) I s tudie d a t univers ities where I could
learn about e nvironme ntal c he mi stry a nd was especia ll y infiu-
e nced by Professor Friedheim Korte, who was ins trume nta l in
inventing "ecological c hemi stry." In 1978 I became one of the
founding me mbers of the Green Ac tion Future Party. This be-
came Ge rma ny's Green Party, a nd its primary goal wa~ ta king
care of th e environm enl.
Through my work with th e Green Party, I created a name
for myself a mong en vironme ntal ists . C reenpeace, whi ch a t th e
time was a group of activists with littl e formal bac kground in
sc ie nce or e nvironme ntal stud ies, as ked me to work with the m.
directed G reenpea ce's c he mistry de partment a nd helped the

10
 Ti ll ~ IIOOK IS ~OT I TREF

organizati on to protest more knowl edgeabl y, but I soon realized

that protest was n't e nough. We needed to develop a process for
c ha nge. My t urning poi nt rame after an action protesting a se-
ries of c he mical spills by the big compan ies Sandoz and Ciba-
Ce igy: Afte r a fire a t andoz's huge fac tory was doused with
fire fighting chemi cals tha t then ran into th e Rhine, causing
mass ive loss of ri ve r wi ldlife for more tha n a hundred mil es, I
coord inate d a protest in whi c h my colleagues a nd I c ha ined
ou r e lves to Ciba-Ceigy s mokestacks in Basel. Whe n the ac-
tivists came down two days later, Ant on c haerli , the d irector of
the company, presented us wi th flower and hot soup. Although
he disagreed with our wa y of showing d is pleas u re, he had been
wo rried about us a nd wa nted to hea r what we had to say.
I ex pla ined tha t with Greenpeace's fin a nc ing, I was about
to sta rt up an e nvironme ntal chem is try resea rc h agency. I told
him I pla nned to ca ll it the Envi ron me nta l Protection Enforce-
me nt Age ncy. The director was e nthus iastic, a nd he s uggested
a s light mod ification in th e na me. from "Enforceme nt" to " En-
courageme nt." It wo nl d be less hostil e a nd more a tt ractive to
pote ntial bus iness clie nts, he said. I took hi s ad vice.
And so I became d irector of the EPEA , opening office 111

several cou ntri es and eonti nuing to develop a re lationship wi th

this large co rpura tiu11 . Partl y in response to a request from Alex
Kra ue r, c hairman of C iba-Ge igy, I began to d iscover the ric h
ex pe ri e nce of oth er cultures in working with in nutri e nt flows,
suc h as tha t of the Yanorna rno of Brazi l, who c re mate the ir dead
a nd put the ashes into a bana na soup tha t the tribe eats a t a
eelebralory feast. Man y peopl es bel ieve in karma and re incar-
nation. a n " upc-yd ing" of tht> soul. if you will. These perspec--

11
 C llAI)LE T O C llAD I. E

ti ves broadene d my response to th e proble m of waste 111 t:he

Western E uropean trad ition.
But it remained difficult for me to find other ch e mists who
we re inte res ted in these matters at al l, le t a lon e had a ny expe-
ri e nce in the m. The formal study of c he mi stry still mostl y ex-
cludes e nvironme ntal issues, a nd sc ie nce as a whole is mo re
invested in res earch than in imple menting strategies of c ha nge.
The sc ientific community is usually pa id to s tudy proble ms, not
solutio ns ; indeed, finding a solu tion to the proble m under stud y
us ua lly brings an e nd to fundi ng fo r resea rch. Thi s puts a n odd
pressure on sc ie nti sts , who, lik e e ve ryone e l e, mus t make a
l iving. Moreove r, we sc ientis ts are traine d in analysis rathe r
than synthes is . I cou ld te ll you all a bout the compone nts a nd
pote ntial negative effec ts of pla stic izers, PVC, he avy me tals,
a nd many othe r ha rmful s ubs tan ces, which l le arne d about in
my primary researc h. But my colleagues a nd I lac ked a vis ion
for putting thi s e nvironme ntal knowle dge to work within beauti -
ful des igns . My worldview was not one of abundance, creati vity,
pros pe rity, a nd c ha nge.
Wh en I fi rs t mel Bi ll, the e nvironme nta lists I kne w we re
look ing a head to the upcom ing 1992 Ea rth Summit, whe re the
ma in agendas were s usta inable d eve lo pme nt a nd globa l warm-
ing. Indus try re prese nta tives would be the re, a nd s o wou lei
e nvironme nta lis ts. A t the time, I sti ll beli eved the two were
des tin ed to co nflict. I was ca ught up in the notion that indus try
was bad, a nd e nvironme nta lis m was e thi cally s uperior to it. I
was co ncentrating o n ana lyzing the oft e n dange rou s or ques-
tionable mate ria ls tha t we nt into eve ryday produc ts lik e te lev i-

12
 TH I~ 11 00~ I S N OT A TKt:f:

s ions, in hopes of devis ing a s trategy to allow us to a voi d the

wors t conseque nces of' ind us tria lis m.

We me l in 1991, whe n the EPE A hf' ld a reception a t a rooftop

ga rde n in e w York City lo ce lebra te the ope ning of' its firs t
Ame ri ca n offi ces. (The in vita ti ons we re printed on bi odegrad-
a ble di apers, to highlight the fact tha t conventiona l di s posable
diape rs werf' one of the la rgest s ingle sources of solid was te in
la ndfill s.) We began ta lking aboutt ox i(·it y a nd des ign. Mic hae l
ex pl a ined hi s idea of' c rea tin g a bi odegrada bl e soJa uollle with
a seed impla nted in it , whi c h could be thrown on the ground af-
te r usf' to safe ly decompose and a llow the seed to ta ke root in
the soil. T he re was mus ic and danc ing, and our eli c ussion
turn ed to anothe r obj ec t of mode rn ma nufacture: the s hoe.
Mi c hae l joked tha t hi s guests we re wea ring " haza rdous waste"
on the ir feel, was te tha t was a brading as they s pun on the rough
s urfaee of th e roof', n ealing dust tha t people could inhale. He
told how he had vis ited th e la rgest chromium ex trac tion factory
in E urope-chromium is a heavy me ta l used in la rge-scale
lea the r ta nning procf'sses- and noti cf'd that on ly olde r me n
were working there. a ll of the m in gas masks. T he s upe rvisor
ha d expla ine d tha t it look on ave rage uboul lwc nl y yea rs for
worke rs to de ve lop ca neer fro m c hromium ex posure, so the
compa ny had madf' th f' dec is ion to all ow onl y workers olde r
than fift y to work with thi s uangerous s ubstance.
The re we re othe r nega tive consequ e nces associa tcu with
the conve ntional des ign of s hoes, Miehae l pointed out. " Lea th er"

13
 CHAIJLE TO CH,\IJLE

s hoes are actuall y a mixture of biol ogica l ma te rials (the leath er,
which is biodegradabl e) and technical ma te riRi s (th e c hromium
a nd other substances, whi c h have value for indus tries). Accord-
ing to c urrent methods of manufacture and disposal, neither
could be s uccessfully retrieved after the shoe was discarded.
From a material and eco logical s tandpoint, the design of the av-
e rage shoe cou ld be much more intell igenl. We di scussed the
idea of a sole coated with biodegradable mate rials, which could
be de tached aft er use. The rest of the s hoe could be made of
plas tics a nd polyme rs tha t were not ha rmful, and which could
be trul.y recyc led into new shoes .
Inc ine ra tor s moke drifted from nearby rooftops as we dis-
c ussed the fact that typical garbage, with its mixture of in -
dus trial a nd biologi cal ma te ria ls, was not designed for safe
burning. Instead of banning burning, we wonde red, why not
ma nufac ture certain produc ts and packaging tha t could be
safely burned a fter a c us tome r is fini s hed with th e m? We imag-
ined a world of indu stry tha t made c hildre n the standard for
safety. Wha t a bout des igns that, as Bill put it, "loved all the
c hildre n, of all spec ies, for all time"?
Trafftc was inc reasing on th e s treets below, a true ew
York traffic j am, with b laring horns, angry drivers, a nd inc reas -
ing di sruption. In the earl.y e ve ning light , we imagin ed a s ile nt
ca r tha t could run withou t. burning foss il fu e ls or e mitting nox-
ious fum es, a nd a c ity like a forest, coo l a nd qui et. Everywhere
we turned, we could see produc ts, packaging, buildings, trans-
portation , eve n whole c ities that we re poo rl y des igned . And we
co uld see th a t the conven ti ona l e nviro nme ntal approat: hes-

14
 T ill ~ IIOOK I ~ ~OT A TKl~

even th e mos t well - intt>nded and progressive ones-just d id n't

get it.
That in itial meeting spa rked a n imnwd iate interest in
working toge ther, and in 1991 we coauthored '17w Hamwver Prin-
ciples, des ign gu ide lines fo r the 2000 World' Fair that were is-
sued a t the Wo rld Urban Forum of th e Earth ummit in 1992.
Fore most among th e m was "Eliminate the co ncept of waste"-
not re d uce, minimize, or avoid waste, as en vironme nt al is ts
were then propounding, but e lim inate tlw vt>ry concept, by de -
sign. We met in Braz i I to see an earl y vers ion of th is princ iple
in prac tice: a waste-process ing garde n that was in essence a gi -
a nt intestine for its community, turning waste in to food.
Th ree years late r, we found ed McDono ugh Braungart De-
ign Che mis try. Bi ll 111ainta ined his a reh it t>c tura l practice and
Mic hael continued to head the EPEA in l~urope, and both of us
start ed teac hing a t uni ve rs iti es. But now we had a focused way
to begin to put o ur ide a s into pract ice, to turn our work in
c hemi cal resea rch, a rc-hitecture , urban des ign, a nd ind ustria l
produc t and process des ign to the project of tra nsforming in-
du stry itself. Since th e n, our des ign firms have worke d with a
wide range of corporate and institutional cl ie nts, including the
1ikc, and SC Jo hnson,
Fo rd Motor Company. Herman Mill e r,
and wi th a number of munic ipalities and researc h and ed uca-
tional instituti ons to imple me nt the design princ-iples we have
evol ved.
We sec a world of a bundance. not l imi ts . ln the midst of a
great dea l of ta lk about reduc ing th e human eco logi ca l foo t-
print. we offer a difft>re nt vision. What if humans designN I

15
 CIIAIJ U : TU CIIAIJL~

produc ts and systems tha t celebrate a n abunda nce of human

creativity, c ulture, and produc ti vity? Tha t are so intelli ge nt and
safe, our spec ies leaves a n ecological footprint to de light in , not
lame nt ?
Cons ide r thi s: all the an ts on the pla ne t, taken togethe r,
have a biomass greater th an that of huma ns . Ants have been in-
c redibly indus tri ous for millions of years . Ye t the ir producti ve-
ness nouris hes pla nts, an imals, and soil. Huma n indus try has
been in full s wing for li ttl e ove r a century, yet it has brought
about a dec line in almos t e ve ry ecosyste m on the pl a net. Na-
ture doesn't have a design probl e m. People do.

16
C ha pter O nt'

A Question of Design

In th e s pring of 19 12, one of the larges t movin g obj ects ever

l'reated by huma n bt>ings le ft South ampton, En gla nd, and be-
ga n gli ding toward ew Yo rk. It appea re d lo he the epitome of
its indus tria l age-a pote nt re presen ta tio n of technology, pros-
perity, lu xury, a nd prog rf'ss. lt wt>ight>d 66,000 tons. Its stee l
hu ll s tre tc hed th r le ngth of fou r c ity bloc-ks. Each of its s team
e ngines was the s ize of a town house. And it was headed for a
di sastrou s encounte r with the na tura l world .
Thi s vessel, of course, was the 'lttanic, a brute of a ship,
see mingly impe rvious lo th e forces of the natura l world. In the
minds of the eaplai n, th e crew, and ma ny of the passengers,
nothing could s ink it.
One might say tha t the Titanic was not on ly a prod uct of
the Indus tria l Revolutio n but rema ins a n apl me ta phor for the
industrial infrastru cture tha t revolution c: rM iecl. Like that fa-
rrrous s hip, thi s infras truc ture is powe red by brutis h and a ri i(i-
cia l sources of f'nc rgy th at a re e nvironme nta ll y deple ting. II
pours waste in to tllf' water and s moke into the s ky. II allempls
lu work by it;, own n rles, whi c h a re contrary lo those of nature.
And although il may seem in vinc- ible, lhf' fun dame nta l flaws in
its des ign presage I raged y and di saster.

17
 CH llli.E TO CRAili.E

A Brief History of the Industrial Revolution

Imagine that you have been g1ven the assignmen t of design -

ing the lml u~ tr ial Revulution- re trospPct ive ly. \l ith respect to
its negati ve conscquc necs, the ass ignment would have to read
something like this:

De~ign a system of produc tion that

• puts billion of pou nds of tox ic matf'rial into the air, wa-
te r, and soil every year
• produces some mate rial s so da ngerous they wil l requ1 re
consta nt vigilance by future generations
• results in gigan tic amounts of waste
• puts va luab le mat e ri a ls in holes al l over the planet,
whe re they ca n never be retrieved
• requires tho usands of compl ex regu lati ons-not to keep
people and natura l syste ms safe , but rat he r to keep thf' m
from being poisone d too quick ly
• measures prouucti vity by how few people are working
• c re a tes prosperit y by di gging up o r c ulling Jown na tura l
resources a nd the n hurying o r burning the m
• erodes th e di ve rs ity of species and c ultural practices.

()f course, the inJustrialis ts, e ngineers, invPn tors, and other
minds be hind th e Ind us trial Revolution never intended such
co nseque nces. In fad , the Industri al Bevo luti on as a whole was
not reall y des ignPd . It took s hape gradua ll y, as industria lis ts,
engin eers, and dPs igne rs tried to solve problems and to take
inunediate advantagC' of what they eo ns id<'rf'd to he opportun i-

18
 A !)LE:iT I O N OF OF. S I C'I

ti es in an unprecede nted pe riod of massive and rapid c ha nge.

It began with tex til es in England, whe re agric ulture had
bee n the ma in occupation for centuries. Peasants farmed, the
manor and town guilcls providP.cl food a nd goocls, ancl indu stry
cons isted of c raftspeople work ing indi viduall y as a s ide venture
to farming. Within a few decades, thi s cottage indus try, de-
pende nt on the c raft of indi vidual labore rs for the produc tion of
s ma ll quantities of woole n cloth, was transformed into a mec h-
anized fac tory syste m that c hurned ou t fabri c -mu c h of it now
cotton instead of wool- by th e mile.
This c hange was spurred by a quic k s uccession of new
technologies. In th e mid -l700s cottage worke rs spun thread on
s pinning whee ls in the ir homes, work ing the pedals with the ir
hand s a nd feet to make one thread at a time. Th e s pin ning
je nn y, pate nted in 1770, inc reased the number of threads from
one to e ight, th e n s ixteen, the n more. Later models would spin
as many as ei ghty threads s imultaneously. Othe r mechani zed
equipm ent, s uc h as th e water fram e a nd the spinning mule, in-
creased production levels at suc h a pace, it mu st have seemed
some thing li ke Moore's Law (named for Gordon Moore, a
found e r of Intel), in whi c h the processing s peed of computer
c hips roughly doubles every e ighteen months.
In pre ind ustria l times, ex ported fabri cs would travel b y
canal or sa iling ships, whic h we re slow and unrelia ble in poo r
wea th er, weighted with hi gh duties a nd s tric t laws, and vu lne r-
able to piracy. In fact, it was a wonde r the cargo got to its desti-
na tion a t all. The railroad a nd the steams hip all owed produc ts
to be moved more qui c kly and farth e r. By 1840 factori es that
had once made a thousand a rticles a week had the means and

19
 CR JITl i. E TO CRADLE

moti va ti on lo p roduce a thousand mti cles a day. F abric workers

grew too busy lo fa rm a nd moved into towns to be closer to fac-
tori es, whe re they a nd the ir families might work twe lve or more
hours a day. TJrh>t n areHs spre ad , goods pro life ra te d, a nd c ity
populations in creased . More, more, more- jobs, peopl e, prod-
uc ts, factories, bus inesses, ma rke ts-seemed lo be th e rule of
the day.
Like a ll pa radi gm s hifts, thi s one e ncount e red res ista nce.
Coll age wo rk ers a fmid of losing work a nd Luddites (foll owers of
Ned Ludd)- expe rie nce d cloth ma ke rs a ngry about th e ne w
machines and the una ppre nticed worke rs wh o operate d the m-
s mashed la bor-saving eq uipme nt a nd made life diffic ult for in-
ventors, some of whom di ed outcast a nd pe nniless before they
could profit from th eir new mac hines. Resis tance touc he d not
s impl y on tec hnology but on spiritua l and imagina ti ve life. The
Roma ntic poets arti culat e.d th e growin g differe nce between th e
rural , natura l la ndscape a nd tha t of th e c ity- ofte n in despa ir-
ing terms : "C it ys . . . a re nothing less tha n over grown pri son s
that s hut oul th e world a nd a ll its beauti es," wrote th e poet
J ohn Cla re . A rti s ts and aes the tes Iike John Rus kin a nd Wi II ia m
Morri s fea red for a civili zati on whose aesthe tic sens ibility and
ph ys ical stru ctures were be ing resha pe d by mate ria lis tic de-
Signs .
There we re oth e r, more lasting prohle ms. Vi c tori a n London
was notori ous for ha ving been " th e grea t a nd dirty city," as
Cha rl es Dic ke ns call ed it, a nd its unhealthy environme nt a nd
s uffe ring unrl e rclasses became ha llma rks of the burgeoning in-
du stri al c ity. London air was so grimy from a irborne pollut a nts,
espec iall y e miss ions from burning coal. tha t peop le would

20
 A Q L f: S T I 0 N 0 f ' IJ f: S I G ~

c hange th e ir c uffs and co llars a l the e nd of the day (behavior

tha i woul d be re peale d in Chattanooga during th e 1960s, and
eve n today in He ijin g or Mani la). In ea rly fac tories a nd othe r
indus trial operations, such as mining, materials were consid-
e red ex pe ns ive, but pe ople we re ofte n cons ide red cheap. Chil-
dren as well as adult s worked for long hou rs in deplorable
cond iLion s.
Bu l th e genera l spiri t of ea rly indu stria lis ts-and of many
othe rs at Lhe lime- was o ne of g reat oplimis m and fa ith in the
progress of humankind. As industri a li zation boomed, oth e r in-
stitutions eme rged tha t assis ted its rise: comme rcial banks,
s loek exchanges, and the comme rc ia l press al l opened further
employ ment op portunities fo r lhe new middle c lass and ti g ht-
e ned lhe soc ia l ne twork around economic growth. C heaper
produ c ts, public lrans porla lion, water di stribulion and san ita-
ti on, waste co ll ectio n, la undries, safe hous ing, and other con-
ven ie nces gave people, both ric h and poor, what appeared Lobe
a more equitabl e s tandard of li ving. No longer d id the le isure
c lasses a lon e have access Lo a ll lh e eomforl s.
The In dustri a l Revo lution was nol pla nne d , but iL was nol
withou t a motive. At bollom il was a n economic re volution,
dri ve n by the desire for th e a cqui s ili o n of capital. Tnduslriali sls
wanted to make products as efllciently as possible and to gel
the greatest volume of goods lo the la rgest numbe r of people. In
mosl indus tri es, this meant s hifti ng from a syslem of manual la -
bor lo one of e ffi c ie nt mec han ization.
Co ns ide r cars . In Lh e early 1890s th e automobile (of E uro-
pean origin) was made to meet a customer's specificati ons by
c raftsp eople who we re usually inde pe nde nt contrac tors . For ex-

21
 CRAOLE TO CHAIJL I:

ampl e, a machine-tool company in Paris, which happened to be

the leadi ng manufacturer of cars at the time, produced only
several hundred a year. They were luxury items, bu ilt s lowly
anrl c:Rr~ full y hy hand. Th ~ re was no s tandard system of mea-
suring a nd gauging parts, and no way to cut hard s teel, so parts
were c reated by d ifferent contractors, hardened under heat
(whi ch often altered dime ns ions), and individually fil ed down
to fit th e hundreds of other parts in the ca r. No two were a like,
nor could they be .
Henry Ford worked as an engtneer, a mac hini st, and a
builder of race cars (which he him se lf raced) before found ing
th e Ford Motor Company in 1903. After produc ing a number of
early vehi cles, Ford realized that to make cars for the modern
America n worker- not just for the wealthy- he would need to
manufacture vehicl es c heapl y a nd in great quantiti es. In 1908
his company began produ c ing the legendary Model '1~ the "car
for the great multitud e" that Ford had dreamed of, "constructed
of the best materi als, by the bes t men to be hired , after the s im-
ples t des igns that modern engineer ing can devise .. . so low in
pri ce that no man mak ing a good salary will be unable to ow n
one. "
In the fo llowing years, severa l aspec ts of manufacturing
meshed to achi eve this goal, revolutionizing car produ ction and
rapidly increasing levels of effi ciency. First , centra li zation: in
1909 Ford announced that the company wou ld produce onl y
Model T's and in 1910 moved to a mu ch larger factory that
would use electri c ity for its powe r a nd gathe r a number of pro-
du cti on processes under one roof. The most famous of Ford's

22
 A QLE S TION OF DES I GN

innovations is the mov ing assembly line. In early production,

the engines, frames, and bodies of the ca rs were assembled
separately, then brought together for final assembly by a group
of workm~n. Foro's innova tion was to brin g " the materi als to
the man," ins tead of "the man to the materials." He and his en-
gineers developed a moving assembly line based on the ones
used in the Chi cago beef indus try: it carri ed materials to work-
ers and, at its mos t efficient, enabled each of th em to repeat a
s ingle operation as the vehi cle moved down the lin e, reduc ing
overa ll labor ti me dramatically.
Thi s and oth er ad vances made poss ible the mass produ c-
ti on of the uni versal car, the Modell~ from a centralized loca-
ti on, where many vehi cles we re ass embl ed at once. Increasing
efficiency pushed costs of th e Model T down (from $850 in
1908 to $290 in 1925), a nd sales skyrocketed. By 1911, before
th e introduction of the assembly line, sales of the Model T had
totaled 39,640. By 1927, tota l sales reached fifteen million.
The advantages of s tandardized, ce ntralized production
were manifold . Obviou sly, it coul d bring greater, quicker afflu-
ence to indus trialists. On another front, manufacturing was
viewed as what Wi ns ton Churchill referred to as " the arsenal of
democracy," beca use th e producti ve capacity was so hu ge, it
could (as in th e two world wars) produ ce an undeniably potent
res ponse to war conditi ons. Mass producti on had another de-
mocratizing aspect: as th e Model T de monstrated, when p ri ces
of a previously unattainabl e item or service plummeted, more
peop le had access to it. New work opportunities in factori es im-
proved s tand ard s of li ving, as did wage increases. Ford hims elf

23
 C ll IIH f. TO C H AIJLE

assisted in thi s s hi ft. In 19 14 , wh~n the prevaili ng sala ry for

fac tory worke rs was $2.34 a day, he hiked it to SS, pointing out
tha t ca rs cannot buy cars. (lie also redu ced the hou rs of the
workday from nine to e ight.) In one fe ll swoop, he actua lly rrP-
a ted hi s own ma rket, a nd raised the ba r for the e ntire world of
industry.
Vie wed from a design pr rspec ti vc, the Model T e pitomized
the g~ ne ra l goa l of th e firs t ind ustria lis t : to mak~ a product
tha i was des irabl e, affordable, and operable by a nyone, just
abou t a nywhe re; that lasted a certa in amount of time (until it
was time to buy a new one); a nd th a t cou ld be proclueed
c hea pl y a nd q u ic kl y. Along these lines. tec hnical developmen ts
cente red on inc reas ing " power, acc uracy, eeonomy, system,
conti nu ity. speed," lo use the Ford manufac turing c hec klist for
mass produc t ion.
For obvious reason , the design goals of early industria lis ts
were quite s pec ific, limited lo th e practical, profita ble, effic ie nt,
a nd linea r. 1any industria lis ts , d~signers, and e ngineers did
nol see th e ir des igns as pa ri of a larger system, outs ide of an
econom ic one. But they di d s hare som~ genera l a ·surnpt ions
about the world .

"Those Essences Unchanged by Man"

Early ind us tries re lie d on a . ~emingly e nd less supply of na tural

"ca pita l." Ore, timbe r, water, gra in, callle, coal, la nd- these
wer~ the raw ma terials for lite production sys tems that made

goods for the masses, and they s till are today. Ford 's Ri ver

24
 A QlF: ~ I'IO~ Of ll f " l t; ~

Rouge plant epitomi zt>d th e now of production on a massive

sca le: huge qua nt ities of iron, coal, sand , and othe r raw mate ri-
als e nle rf'd one s ide of the facility and, once inside, were trans-
formed into new ears. Industri es fallE>ned as they transformed
resourees into produc·ts. The prairies wt>re overtaken for agri-
culture, a nd the great forests we re cut down for wood and fue l.
Factori es situated the mselves near natural resources for easy
access (today a promine nt window company is located in a
place that wa · originall y surrounded by giant pines, u eel for
the window frames) and beside bodi es of water, whic h they
used both for ma nufac turing processes and to d ispose of
wastes.
In the nineteenth century, when these practices began, the
subtle qualities of the environme nt were not a widespread ron-
cern. Resou rees seemed immeasurab ly vast. Nat ure itself was
pe rceived as a "mothe r ea rth" who, pe rpE>lua ll y regene ra ti ve,
would absorb all thi ngs and conti nue to grow. Even Halph
Wa ldo Emerson, a prescie nt ph ilosophe r and poet with a !'art'-
ful eye for nature, reflt'eted a eom111011 belief whe n, in the early
1830s, he described nature as "esse nces unc ha nged by ma n;
space, the air, the river, the leaf." Many pt>op le bel ieved there
would always be an expanst' that remai ned unspoilt'd and inno-
cent. The popu lar ficti on of Hud yard Kipling a nd others evoked
wild JJarls of the world that still existed and, it seemed, always
wou ld.
At the sa me time, the Weste rn view aw nature as a dan-
gerou s, brutish force to be civilized and subdued. Humans JJer-
ceived natural forces as hostil e, so they atlacked uaek to exert
control. In the Uni tt>d tales, la ming the frontier took on the

25
 CHAO I.E TO CHAI)J. t;

power of a definin g myth , and "conque ring" wild , natura l

places was recognized as a cultural- eve n s piritual- impera-
tive.
Today our understanding of nature has d ra matically
changed. ew studi es indi cate tha t the ocea ns, the a ir, the
mountains, and the pl ants a nd animals th at inhabit them are
more vulne rabl e than ea rl y innovators ever imagined. But mod-
ern industri es still opera te according to paradigms that devel-
oped when humans had a very differe nt sense of the world .
Neither the health of natural s ystems, nor a n aware ness of their
deli cacy, complexity, and interconnectedness, have been part
of the indus tri al design agenda. At its deepest found ation, the
industria l infrastru cture we have today is linear: it is focused
on making a product and gelling it to a custome r qui ckl y and
cheaply without cons id ering much else.
To be sure, the Industri a l Revolution brought a number of
pos itive social changes. With higher standa rd s of li ving, life ex-
pectancy greatly increased. Med ica l care a nd education greatl y
improved and became more widely ava il able. Electric it y, te le-
communications, and other ad va nces raised comfort and con-
veni ence to a new level. Technological ad vances brought the
s o-ca ll ed developing na tions enormous benefits, incl ud ing in-
creased productivit y uf agri cultural land and vastly increased
harvests a nd food storage for growing popul ations.
But the re were fund a menta l Aaws in the Industri al Revolu-
tion's de ign. They result ed in some c rucial omi ssions, a nd
devas ta ting consequences have been handed down to us, a long
with the dominant assumptions of the era in whi ch th e transfor-
mation took shape.

26
 A QUE S T I OX Of DE S I GN

From Cradle to Grave

Imagine what you would come upon today at a typi cal landfill:
old fumiture, uphols tery, carpets, televisions, clothing, shoes,
telephones, computers, complex products, and plas tic packag-
ing, as well as organic materials like diapers, paper, wood, and
food wastes. Most of these products were made from valuable
ma teri als that required e!Jort and expense to extract and make,
billions of dollars' wo rth of ma te rial assets. The biodegradable
materials suc h as food maller and paper ac tuall y have value
too-they could decompose and return biological nutri ents to
the soil. Unfortunately, all of these things are heaped in a land-
fill, whe re their value is wasted. They are the ultimate products
of an industrial system th at is designed on a linear, one -way
cradle-to-grave model. Resources a re extracted, sha ped into
products, sold, and eventua lly dis posed of in a "grave" of some
kind, usually a landfill or incinerator. You are probably familiar
with the end of this process because you, the customer, are re-
s ponsible for dea ling with its detritus. Think about it you may
be re fe rred to as a consumer, but the re is ve ry liule that you ac-
tually consume-some food, some li qui ds. Everything else is
designed for you to throw away when you are finished with it.
But where is "away"? Of course, "away" docs not really exist.
"Away" has gone away.
Cradle-to-grave des igns dominate modern manufacturing.
According to some accounts more th an 90 percent of materi -
als extrac ted to make durable goods in the United States be -
come waste almost immediately. Some times the product itself
scarcely lasts longer. It is ofte n cheaper to bu y a new version of

27
 C ll Ill I 1: TO <.:I! I U I t.

even th e most expensive ap pliance tha n to trac k down somt"one

tu repai r the original it t>m. In fac t, man y products are designed
with "built-in obsolt>srence." to last on ly for a certain period of
li m<", to a llow-to c ncourage-th<" c ustomer to gel rid of the
thi ng and buy a new mode l. AIso, what most people see in thei r
garbage ca ns is ju;;;t th e tip of a materia l icr berg; the prod uct it -
self conta ins on average onl y 5 percent of the raw mate rials in-
vo lved in the proct>ss of maki ng and de livering it.

One Size Fits All

Because the cradh')-lo-grave model underl ying th r df'sign as-

sumpti ons of the Industri al Revolution was nol call t"d into
quest ion, even movement · thai were formt>d oslen. ibly in oppo-
sition lo tha t C I'CI manifested its naws. One example has been
the push to achieve uu iversal design solut io ns, whic h emergPd
as a leading design straiPgy in the lasl century. In the fie ld of
a re hitedu re, th is strategy look the form of the In ternationa l
Stylt' movemt>nt, adva nced du ring the ea rl y dt'cades of the
IWPnli t>lh c·enlu ry by figun's such as Ludwig Mi es van dcr
Rohc. Walte r Cropiu,;. and I.e Corbusi<'r. who were reacling
aga inst Vic lori a n-('ra styles. (Gothi c cat h edral ~ were :;til l be ing
prupu;;ed and built.) Their goals we re socia l as wel l as aes-
thetic. They wa nlf'd to globa ll y re plac· e unsa nit a ry and in-
C'q uit able hous ing-fa ncy, ornalf' plaC'es fo r the rich; ugl y,
un lwa lth y places for tl w poor-with clea n, miuilllali ~l, afford-
abl e buildin g~ IIIH'n<·tunlw red by distint'liun · of wealth or
elas;;. La rge shC'C'Is of glass. steel, and eoll<"rf'lt·. and c heap

28
 A QUE ST I O\ OF llf: S I G~

trans porta tion powered by fossil fuels, ga ve engin eers a nd a r-

chitects the tools for realizing this style a nywhe re in th e world.
Today the Inte rn ati ona l Style has evolved into some thing
less ambitious: a bland, uniform struc ture isolated from tbe
particulars of pl ace- from local c ulture, na ture, energy, and
mate rial Hows. Suc h buildings reflect little if a ny of a region's
di stinctness or s tyle . They ofte n sta nd out li ke sore thumbs
from th e su rrounding la nd scape, if they lea ve a ny of it intact
a round th e ir "office parks" of asphalt a nd con c re te. The in ter i-
ors a re equa ll y uninspiring. With th eir sea led wi ndows, con-
stan tly humming a ir condi tione rs, heating syste ms, lat:k of
daylight and fresh a ir, a nd uniform fluorescent li ghting, they
might as well have been designed to house mac hi nes, not hu-
ma ns .
Th e ori gina tors of the Inte rn ati onal Style in te nded to con-
vey hope in the " brotherhood" of humankind . Those who use
the style today do so because it is easy a nd c heap and ma kes
arc hitecture un iform in ma ny seltings. Build ings ca n look a nd
work the same a nywhere, in Rey kja vik or Ra ngoon .
In produet des ign, a classic exampl e of th e uni versal de-
s ign soluti on is mass-p rodu ced dete rgent. Major soap ma nufac-
ture rs design one de te rgent for a ll parts of the United Stales or
Europe, even though wate r quali ties a nd community needs d if-
fe r. For example, c ustome rs in p laces with soft wate r, lik e the
North wes t, need onl y sma ll amou nts of de te rgent. T hose whe re
the wale r is ha rd, like lhe South west, need more. But de ter-
gents a re designed so they wi ll lather up, re move d irt, a nd kill
germs effi cientl y the same way a nywhe re in the world- in hard ,
soft, urban , or spring water, in water tha t flows in to fis h-fi ll ed

29
 CR ADLE T O C R AD LE

s treams and water channeled to sewage treatment plants. Man-

ufacturers just add more chem ical force to wipe out the condi -
tions of c ircums tance. Imagine the strength a detergent must
have to s trip day-old grease from a greasy pan. Now im agine
what happens when that detergent comes into contact with the
slippery sk in of a fis h or the waxy coating of a plant. Treated
and untreated efflue nts as well as runoff are released into lakes,
ri vers, and oceans. Combinations of chem icals, from hou sehold
detergents, cleansers, and med ic ines along with indus trial
wastes, e nd up in sewage efAuents, where they have been
s hown to harm aquatic life, in some cases caus ing mutations
and infertility.
To achieve their universal design solutions, manufacturers
design for a worst-case scenario; they des ign a product for the
worst possible c ircu ms tance, s o that it will always operate with
the same efficacy. This a im guarantees the largest possible mar-
ket for a product. It also reveals huma n industry's peculiar re -
lationship to the natural world, since designing for the wors t
case at a ll times re flects the assumption that nature is the en-
e my.

Brute Force

[f the first Industri al Revolution had a mott o, we lik e to joke, it

would be " If brule force doesn' t work , you're not us ing e nough
of it." The attempt to impose uni versal design s olutions on an
infinite number of local conditions and c ustoms is one manifes-
tation of this principle and its underlying ass umpti on, that na-

30
 A QUE S TI O~ Ot' Dt: S I C'l

Lure s hould be overwhe lmed; so is the application of the chem-

ical brute force and fossil fu el e ne rgy necessary to make s uch
soluti ons " fit. "
All of nature\ inclu ~ lry n~li ~~ on ~ n ~ rgy from th~ s un ,
which can be viewed as a form of current, co nstantly rene wi ng
income. Hu mans, by contrast, extract and burn fossil fu els such
as coal and petroc hemicals that have been depos ited deep be-
low the Earth's surface, s upplementing them with energy pro-
duced through waste-incineration processes and nuc lear
reactors that create add itional proble ms. They do thi s with little
or no attention to harness ing and max imizing local natural e n-
ergy flows. The sta ndard operating ins truction seems to be "If
too hot or too cold, jus t add more fossil fuels."
You are proba bly fam ili ar with the threat of global warming
brought about by the buildup of heat-trapping gases (s uch as
carbon d ioxide) in the atmos phe re due to huma n acti vities. In-
creasing global tempe ratures result in global cl imate change
and s hifts of ex is ting climates. Most models p redict more
seve re weather: hotter hots, coo ler colds, and more intense
storms, as global thermal contras ts grow more ex treme . A
warmer atmos phere draws more wate r from oceans, resulting in
bigge r, welter, more freque nt s torms, rises in sea level, s hifts .in
seasons, a nd a cha in of other climatic eve nts.
The reality of global warming has ga ined currency not
only among environmentalists but among industry leaders. But
global wa rning is not the sole reason to rethink our re liance on
the " brule force" approac h to energy. Inc inerating fossil fuels
contributes partic ulates-mi croscopic particles of soot- to the
environment, whe re th ey are known to cause respiratory and

31
 C H ,\DL E TO CllADLC

oth er health proble ms . Regu la tions for a irborn e pollutants

known to threate n health are growing more severe. As ne w reg-
ulations, based on mounting researc h about the health threats
of airborne toxins resulting from in c ine ra ting foss il fuels, are
imple me nted, industr ies in vested solely in contin uing the c ur-
re nt system will be a t a serious di sad vantage.
Even beyond these importa nt issues, brute force e nergy
doesn' t make good sense as a dominant s trategy ove r the long
term. You wouldn't want to depend on savings for all of your
da ily expe nd itures, so why rely on savings to meet. a ll of hu -
ma nity's ene rgy needs? Clearly, over the years pe troc he mi cals
will become ha rder (a nd more expens ive) to get, a nd drilling in
pri stine pl aces for a few million more drums of oil is n't going to
solve th at proble m. In a sense, fin ite sou rces of energy, s uch as
pe troc he micals de ri ved from fossil fu e ls, can be seen as a nest
egg, some thing to be preserved for e me rgencies, th en used
spa ringly-in certain medi ca l s itu ati ons, for example. For the
majority of our s impl e e ne rgy need s, humans coul d be accruing
a great dea l of c urre nt sola r income, of whic h there is ple nty:
thousa nds of times the a mount of energy needed to fu e l huma n
ac ti vities hits th e s urface of th e pla net every day in th e form of
sunli ght.

A Culture of Monoculture

Under th e ex is ting parad igm of manufac turing a nd deve lop-

me nt , di vers ity-an integra l ele ment of the na tural wo rld- is
typi cally treated as a hos tile force a nd a threat to des ign goals.

32
Brute forc e a nd uni ve rsa l design a pproac hes to typi ca l de vel-
opment te nd to ove rwhelm (and ignore) natura l a nd c ultural di -
versity, resulting in less varie ty a nd grea te r homogene ity.
Cons id er the process of buil d ing a Lypi <'a l uni ve rsal ho use.
First builde rs sc ra pe a way everything o n th e s ite until they
re a ch a bed of cl a y or undi s turbed soil. Severa l machines the n
co me in and shape the c la y to a level s urface. Tre es a re fe lled ,
natura l flora a nd fauna a re destroyed or fri ghtened away, a nd
th e ge ne ric mini Mc Ma ns io n o r modul a r home rises with little
rega rd fo r th e na tura l e nviro nme nt around it- ways the sun
mi ght co me in to hea l the house during the winte r, whic h trees
mi ght protec t it from wind, heat, a nd cold , a nd how soil a nd wa-
te r hea lth can be preserved now and in the future. A two- inc h
carpe l of a fo re ign s pec ies of gra ss is pl aced ove r the rest of the
lot.
The ave rage la wn is an inte resting beas t: peo ple p la nt. it,
the n douse it with a rtific ia l fe rtili ze rs a nd da ngerous pesti c ides
to ma ke it grow a nd to keep it unifo rm- a ll so tha i th e y ca n
hae k a nd rno w wha t I hey e ncouraged to grow. And woe to I he
sma ll yell ow flo wer tha i rea rs it s head!
Rath e r th a n be ing des ig ne d a round a na tura l and c ultura l
la nd scape, most mode rn urba n a reas simply g row, as has ofte n
been sa id, li ke a <'a ncer, sprea ding more a nd mo re of the m-
se lve s, eradicating the li ving e nviro nme nt in th e p rocess. b la n-
keting the na tura l la nd :;ca pe with laye rs of as pha ll a nd
co ne re te.
Con vl'n l ion a l ag ri c ullure lf' nd s lo wo rk a lon g these sa nw
li nes. Th e goal of a m id western comnlPre ia l c·orn OfJPntlion is lo
produ ce a s muc h corn as poss ibl e with the leas t amo unt of trou -

33
 CllADLt: TO CHADI.E

ble, time, and expense-the Indus tria l Revolu tion's first des ign
goal of maximum efficiency. Mos t conventional operati ons to-
day focus on highly specialized, hybridized, a nd perhaps genet-
ir:a lly morlifi P.d spN: iP.s of r.orn. T hey develop a monocultural
landscape that appears to s upport only one partic ular crop
that's likely not even a true s pecies but some over-hybridi zed
cultivar. Planters remove other s pec ies of pla nt life us ing
tillage, which leads to mass ive soil eros ion from wind and wa-
ter, or no-till farming, which requires mass ive application s of
herbi cide. Ancient s tra ins of corn are lost because their output
does not meet the demands of modern commerce.
On the swface, these s trategies seem reasonable to mod-
ern industry and even to "consumers," but they ha rbor both un-
derlying and overlying problems. E le ments that are re moved
from the ecosys tem to make the operation yie ld more grain
more quickly (that is, to make it more efficient) would otherwise
actually provide benefits to farm ing. The plants removed by
tillage, for example, could have helped to pre ve nt erosion and
flooding and to s tabilize and rebuild soi l. They would have pro-
vided hab itat for insects and birds, some of them natura l ene-
mies of crop pests. Now, as pests grow res ista nt to pestic ide,
their numbers increase because th e ir natura l enemi es have
been wiped out.
Pesticides, as typica lly designed, are a perennial cost both
to fanne rs and to the environment and represent a less than
mindful use of c hemi cal brute force. Although chemical com-
panies warn fanners to be careful wi th pes ti c ides, they benefit
when more of them are sold. In othe r words, the companies are
unintentionally in vested in profligacy with-even th e mi shan-

34
 A Q U E S TI O'\ Of DI: S I G

cJling of- the ir produc ts, whic h can resu lt i n contaminati on of

the soil, water, and air.
In suc h an a rtificially ma inta ined syste m, whe re the na tu-
ral e ne mies of pes t a nd some of the nutrie nt-cyc ling plan t ~

a nd organis ms have been elimi nated, more che mical brute

force (pestic ides, fe rti lize rs) must be applied to keep the sys-
tem comme rc ia ll y sta ble. Soil is depleted of nutri e nts a nd satu-
ra ted with c he mica ls . People may not want to li ve too close to
the ope ration because they fear chem ica l runoff. Rather than
being an aes th e tic a nd c ultural delight, mode rn agriculture be-
comes a te rror a nd a fri ght to local reside nt s who want to live
and raise fa milie in a healthy setti ng. While th e economi c
payoff immedi a tely ri ses, the overalL quality of every aspect of
this system is acttwlty in decline.
The proble m he re is not agriculture pe r se but the narrowl y
focused goa ls of the ope ration. T he s ingle-m inded c ultivation of
one species drasticall y reduces the rich network of "services"
and s ide e ffects in whic h the e ntire ecosystem origina lly e n-
gager! . To this day, conventi onal agric u lture is stil l, as sc ie ntis ts
Pa ul a nd Anne Ehrlic h a nd John Hold re n sa id several decades
ago, "a simplifie r of ecosystems, replaci ng re latively com plex
natu ral biologica l comm uniti es with re latively s imple man-
made ones based on o few s trains of c rops ." T hese simple sys-
tems cannot s urvive on their own. Iron ically, s imp lification
necessitates even more brule force for th e syste m to ac hie ve its
des ign goals. Ta ke a way the c he mica ls a nd I he modern modes
of agric ultu ral cont ro l, a nd the crops wou ld la ngu ish (until, that
is, d iverse species gnuJua ll y c re pt hack, return ing complexity
to the ecosyste m).

35
 CI!AD J.t: TO CI!AD I. E

Activity Equals Prosperity

An inte res ting fa cl: the 1991 Exxon Valdez oil spill actua ll y in-
c reased Alaska 's gross domPsli (~ proclu~l. ThP Prin ce Willi a m
Sound a rea was regis tered as economi cally more prosperous
because so many peopl e we re trying lo clean up the s pill.
Resta urants, hote ls , shops, gas s ta ti ons, a nd stores all experi-
e nced a n upward blip in economic excha nge.
Th e GOP takes only one measure of progress into acco unt:
ac ti vity. Econom ic ac ti vity. But wha t sens ible pe rson would call
th e effects of a n oil s pill progress? By some accounts, the
Valdez acc ide nt led to the dea th of more wildlife tha n a ny othe r
human-engineered e nvironme nta l d isaste r in U.S. hi story. Ac-
cord ing to a 1999 gove rnme nt report, only two of th e twe nt y-
three a nimal s pecies allecled by the s pill recove red . Its impac t
on fish a nu wildlife continues today with tumors, genet ic da m-
age, a nd other e ffec ts . The s pill led to losses of c ultural wea lth,
including fi ve s tate pa rb, four s la te c riti ca l-ha bita t areas, a nd
a stale ga me sa nc tuary. Importa nt hab it ats fo r fish s pawning
a nd rea ring were darnaged. whic h may have led to th e 1993
dec ima tion of the Prince Willi a m Sound's Pacific he rrin g popu -
la ti on (pe rhaps because of a viral in fection due to oil exposure).
The spill loo k a s ignifica nt toll on fishermen's income, not to
me ntion the less measurab le e ffec ts on mora le and emotional
health.
The GOP as a measure of progress e me rged during a n e ra
wh en natura l resources s till seemed unlimited a nd "quality of
life" mean! hi gh eco nomi c s ta ndal'ds of living. But if pros pe rit y
is j udged onl y by increased economic activity, then car acc1-

36
 ,\ Q U F. S TJ OI\' OF DE S I C~

de nts, hos pita l vis its, illnesses (such as cancer), a nd toxic

sp ill s are all signs of prosperity. Loss of resources, c ultural de-
ple tion, negati ve social and en vironmental effects, red uction of
qu alit y of lifP.- th P.sP. ills ca n a ll hP. tak ing place, a n e ntire re-
gion ca n be in decli ne, yet th ey a re negated by a simplisti c
econom ic figure tha t says economi c life is good. Cou ntries all
over th e world are trying to hoost th ei r level of economi c activ-
ity so they, too, can grab a s hare of the " progress" that mea-
surements like the GOP propound. But in the race for economi c
progress, soc ial acti vity, ecological im pac t, c u lt ural activity,
a nd long-te rm effects ca n be ove rlooked .

Crude Products

The des ign int enti on behind th e c u rre nt indus tria l infrastruc-
ture is to ma ke a n allrac ti ve product tha t is affordable, meets
regula ti ons, pe rforms well e nough, and las ts long e nough to
meet marke t expectat ions. Such a product fulfills the ma nufac-
ture r's desires a nd some of the customers' expec ta tions as welL
But from our pers pective, produ c ts tha t are not des igned pa rti c-
ula rl y for huma n a nd ecologica l health are uninte lli ge nt a nd in-
elega nt- wha t we ca ll crude products.
For example, the average mass-produced pi ece of poly-
ester clothing and a typical wate r bottle both contain antimony,
a tox ic heavy metal known to ca use ca ncer under certain c ir-
c umstances. Le t's put as ide for the mom ent the issues of
whe ther thi s s ubsta nce re presents a s pec ific danger to the use r.
Th e questi on we wo uld pose as des igners is: Why is it the re? Is

37
 Cl\AD LE TO Cl\ADI.~

it necessary? Actually, it is not necessary: an timony is a curre nt

catalyst in th e polymeri zat ion process and is not necessary for
polyester producti on. What happens when this di scarded prod-
uct is "recycled" (that is, downcycled) and mixed with other
materials? What about when it is burned along with other trash
as cooking fuel, a common practi ce in developing countries?
Inc ineration makes th e a ntimony bioavailable-th at is, ava il-
able for breathing. If polyeste r might be used for fu el, we need
polyesters that can be safely burned.
That pol yester s hirt and that water bottle are both exam-
ples of what we call products plus: as a buyer you got the itern or
service you wan ted, plus additives that you didn' t ask for and
didn't know were included a nd that may be ha rmful to you and
your loved ones. (Maybe s hi1t labels should read: Product con-
tains toxic dyes and catalysts. Don't work up a sweat or they will
leach onto your skin.) Moreover, these extra ingredie nts may not
be necessary Lo the product itself.
Si nce 1987 we have been s tud ying various products from
major manufacturers, ordinary things s uch as a computer
mouse, an electric s haver, a popular handheld video game, a
ha ir dryer, and a portable CD player. We found that during use
they all off-gassed teratogenic and/or carcinogeni c com-
pounds-substances known to have a role in causing birth de-
fee ls and cancer. An electric hand mi xe r emitted chemi cal
gases that got trapped in the oil y butter molecul es of the cake
batter and ended up in th e cake. So be careful- you mi ght un -
intentionall y be eating your appliances.
Why does this happen? The reason is that high-tech prod -
uc ts are us ually composed of low-quality ma teria ls -that 1s,

38
 A Q UI:S TIO~ O F' llf:S I GN

c heap plastics a nd dyes- globall y sourced from the lowest-cost

provider, whic h may be ha lfway around th e world. This means
that even s ubs tances banned fo r use in the United States and
Eu rope can reac h th is counlly via p roducts a nd parts made
e lsewhe re. So, for ex ampl e, the carc inogen be nzene, banned for
use as a sol vent in American factories, can be hi pped here in
rubber parts that were manufactured in developing countries
that have not ba nned it. They can be asse mbled into, say, you r
treadmill , whic h will then emi t the " banned" s ubs ta nce as you
exerc1se.
The proble m intens ifies whe n pa rts from numerous coun-
tries a re assembled into one produc t, as is ofte n th e case with
hi gh-tech items such as e lectronic eq uipme nt and appliances.
Manufacturers do nol necessarily keep track of-nor are they
required to know- whal exac tly is in all of these parts. An ex-
e rcise machi ne assembled in the United ta les may conta in
rubber belts from Ma lays ia, chemicals from Korea, motors fro m
China, adhesives fro nt Ta iwan, a nd wood from Braz il.
How do these crude produ cts affect you ? They produce
poor intloor a ir qua lit y, for one thing. Combined in th e wo rk-
pl ace or home, c rude products -whether appliances, ca rpets,
wa ll paper adhes ives, pa ints, build ing materials, ins ulation, or
a nyth ing else-ma ke the average indoor air more contaminated
than outdoor a ir. One study of household contaminants fo und
that more than half of I he household s showed concentrations of
seven toxic c hemi ca ls that a re known to cause cancer in ani-
ma ls a nd are s us pected to cause cancer in humans at levels
highe r tha n those that would "trigger a forma l ris k assessme nt
for res identi al soil a t a uperfund s ite ." All ergi es, asthma, and

39
 CRA DL E T O CRA D LE

"sick building syndrome" a re on the ri se. Yet legisla tion estab-

lishing mandatory s ta ndards for indoor air quality is prac tically
none x iste nl.
Eve n products oste nsibly designed for c hildre n can be
c rude produc ts . An a nalysis of a c hild's swim wings, made from
polyvinyl c hloride (PVC), showed tha t they off-gassed pote n-
tially ha rmful s ubstances-includ ing, under heal, hyd roc hloric
acid. Other ha rmful s ubs ta nces , like th e plasti cizing phtha-
la tes, may be ingested through contac t. Thi s sce nario is partic-
ula rl y a la rming in a s wi mming pool, s ince a c hild's s kin , ten
Limes thinner tha n the s kin of a n adult, gets wrinkled whe n
wet- the ideal condition for a bsorbing toxins. Once again, in
purc has ing swim wings, you've inadver te ntly purc hased a
" produc t plus": you got th e flotat ion de vice you wa nted for your
child plus unasked-for toxins -not a great ba rgain , a nd s urely
not what the ma nu facturers had in mind when they created this
chil d -safe ty device.
You may be saying to yourself, " I certainly don't know any
child re n who have gotte n s ic k from a plastic fioa l or pool!" But
rathe r th an a readil y ide ntif1a ble illn ess, some people develop
a n a ll e rgy, or multiple c he mi cal sens iti vity syndrome, or
as thma, or they jus t do not feel we ll , without knowing exac tl y
why. Eve n if we experi e nce no im media te ill effects, coming
into consta nt contact with carcinoge ns like benzene and vin yl
chloride may be unwi se.
Think of it thi s way. Everyone's body is s ubj ected lo stress,
from both internal and ex te rna l sources. T hese stresses may
take th e form of cancer cells tha t are na turally produced by the
body-by some accounts, as ma ny as twelve cells a day-expo-

40
 1\ QUES TI ON o t· IH :S I GN

sure to heavy meta ls and othe r pathoge ns, and so on. The im-
mune system is capable of hand li ng a certa in amount of s tress.
Si mpli sti cally speaking, you could picture those stressors as
balls your immune sys tem is juggling. Ordinarily, the juggler is
skillful e nough to keep those balls in the air. That is, the im-
mune system catches a nd destroys those len or twelve cells.
But the more ba lls in the a ir- the more the body is besieged by
all kind s of environmental toxins, for example- the greater the
probability that it will drop the ball, tha t a replicating cell wi ll
make a mis take. It would be very hard to say which molecule or
factor was the one that pushed a person's system over the edge.
But why not re move negative stressors, especially since people
don't want or need them?
Some industri al chemicals produce a second effec t, more
insidious than causing s tress: they weaken the immune system .
This is li ke tying one of the juggler's ha nds behind his back,
which ma kes it mu ch harder for him to catch the cancer cells
before they cause problems. The deadliest c he micals both de-
s troy the immune syste m and damage cells. Now you have a
one- ha nded juggler stru ggling to keep an in creasing numbe r of
balls in the air. Wi ll he continue to pe1form with accu racy and
grace? Why take the ris k that he won't? Why not look for
opportuniti es to strengthen the immune system, not challenge it?
We've foc used on cance r here, but these compounds may
have othe r e ffects that sc ience has yet t.o d iscove r. Consider e n-
docrine d is rupters, whi ch were unheard of a decade ago but are
now known to be among the most damaging c hemical corn-
pounds for living organis ms. Of the approximately e ighty thou-
sand defined chemical s ubs tances and technical mixes that are

41
 C RADLE T O C R A DLE

produced a nd used by indus tries today (each of which has li ve

or more by-products), only about three thousand so far have
been s tudied for the ir effects on living systems.
h may be tempting to tt·y to tum back the cloc k. Yet the
next indus trial revoluti on will not be about re turning to some
idealized, preindustria l state in which, for example, all textiles
are made from natural fibers . Certa inly alone Lime fabrics we re
biodegradable and un wanted pieces could be tossed on the
ground to decompose or even be safely burned as fuel. Bu t the
natura l materi als to meet th e needs of our curre nt popula-
tion do not and cannot ex ist. If several billion people want
na tural-fibe r blue jeans dyed with natural dyes, huma nity will
have to dedicate millions of acres to th e culti vati on of indi go
and colton pla nts jus t to sal isfy th e demand- acres that are
needed to produce food. In addition, even "natural" products
are not necessarily healthy for humans and the environment.
Indigo contains mutagens and , as typically grown in monocul-
tural practices, depletes genetic divers ity. You want to cha nge
your jeans, not your genes. Substances created by nature can
be extremely tox ic; they were not specifically des igned by evo-
lution for our use. Even something as beni gn and necessary as
clean drinking water can be lethal if you are submerged in it for
more th an a couple of mi nu tes.

A Strategy of Tragedy, or a Strategy of Change?

Today's industrial infrastructure is designed to chase economic

growth . lt does so at the expense of other vital concerns, partie-

42
 A Q~t: S TION or DE S I G N

ularl y human a nd ecological heal th, c ultural and natural ri ch-

ness, and even enjoyment and delight. Except for a few gener-
ally known positive s ide effects, most indus trial methods and
materials are unintentionally depletive.
Yet just as indus trialis ts, engineers, designers, and devel-
opers of th e past d id not intend to bring about s uch devastating
effects, those who perpetuate th ese parad igms today s urely do
not intend to damage the world. The was te, pollution, crude
products, and other negati ve effec ts that we have described are
not the result of corporations doing something morally wrong.
They ru·e th e conseque nce of ou td ated and unintelli gent des ign.
Nevertheless, the damage is certain and severe . Modern
industries are chipping away at some of the bas ic achievements
that indus trialization brought about. Food stoc ks, for example,
have in creased so th at more chil dren are fed, but more children
go to bed hungry as welL But e ven if well -fed c hildren are reg-
ularly exposed to subs tances that can lead to geneti c mutations,
cancer, asthma, alle rgies, a nd other complications from indus-
trial contam ination a nd waste, then what has been achi eved ?
Poor design on s uch a scale reaches fa r beyond our own life
s pan. It pe rpetrates what we ca ll intergenerational remote
tyranny- our tyranny ove r future generati ons through the ef-
fects of our actions today.
At some point a manufac turer or designer decides, " We
can' t keep doing thi s. We ca n' t keep s uppor ting a nd mai ntain-
ing this system." At some point they will decide that they woul d
prefer to leave behind a pos it ive design legacy. But when is th at
poi nt?
We say that point is today, and negli gence s tmts tomonow.

43
 CRAD L E TO CRADL. E

Once you understand the destru ction taking place, unless you
do something to change it, even if you never intended to cause
such destru ction, you become involved in a s trategy of tragedy.
You can continue to be e ngaged in tha t stra tegy of traged y, or
you ca n design and implement a strategy of change.
Perhaps you imagine that a viable strategy (or change al-
read y ex ists. Aren't a number of "green," "environmental ,"
and "eco-eHicient" movements already afoot? The next chapter
ta kes a closer look at th ese movements and the solutions they
offe r.

44
Chaptet· Two

Why Being "Less Bad" Is

No Good

The drive to make industry less destru cti ve goes bac k to th e

earliest s tages of the Industrial Revolution, when factories were
so des tructive and polluting that th ey had to be controll ed in
order to prevent immedia te sickness a nd death. Since the n the
typical res ponse to indus trial destruction has been to find a less
bad approac h. This a pproac h has its own vocabul ary, with
whi ch mos t of us a re fa miliar: reduce, avoid, minimize, sustain,
limit, halt. These terms have long been centraJ to environmen-
tal agendas , and they have become ce ntral to most of th e envi-
ronmental agendas taken up by industry today.
On e early dark messenger was Thomas Malthus, who
warned at the e nd of th e eighteenth century that humans would
reproduce expone ntia ll y, with devastating cons equences for hu-
mankind. Malthus's pos ition was unpopul ar during the ex plo-
sive exc ite ment of early industry, wh en mu ch was made of
humanity's potenti al for good, whe n its increas ing a bility to
mold the earth to its own purposes was seen as largely con-
structi ve; and when even populati on growth was viewed as a
boon. Malthus envis ioned not great, gleaming advanceme nt but
darkness, scarc ity, pove1ty, and fa min e. His Population: The
First Essay, publis hed in 1798, was framed as a response to es-
sayis t and utopian William Godwin, who often espous ed man's
" perfectibility." "] have read some of the speculations on the
perfectibility of man and of society with great pleas ure,"
Mallhus wrote. "1 have been warmed and deli ght ed with the e n-

45
 CHA()Lf: TO CH o\f)l.t:

chanting picture which they hold forth." But, he concl uded,

"Th e power of popul ation is so s upe rior to the power in the
ea rth to produce subs iste nce for man, that prema ture death
must in some s hap e or other visit the human race ." Because of
hi s pessimism (and his suggestion that people s hould have less
sex), Malthus became a c ultural caricature. Even now his na me
is equaled with a Scrooge- lik e altitude toward the world .
While MaJthus was ma king hi s sombe r predictions about
huma n popula tion and resources, othe rs were noti cing changes
in na ture (and s pirit) as industry s pread. E nglis h .Roma nti c
write rs s uch as William Words worth a nd Willi am Bla ke de-
scri bed the spiritual and imaginative de pth tha t nature could
inspire, a nd they s poke out agains t a n inc reasingly mecha ni stic
urba n soc ie ty tha t was turning even more of its a tte ntion toward
getting and s pe nding. The Ameri cans George Perkins Ma rsh,
He nry David Thoreau, John Muir, Aldo Leopold , a nd others
continued this literary tradition into the nine teenth a nd twenti -
eth cen turies a nd in the Ne w World . From the Maine woods,
Canada, A Ias ka, the Midwest, and the Southwest, these voices
from the wilde rn ess prese rved in la nguage the landscape they
loved , lamented its des truction, and reaffi rmed the beli ef tha t,
as Thoreau famously put it, " in Wi ldness is the preserva tion of
the world." Mars h was one of th e first to understand man's ca-
pac ity to wreak lasting destruc tion on the e nvironment, and
Leopold a nti cipated some of the feelings of guilt that charac te r-
ize mu ch e nvironme ntalis m today:

When I s ubmit these thoughts to a printing press, I am

helping cut down the woods. When I pour cream in my

46
 111 1 \ IHI~G ''Lt: ~S BH>" I~ ~0 (,OO D

coffee, I am helping to drain a marsh for cows to graze,

and to exterminate the birds of Brazil. When I go birding
or hunting in my Ford, I am devastating an oil field, and
re-electing an imperialist to get me rubber. Nay more:
when I father more than two children I am creating an
insatiable need for more printing presses, more cows,
more coffee, more oil, to supply which more birds, more
trees, and more flowers will either be killed, or . ..
evicted from their several environments.

Some of these me n he lped to form conse rvation soc ie ties,

s uch as the Sierra Clu b and the Wild e rness oc ie ty, to preserve
wilderness a nd keep it untouched by indus tri al growth. Their
writ ings in sp ired new generations of e nvironmen ta li sts and na-
ture lovers, ami they still do.
But it wasn't unti l the publication of Rachel Carson's
Silent Spring in 1962 that this romantic strain of wilderness ap-
precia tion merged with a scie nti fic bas is fo r concern. Up until
tha t point, e nvironme ntalis m meant protesti ng the obvious
da rnage-deforPs ta t ion, min ing destruc ti on, fac tory pollution,
and other visib le c hanges-and seekin g to l'Onserve espec iall y
apprec iated landscapes, like the Whit e Mounta ins of ew
Hamps hire or Yosemi te in California. Carson poi nted out some-
thing more ins id ious; she imagined a la nd scape in whic h no
birds sang, a nd moved on to explai n that human-made c he mi-
ca ls -parti c ul arly pesti c ides suc h as DDT- we re devastating
the natural world.
A !though it took almos t a decade, Silenl. Spring led to the
banning of DDT in the ni ted States and Germany and s pa rked

47
 C II A I)L E TO C R A O I. f.

a continuing controversy about the dange rs of indu s tria l c he m-

icals. It influ enced scie nti ts a nd politi cia ns to ta ke up the
cause a nd to form groups s uch as Environmental Defe nse, the
atural Resources Deft>nse Counf!il, the Worlcl Wildl ifP Feder-
a ti on, a nd BUND (the Ge rma n Fede rati on for Environme nta l
a nd Nat ure Conservation) . Environme nta lis ts we re no longe r
inte res ted s imply in preservation but in monit oring and reduc-
ing toxi ns . Dec lining wi lderness a nd d imini hing resources
merged with pollution and toxic waste as the major realms of
concern.
Malthus's legacy coni inued to hold strong. Shortly aft e r
Silent Spring, in 1968, Pau l Ehrli c h, a pioneer of mode rn envi-
ronme nt alis m a nd an e minen t biologist working a t Stanford,
publis hed a n a larm of Ma lthus ian proportions, 'l'lw Population
Bomb, in wh ich he dec la red tha t the 1970s a nd 1980 s would be
a dark e ra of resource s hortages a nd famine , during whic h
" hundreds of milli ons of people wi ll sta rve to dea th ." He also
po int ed out huma ns' habit of " us ing the a tmosphere as a
garbage dump. " "Do we wa nt to keep it up a nd find out what
will ha ppe n?" he asked. " What do we ga in by playing 'e nviron-
mental roule tte'?"
In 1984 Ehrli c h a nd hi s wife , Anne, fo ll owed up the firs t
book with anothe1·, The Population Explosion. In th is second
warning to huma nity, they asse1ted, "The n the fu se was burn-
ing; now th e popu lati on bomb has detonated. " Prima ry a mong
" the unde rlying causes of our plane t's unease ," the two pos ited ,
" is the overgrowth of th e huma n popula tion a nd its impacts on
both ecosyste ms a nd huma n communities ." T he ir first c hapte r
i. e ntitl ed " Why Isn't Eve ryone as Scared as We Are?" and

48
 W il Y 13E I .'<G " L" SS [l ,\IJ" I S NO G OOU

the ir pmting suggestion for humanity begins with two urgent.

suggestions: "Halt. human population growth as qui ckl y and
humanely as possibl e," and "Conve rt the economic system
from one of growthis m to one of sus tai nability, lowering w~ r­

capita consumption."
The association of growth with negati ve consequences has
become a majo r theme of environmentalists in th e modern age.
In 1972, be tween the publicati on of the Ehrlichs' firs t and sec-
ond warnings, Donell a and Dennis Meadows a nd t.h e Club of
Rome (a group of inte rnational bus iness, state, and scientific
leaders) publis hed another serious warning, The Limits to
Growth. The authors noted that resources were plummeting due
to population growth and destructi ve industry and concluded ,
" If the present growth trends in world population, indus trializa-
tion, pollution, food produc tion, and resource depletion con-
tinue uncha nged, th e limits to growth on thi s planet will be
reac hed sometime within the nex t one hundred years. The mos t
probable result will be a sudden and uncontroll ab le decline in
both population and industri al capac ity." Twe nty yea rs later a
follow-up, Beyond the Limits, concluded with more warnings:
" Minimize th e use of nonrenewable resou rces." "Prevent the
erosion of renewable resources." "Use all resources wi th max i-
mum effi ciency." "Slow and eventually s lop exponenti al growth
of populati on and ph ys ical capita l."
In 1973 Fritz Schumacher's Snwll l.s Beautiful: Economics
as If People Mattered ta ckl ed the issue of growth from a philo-
sophi cal vantage poi nt. "The idea of unlimited econom ic
growth ," he wrote, "more and more until everybod y is saturated
with wealth, needs to be seriously questi oned." In add iti on to

49
 CKAOL~ TO CRADLE

advocating sma ll-sca le, nonviolent technologies th at would " re-

verse the destructive tre nds now threatening us all ," Sc hu-
macher posited that people mus t make a serious shift in what
they cons ider to be wealth and progress: "Evf'r-hi ggP.,. ma-
chines, entai ling ever-bigger concentrations of economic power
and exerting eve r-greate r violence against the environment, do
not represent progress: they a re a denial of wi sdom ." Real wi s-
dom, he claimed, "can be found on ly ins id e oneself," enabling
one to "see the hollowness and fund amenta l unsatis factoriness
of a life devoted primaril y to the pursuit of material ends."
At the sa me time that these environmentali sts were issuing
important warnings, oth ers were suggesting ways consumers
could reduce the ir negati ve impact on the environment. A re-
cent vers ion of this message is found in Robert Lilic nfe ld and
Willia m Rathj e's 1998 Use Less Stuff: Environmental Solutions
for Wlw We Really Are. Consumers must take the lead in reduc-
ing negative envi ron mental impact, the authors argue: "The
s imple truth is that a ll of our major en vironmental concerns are
e ith er caused by, or contribute to, the e ver- increas ing con-
s umption of goods a nd services." Th is devouring impulse in
Western c ulture is comparabl e, they maintain, to a drug or a l-
cohol add iction: " l~ecyc l ing is an aspi rin. allev iating a ra the r
la rge collective hangover . . . overconsumption." Or again,
"The best way lo reduce any environmental imp<~c t is nol lo re-
cyelc more, but to prouuce and dispose of less."
The trad ition of is uing urgent, ofte n moving messages to
producers and consumers is ric h and long-st<Jncl ing. But it took
decades for industries the mse lves to really li ten to them. l n
fact , it was not unt il the 1990s that leading inuus triali sts began

50
 W il Y llf.I~G "I. F.SS BAD" IS '10 GOOD

to recognize causes for concern. " What we thought was bound-

less has limits," Robe1t Shapiro, the chairman and chief execu-
tive officer of Monsanto, said in a 1997 interview, "and we're
beginn ing lo hit them. "
The 1992 Ri o Earth Summit, coinitia ted by Canadian
bus inessman Maurice Strong, was organ ized in response to this
concem. Approximately thirty thousand peopl e from around the
world, more than a hundred world leaders, and representatives
of 167 countries gathered in Rio de Janeiro to res pond to trou-
bling s ignals of environ me ntaJ decline . To the sharp d isap-
pointment of many, no binding agreements were reached.
(Strong is reported to have quipped, "There were many heads of
state, but no real leaders.") But one major strategy e me rged
from the industria l participants: eco-effic iency. The machines
of industry would be refilled with cleaner, fas te r, quiete r en-
gin es. Industry would redeem its reputati on without s ignifi-
cantly c hanging its stru ctures or comprom ising its dri ve for
profit. Eco-efficiency wou ld transform human industry from a
syste m that Lakes, makes, and wastes into one that integrates
economic, environmental, and ethical concerns. Indus tr ies
across the globe now cons ide r eco-effic ie ncy to be the choice
strategy of change.
What is eco-efficiency? Primarily the term means "doing
more with less," a precept that has its roots in early indus trial-
ization. Henry Ford himself was adamant about lean and clea n
operating po licies, saving hi s company millions of doll ars by
reduc ing was te and selli ng new standa rds with hi s Lime-saving
assembly li ne. "You must gel the most out of the powe r, out of
the material , and out of the Lime ," he wrote in ] 926, a credo

51
 CRAD LE TO CI1ADL I·:

that most contemporary CEOs would proudl y hang on th eir of-

fice wall s. The linkage of efficiency with s ustaining the environ-
me nt was perhaps most famously a rti culated in Our Common
Future, a re po1·t published in 1987 by the United Nations'
World Commiss ion on Environment and De velopment. Our
Common Future wa rned tha t if po lluti on control was not in-
te ns ified, human health, property, and ecosystems would be
serious ly threatened, a nd urban exis tence woul d become intol-
erable: " Industri es and indu stria l operations s hould be e ncour-
aged th at are more efficient in terms of resource use, that
gene rate less pollution and waste, that are based on the use of
renewabl e rathe r than non-renewable resources, and that mini-
mize irrevers ible adverse impac ts on human health and the en-
vironment," s tated the commi ssion in its age nda for change.
The term eco-effic ie ncy was offic ially coined five years
later by the Bus iness Council for Susta inable Developmen t, a
group of fo rty-eight industrial s ponsors including Dow, DuPont,
Conagra, a nd Chevron, who had been as ked to bring a business
perspec ti ve to the Earth Summit. The cou ncil couc hed its ca ll
for change in practical terms, focus ing on what bus inesses had
to gain from a new ecological awareness rather than on what th e
environment s tood to lose if indus try co ntinued curre nt pat-
terns. Th e group's report, Changing Course, Limed for s imulta-
neous release with the summ it, stressed the importance of
eco-efficie ncy for all companies tha t a imed to be competiti ve,
s ustainabl e, and successful in the long te rm. " Within a
decade," predicted Stephan Schmidheiney, one of the counc il's
founders, " it is going to be next to impossible for a business to
he competitive without also being 'eco-efficient'- adding more

52
 W il Y llEI~(; " u :ss B ,\D" IS NO GOOLJ

value to a good or service while using fe wer resources and re-

leas ing less pollution."
Even more qui ckly than Schmidhe iney predi cted, eco-
efficiency has wended its way into indus try with extraordinary
s uccess. The number of corporations adopting it continues to
ri se, including s uch big names as Monsanto, 3 M (whose 3P-
"Pollution Pays Program" -we nt into effec t in 1986, before
eco-efficiency was a common le rm), and Johnson & Johnson .
The movement's fa mous three Rs -reduce, reuse, recycle-are
steadily gaining popula rity in the home as well as in th e work-
place. The trend s te ms in pa rt from eco-efficiency's economic
benefits, whic h can be considerable; 3M, for example, an-
nounced that by 1997 it had saved more than $750 million
through pollu tion-pre venti on projects, a nd other com panies too
claim to be reali zing big savings. Na turaJ iy, reduc ing resource
co ns umption , energy use, emi ssions, a nd wastes has a benefi-
cial effect on the environment as we ll-and on public morale .
When you hear that a company like DuPont has cut its emis-
sions of cance r-causing che micals by almost 70 percent s ince
1987, you feel beller. Eco-effi c ient industri es ca n do something
good for the environment, a nd people can feel less fearfu l aboul
lhe fulur·e. Or can they?

The Four A's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle-and Regulate

Whether it is a matter of c ulling the amount of !ox ic waste c re-

ated or emitted, or the quantity of raw materials used, or the
produc t size itself (known in business circles as "dema te rial-

53
 CRA DLE TO CKA DLE

iza tion"), reduction is a central tenet of ceo-e ffic ie ncy. But re -

duction in any of these areas does not halt depleti on a nd de-
s tru cti on- it only slows them clown, allowing them to take
place in smaller incre ments over a lon gP.r pP.riod of time.
For example, reducing the a mounts of dangerous toxins
and emissions re leased by industry is an important eco-
eff,cient goal lt sounds unassailable, but c urrent stud ies s how
that over time e ven tiny amounts of dangerous emissions can
have disastrou s effects on biological systems. This is a particu-
lar concern in the case of endocrine dis rupters -industrial
chemicals found in a vari ety of modern plastics and other con-
s umer goods that appear to mimic hormones and conn ect with
receptors in humans a nd other organis ms. In Our Stolen Future,
a groundbreaking re port on certain synthet ic chemi cals and the
environment, Theo Colburn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Pe-
terson Myers assert that "astoundingly s mall quantities of these
hormonally active compounds can wreak all kinds of biological
havoc, particul arly in those exposed in the womb." FU1the r-
more, accord ing to these authors, many s tudies on the hazards
of industri al chemi cals have focused on cancer, while research
on other kinds of damage du e to exposure has only begun.
On another fron t, new research on parti cul ates-mic ro-
scopi c parti c les re l.eased during inc ine rati on a nd combustion
processes, suc h as those in power plants and a utomobiles-
s how that th ey can lodge in a nd damage the lungs. A 1995
Harvard study found that as many as 100,000 people d ie annu-
ally in the United States as a result of these tiny particles. Al-
though regulati ons for controlling the ir release are in place,
implementation does not have to begin until 2005 (and if legis-

54
 W il Y llEING "L~:SS BAD" IS ~0 G OOD

lati on on ly redu ces th eir amounts, s mall quantiti es of these

particulates will still be a problem).
Another was te reduction strategy is incineration, which is
often perceived as healthier than landfilling and is praised by
energy effic iency proponents as "waste to energy." But waste in
in cinerators burns onl y because val uable materi a ls, lik e paper
and plastic, are Aammable. Since these materials were never
designed to be safely burned, they can release dioxins and
other toxins when incinerated. In Hamburg, Germany, some
trees' leaves contain s uch high concentrations of heavy metals
from inc ine rator fallout that th e leaves themselves mu st be
burned , effec ting a vicious cycle with a dual effect: valuable
materials, suc h as th ese metals, bioaccumul ate in nature to
possible harmful effec t and are lost to industries forever.
Air, water, and soil do not safely absorb our wastes unless
th e wastes th emsel ves are completely healthy and biodegrad-
able. Despite pers is tent misconceptions, eve n aq uati c ecosys-
tems are unable to purify and distill unsafe waste to safe levels.
We have just. too little knowledge about industrial pollutants
and their effec ts on natural syste ms for "slowing down" to be a
healthy strategy in the long te rm.
Finding markets to reuse wastes can also make indus tries
and cus tomers fee l that something good is being done for th e
envi ronment, because piles of was te appear to go "away." Bu t
in many cases these wastes-and any toxins and conta minants
they contain- are simply being transferred to another place. In
some d evelop ing countries, sewage s ludge is recycled into ani-
mal food, but the current design and trea tment of sewage
by conventi onal sewage systems produces s ludge conta ining

55
 C BAOLE TO C HAOI.E

chemicals that are not healthy food for any animal. Sewage
sludge is also used as fertili zer, which is a well -in tended at-
tempt to make use of nutrients, but as currently processed it
ca n contain harmful substa nces ( li ke dioxins, heavy metals,
endocrin e dis ru pters, a nd a ntibioti cs) that a re in appropri ate for
fertili zing crops. Even res ide nti al sewage sludge that contains
Loi let paper mad e from recycled paper may carry dioxins. Un-
less materials are specifica lly desig ned to ultimately become
safe fo od for nature, composting can present problems as well.
When so-called biod egradable muni cipal wastes, inc luding
packaging and paper, a re composted , th e chemicals and tox ins
in the materi als can be released into the environm ent. Even if
th ese toxins ex is t in minute amounts, the practi ce may not be
safe . In some cases it would actua lly be less dangerous to seal
the materials in a landfill.
What about recycling? As we have noted, most recyc ling is
actua ll y downcycling; it reduces the qua lity of a mate ri a l over
Lime. Whe n plas tics other tha n those found in soda and water
bottles are recycled, they are mixed with differe nt pl as ti cs Lo
produce a hybrid of lower quality, which is then molded into
something a morphous and cheap, s uch as a park bench or a
s peed bump. Me ta ls are ofte n downcycled. For example, th e
hi gh-q ua lity s tee l used in automobil es-high-carbon, high-
tens ile s teel- is " recycled" by melting it down with other car
parts, including copper from the cabl es in the car, and the paint
and plastic coati ngs. These materials lower the recycled steel's
quality. More high -quality steel may be added to make the hy-
brid s trong enough for its nex t us e, but it will not have the ma-
teri a l properti es l.o make new ca rs aga in. Meanwhil e the rare

56
 W II Y B F: I 1\ G '• I. t: S S ll A D ., IS ~ 0 G 0 0 I)

me tals, such as coppe r, manganese, and c hromium , and the

paints, plasti cs, and other components that had value for indus-
try in an unmixed, high-quality s tate a re lost. Curre ntly, there
is no technology to separate the polymer and paint coatings
from automotive meta l before it is processed; therefore, even if
a car were designed for di sassembly, it is not technically feasi-
ble to "close the loop" for its high-quality s tee l. The production
of one Lon of copper results in the producti on of hundreds of
tons of waste, but the copper content in some steel alloy is
actually highe r than it is in mined ore. Also, the presence of
copper weake ns s teel. lmagine how useful it would be if indus-
tries had a way to recover that copper ins tead of constantly los-
ing it.
Aluminum is another valuable but cons ta ntly downcycled
material. Th e typical soda can cons ists of two kinds of alu-
minum: the walls a re composed of aluminum, manganese alloy
with some magnesium, plus coatin gs a nd paint, while the
harder lop is aluminum magnes ium all oy. In conventional re-
cycling these materi als are melted togethe r, res ulting in a
weaker-and less useful- produc t.
Los t valu e and los t materials are not the onl y concerns.
Downcycling can actually increase contamination of the bio-
sphere. The pa ints ami pla:sti~.;::; that a rt: melted into recyclt:d
steel, for exampl e, conta in harmful chemi ca ls. Electri c-arc fur-
naces that recycle seconcl ary s teel for building ma te ria ls a re
now a large source of dioxin emissions, an odd s ide effect for a
s upposed ly environmental process. Since downcycled matmi als
of aiJ kinds are mate riall y less rigorous than the ir predecessors,
more c hemi cals a re ofte n added to make the materials useful

57
 C RAD L E TO CB A DLE

again. For example, when some plastics are melted and com-
bined, th e polymers in the plastic -the chains that make it
s trong and flexible-shorten. Since the materi a l properties of
this recycled plasti c are a lte red (its e lasti city, clarity, and ten-
s il e strength a re diminis hed), chemical or min eral additives
ma y be add ed to attain the desired performance quality. As a
result, downcycled pl astic may have more additives than "vir-
gin" plas tic .
Because it was not designed wit h recyc ling in mind, pa per
requires extens ive bleaching and other chemical processes to
make it bla nk again for reuse. The result is a mixture of c he m-
icals, pulp, and in some cases toxic ink s that are not reall y ap-
propriate for hand ling and use. The fibers are shorter and the
paper less s mooth than virgin paper, a ll owing an even higher
proportion of particles to abrade in to the air, whe re they can be
inha led a nd can irritate th e nasal passages and lungs. Some
people have developed alle rgies to newspapers, whic h are often
made from recycled paper.
The creative use of downcycled materi als for ne w products
can be misguided, despite good intentions. For example, people
may feel they a re ma king an eco logically sound choi ce by buy-
ing and wearing clothing made of fibers li·01n recycled plasti c
bottles. But the fibers from pl asti c bottles contain toxins such as
antimony, catalyti c residu es, ultraviolet s tabilizers, plasticizers,
and antioxidants, which were never designed to li e next to hu-
man skin. Us ing downcycled paper as ins ulati on is another cur-
rent trend. But additiona l chemica ls (such as fun gicides to
prevent mi ldew) mus t be add ed to make downcycled paper suit-
able for ins ulati on, intens ifying th e problems already caused by

58
 WilY IIEING ''LE SS IIAD " I S ~0 G OOD

toxic inks and other contaminants. The insul ation might then off-
gas formaldehyde and other chemicals into the home .
In all of these cases, the agenda to recycle has superseded
oth er design co ns ide rat ions. Ju st hec:Hu~e a material is recycled
does not automati call y make it ecologically benign, es pecially
if it was not designed s pec ifically for recyc li ng. Blindly adopt-
ing superficia l environm ental approaches without fu lly under-
stand ing their effects can be no better- and perhaps even
worse-tha n doing nothing.
Downcyc ling has one more disad van tage. It can be more
expens ive for businesses, partly because it tries to force materi-
als into more lifetimes than th ey were or iginaJ ly designed for, a
complicated and messy conve rs ion and one th at itself expends
e ne rgy and resources. Legislation in Europe requ ires packag-
ing materia ls that a re made of aluminum a nd polypropylene to
be recycled. But because these boxes are not designed to be re-
cycled into new pac kaging (that is, to be reused by the ind ustry
to ma ke its own product aga in), compli ance results in add i-
ti onal operating costs. The components of the old pac kages are
often downcyc led in to lower-q uality products until they are
eventuall y inc inerated or la ndfilled a nyway. In thi s instance as
in many others, an ecolog ical age nda becomes a burden for in-
dus try instead of a rewardi ng opti on.
In Systems of Survival the urbanist a nd economi c thin ke r
.Jane Jacobs desc ri bes two fu nda mental syndromes of human
c ivili zations: what she calls the guardian and commerce. The
guard ian is th e gove rnment, the agency whose primary purpose
is to prese rve and protect the public . This sy ndrome is s low a nd
serious. It reserves the right to kill-that is, it wi ll go to wa r. It

59
 C HAOL~ TO C ll.Ail i.E

re presents the publi c inte rest, a nd it is meant to s hun com-

me rce (witness conflic ts over capita l campa ign contributions
from vested inte rests).
Comme rce, on the othe r hand , is the rlay-to-rlay, ins tant
exchange of va lue. The name of its prima ry tool, c urrency, de-
notes its urgency. Comme rce is qui c k, highly c reat ive, inven-
ti ve, constantl y seeking s hort- and long-te rm adva ntage, and
inhe re ntly honest: you can't do bus in ess with peop le if th ey
are n't trustworthy. Any hybrid of th ese two sy ndromes Jacobs
c harac te ri zes as so riddled with proble ms as to be " monstrous ."
Money, the tool of com me rce, wi ll corrupt the guardi a n. Regu-
lation, the tool of the guardian, will slow down comme rce. An
example : a manufac ture r might spe nd more money to provide
a n improved produc t under regula tions, but it.s commercial
c us tomers, who want prod uc t qu ic kl y a nd c heaply, may be un-
willing to a bsorb the ex tra costs. They may the n find wha t they
need e lsewhe re, pe rhaps offs hore , whe re regulati ons are less
tringe nt. In a n unfortunate turnal'Ou nd, the un regul ated and
pote ntially dange rous p roduct is given a co mpetiti ve edge .
For regul a tors who are alle mpti ng to safegua rd whole in-
dus tri es, the readi est soluti ons are ofte n those that can be a p-
p li ed on a ve ry large scale, such as so-ca ll ed e nd-of- pipe
solutions, in whic h regulations are appl ied to the waste and
polluti ng streams of a process or system. Or regula tors may try
to dilute or disti ll e mi ss ions to a more acce pta bl e le vel, requi r-
ing bus inesses to inc rease ve ntila ti on or to pump more fresh a ir
into a building because of poor indoor air q uality due to off-
gassing mate ria ls or processes. But thi s "soluti on" to poll u-
ti on- d ilution- is a n ou tdated and ineffec ti ve response that

60
 W il Y U ~ I ~G '' L I:~~ D A D " I S NO GOOil

does not examine the design that caused the pollution in the
fi rs t place. The essential flaw remains: badly des igned materi -
als and systems that are un suitable for indoor use.
Jacobs sees oth er prob lems wi th "rnonsl rous hybrids."
Regulations force compani es to co mply under th reat of pu ni sh-
ment, but they seldom reward commerce for taking ini tiatives.
Since regul ations often require one-s ize -fits-all end-of-pipe so-
lutions rath er th an a deeper des ign response, they do not di-
rec tly enco urage creative prob lem-solving. And regulation can
pi t environmentalists and ind us tries agains t eac h other. Be-
cause regulati ons see m like a chastisement, ind us t.-ia lists find
them a nnoying a nd burde nsome . Since en viro nmenta l goals a re
typica lly forced upon bus iness by the guard ian- or are simply
pe rceived as an added d ime ns io n outs ide cr uc ial ope rating
me thods a nd goals -ind us tri ali sts see environmental initiati ves
as inhere ntly uneconomi c.
We do not mean to lambaste those who are work in g with
good intentions to create and enforce laws meant to protect the
pub li c good. In a world where designs are uni nte lligent and de-
s tructi ve, regula tions can reduce immediate dele te rious effects.
But ul timately a regulati on is a s igna l of des ign fa ilu re. In fact,
it is what we call a license to harm: a permit issued by a gov-
ernment to an indus try so tha t it may d ispense s ickness, de-
s truction, and death at an "acceptable" ra te. But as we sha ll
see, good des ign can require no regulation at all.

E co-eificiency is an outward ly ad mi rable, even nobl e, concept,

but it is not a stra tegy for success over the long term, becau se it

61
 CRAO L F. TO C R ADLE

does not reach deep enough. lt works within the same system
that caused the problem in the first place, merely slowing it
down with moral proscriptions a nd puniti ve meas ures. It pre-
sP.nt s litti P- morp, than an illus ion of c ha ngP-. Re lying on eco-
e ffi c ie ncy to save the e nvironment will in fac t achieve the
opposite; it will le t industry finish off everything, qui etl y, pe r-
s istently, and comple tely.
Remember the retroacti ve des ign assignme nt tha t we ap-
plie d to the Industria l Revolution in Chapter On e? If we we re
to take a s imila r look a t industry unde r the infiue nce of the eco-
effic iency moveme nt, th e results mi ght look li ke thi s :

Des ign a system of industry that will:

• re lease f ewer pounds of toxic wastes into th e a 1r, soil ,
and water e very year
• meas ure prosperity by less ac tivity
• meet the stipula tions of thousands of comp lex regula-
tions to keep people and na tura l syste ms from be ing poi -
sone d too quic kly
• produce fewer materials tha t are so da ngerous th a t they
will requi re future ge ne rati ons to ma inta in co ns ta nt vi g-
il a nce wh il e Ji ving in te rror
• res ult in smaller amounts of useless waste
• pu t smaller a mounts of val ua ble materials 111 holes all
over the plane t, where they can never be re tri eved.

Pla inly pu t, eco-e ffic ie ncy only works to ma ke the old, destruc-
ti ve syste m a bit less so. In some cases, it can be more perni-
c ious, because its workings a re more subtle a nd long-te rnl. An

62
 W il Y B E I ~G "l.f~SS B AD" IS ~0 GOOD

ecosystem mi ght ac tua ll y have more of a c ha nce to become

healthy and whole again afte r a quic k collapse tha t leaves some
nic hes intact than with a slow, delibera te, and e ffic ie nt destru c-
tion of th ~ whol ~.

Efficient-at What?

As we have seen, e ve n before the te rm eco-eff1cie ncy was

coined , industry gene ra lly viewed eff-iciency as a virtue . We
would lik e to question the gene ra l goa l of efficiency fo r a sys-
tem tha t is la rgely des tru c ti ve.
Consider energy-effi cie nt buildings . Twenty yea rs ago in
Ge rma ny, th e s ta nda rd rate of oil use for heat ing a nd cooling
the ave rage house was 30 liters per squa re me te r per year. To-
day, with high-effi cie ncy hous ing, tha t numbe r has plummeted
to 1.5 lite rs of oil pe r squa re me te r. Inc reased efficie ncy is of-
le n a chi eved through be tter in sul ati on (s uc h as pl asti c coatings
in pote ntia l a ir-excha nge a reas so tha t less a ir comes into th e
building from outs ide) a nd s malle r, lea k-proof windows. Th ese
s tra tegies ar~ mea nt t.o optimi ze the syste m a nd reduce was ted
e nergy. But by reducing a ir-exc hange ra tes, effic ie nt homeown-
e rs are ac tua ll y slre ngth e ning the co ncentra ti on of indoor air
po llution from poorly des igned ma te ria ls and produc ts in the
horne. If indoo r a ir quality is poor because of crude produc ts
a nd building mate ria ls, the n people require more fres h a ir to
circ ula te throughout th e building, not less .
Overly eff1cie nt buil d ings can a lso be da nge rous. Seve ral
decades ago the Turkis h governm e nt c rea ted in ex pe ns ive hou s-

63
 CI<A ili.E TO CKAili.E

mg by des igning and constructing apartments and houses

whi ch we re built "effic ie ntly," with a minimum of s tee l and
concrete. During th e 1999 earthquakes, however, this hous ing
easily collapsed, whil e older, "inefficient" buildings held up
better. In the short term, people saved money on hous ing, but in
the long te rm, the efficie ncy strategy turned out to be dangerous.
What soc ial benefit does cheap, effic ient hous ing provide if it
also exposes peopl e to more dangers than traditiona l hous ing?
Efficie nt agri culture can perni c iously dep lete local la nd-
scapes and wildlife. The contrast between the former East Ger-
ma ny and West Germany is a good example . Traditionall y, th e
average amount of wheal produced in eastern Germany per acre
has been only haJf th at of western Ge rmany, because the agri-
cultural indus try in the west is more modern and e ffic ient. The
east.ern region's " in efficient," more old-fashioned agri culture is
actua lly better for e nvironme nta l health: it has larger wetl and
a reas th at have not been drained and overtaken by monocui-
Lural c rops, and they conta in more rare spec ies- for example,
three thousand nesting pa irs of stork s, compared with 240 pairs
in the more developed wes tern lands. These wild mars hes and
wetland areas prov ide vita l centers for breed ing, nutri ent cy-
c ling, and water absorption and purification. Today agric ulture
~1 11 over Germany is becoming more effic ie nt , destroying wei-
lands a nd othe r habitats, resulting in ris ing ex tin ction rates.
Eco-efficienl factories are held up as mod els of mode rn
manufacturing. But in truth many of them are onl y d istri buting
their pollution in less obvious ways. Less effic ie nt factories, in-
s tead of sending emissions th rough high s mokestacks into other
a reas far from the s it e (o r im porting them), Lend to contam inate

64
 IV II Y ll E I ~ G '' I. E S S B A D " IS ~ 0 G0 0 U

local a reas . A t least local destructi on tends to be more visible

and comp re he ns ible: if you know what you a re dealing with ,
you may be horrified e nough to do something a bout it Effic ie nt
destruc tion is harder to de tect a nd thus ha rde r to slop.
In a p hilosophi cal sense, effi ciency has no inde pe ndent
value: it de pe nds on the valu e of th e larger syste m of whic h it is
a part An effi c ie nt Nazi, for exampl e, is a te rrifying thing. u·
the aims are ques tiona ble, effi ciency may even ma ke destruc-
tion more ins idious .
Las t but not least, effic iency isn' t mu c h fun . In a world
domina ted by e ffic ie ncy, eac h de velopme nt would serve only
na rrow a nd prac tical purposes. Beauty, creativity, fantasy, en-
joyme nt, ins pirati on, a nd poetry would fall by the wayside, c re-
ating a n unappealing world indeed . Imagin e a full y effi cie nt
world: an Italian dinne r would be a red pi ll a nd a glass of wa ter
with a n artificia l a roma . Moza1t wou ld hit the piano with a two-
by-four. Van Gogh would use one color. Whitman's s prawling
"So ng of Myself" would fit on a s ingle page. And what a bout ef-
ficie nt sex? An efficie nt world is not on e we e nvis ion as de-
li ghtfuL In contras t to nature, it is downri ght pars imonious .
Thi s is not to conde mn all e ffic ie ncy. Whe n impl eme nted
as a tool within a larger, e ffecti ve syste m tha t inte nd s overall
pos iti ve effects on a wide range of issues-not s im ply economic
ones-effic ie ncy can actually be valua ble . It is valu able too
when conceived as a transitional s trategy to he lp c urre nt sys-
tems slow down and turn around. Bu t as long as mode rn indus-
try is so destruc ti ve , alle mpting only to ma ke it less bad is a
fatall y limited goal.
The " be less bad" environmental approaches to indu stry

65
 C HAD L ~ TO C HADLE

have been crucial in sending impot1a nt messages of environ-

mental concern- messages that continue to catch the public's
allenti on and to spur important researc h. At the same time,
they forward conc lus ions that are less useful. Jns tead of pre-
senting an inspiring and exc iting vision of change, conve n-
tional environmental approaches focus on what not to do. Such
prosc riptions can be seen as a kind of guilt management for ou r
collective s ins, a famili a r placebo in Wes tern culture.
Jn very early societies, repentance, atonement, and sac ri -
fice were typ ica l reacti ons t.o complex systems, like nature, ove r
which people felt they had little control. Societies arou nd the
world d eveloped belief s ystems based on myth in which bad
weath er, famine, or d isease mea nt one had dis pl eased the gods,
and sacrifices were a way to appease the m. In so me c ultures,
eve n today, one mu st sacrifice something of valu e in orde r tore-
ga in the bless ing of the gods (or god) and rees tab li sh stability
a nd harmony.
Envi ronme nta l destru cti on is a complex system in its own
ri ght- widespread , with deepe r causes that a re di ffic ult to see
and understand . Like our ancestors, we may reac t automati-
cally, with terror and guilt, and we may look for ways to pu rge
ou rsel ves-wh ic h the "eco-effi ciency" movement provides in
~lhunri H n N~ , with its e xho rtat io ns to co ns ume :wei produce less
by minimizing, avo idi ng, redu cing, and sacrific ing. Hu man s are
cond emned as th e one s pee ies on the plan et guilty of bu rdening
it beyond what it can withs ta nd; as such, we mus t shrink our
presenee, our sys tems, our acti vities, and even our popu lation
so as to become almost in vis ible. (Those who beli e ve popu-
lation is th e root of our ills think peo ple s hould mostly stop

66
 W II Y B E I N G " LE SS ll A D., IS ~0 G0 0 D

having c hildren.) Th e goa l is zero: zero waste, zero emissions,

zero "ecological foo tprint"
As long as human beings are regarded as " bad," zero is a
good goal. But to be less bad is to accept things as they are, to
beli eve that poody designed, dis honorable, destru cti ve syste ms
are th e best humans can do. This is the ultimate failure of the
"be less bad" approac h: a fa ilu re of the imagination. From our
pers pective, thi s is a depress ing vision of our s pecies' rol e in
th e world.
What abou t an e ntirely diffe rent model? What wou ld it
mean to be 100 percent good?

67
Chaplt'r Tht·ce

Eco-Effectivene ss

Here's a tale of three books.

The first is fami li ar. It is about five inches by e ight, com-
pact and pleasant to hold. Dark in k makes a c ri s p impres sion
on the creamy paper. It has a colorful jac ke t a nd a sturdy card-
board cover. In many res pec ts, it is an intelligently conceived
object, des igned- as were its very s imilar predecessors, hun-
dreds of years ago--with portabili ty and durabil ity in min d.
ll undreds of users may eheck it out of the Iibra ry. They take it
to bed , on the train, to th e beac h.
Yet attracti ve, fun eli onal, and durabl e a. it is, the book
will not last foreve r- nor, if it is "beach reading," do we neces-
s ari ly ex pect it to. What happens when it is eli ·carded ? The pa-
per ca me from trees, so natural di ve rs ity and so ils have already
been depleted to keep us in read ing matt er. Pa per is biodegrad -
able, but the inks that pri nted so cri sp ly on the pa per and cre -
ated the striking imagc on th e jacket conta in carbon black and
heavy meta ls. The jac ket is not reall y paper, but an amalgam of
mat erials -wood pu lp, polymers. and coatings, as we ll as inks,
heavy metals, a nd ha logenated hydrocarbons. II cannot be
s afely compos ted, and if it is burned, it prod uces diox ins, some
of the most dangerous cance r-caus ing materia l e ver created by
humans.
Enter book numbe r two. It too is rather familiar to conte m-
porary eyes. It has the u ual book shape and forma l, but the pa-
per- a dull beige -is th in aud porous. It has 110 jac·kct. and the

68
 U ; O - E FFf. C T I \ F.l\t: ~~

rove r, li ke the in ide, is printed in a s ingle s hade of ink. It may

seem a lilli e drab, but it has a humble, "earth- friend ly" look
that is ins tantly recognizable to the e nvironme ntall y minded.
And indeed the book is the prod uc t of a conceTted a lle mpt to be
eco-eHicie nl. It is printed on recycled pape r- he nce the
beige-with soy-based ink s. In add iti on, it s designe rs strove to
"de mate ri ali ze," to use less of everyth ing; wi tness the thin, un-
coated text s toc k a nd the a bsence of a jac ke t. nfortunately,
the ink shows through the Oimsy paper, and the lar k of contras t
be tween ink a nd page stra in s the eyes. The s k impy binding is a
lilli e weak to boot. Th e book isn' t exactl y reader-fri e nd ly-
good thing it's ceo-fri e ndl y.
Or is it ?
Its des igners thought long and ha rd a bout wha t kind of pa-
pe r to use; every c hoice had drawbac ks . Initially they thought
c hlorine-free paper might be a good way to go, beca use they
knew that c hlorine presents a serious proble m for ecosyste ms
a nd human health (hy c reating di ox ins, for example). But they
d iscovered tha t tota lly c hlorine-free pape r required virgin pul p,
because a ny recycl ed paper in the mi x wou ld a lready have
been bleached . ln faet, pape r made from a ny kind of wood pulp
probably conta ins some c hl orine, becau e chlorina ted sa lt or-
c urs naturall y in trees. What a quandary: pollute ri ve rs or c he w
up fores ts. They e nded up c hoos ing pape r with the grea test
recycled co nt e nt , avoid ing what to th eir minds would be a
greate r offe nse. oy-based inks posed a nothe r d ile mma, be-
cause they might include haloge na ted hydrocarbons or othe r
tox ins that become more bioava ilable in these water-solu ble
ceo-frie ndly inks than th ey woul d be in conventional solvent-

69
 CRAil l.io: TO CRAD LE

based inks . For a cceptable durabili ty, the cover was coated, so
it is n' t recyclabl e with the rest of the book, a nd because of it s
already high recyc led con te nt , the pape r's fib ers have about
reached the limits of furth e r usc. Once uguin, be in g less ban
proves to be a fair ly unappea ling opt ion, practically, aesthe ti-
cally, a nd e nvi ronme ntally.
Imagine if we were to re think the e ntire concept of a book,
cons ide ri ng not only the prac ti ca lities of manufacture a nd use
but the pleas ures tha t might be brought to both. Ente r book
three, th e book of th e future.
Is it an e lectronic book·? Pe rhaps -th a t form i still in its
infa ncy. O r pe rha ps it takes another form as yet unimagine d by
us . But ma ny peopl e find the fo rm of th e tradi ti ona l book both
conve nie nt a nd delightful. What if we reconceived not the
shape of the obje c t b ut th e ma te ria ls of whic h it is made, in the
context of its re la ti onship to the natura l wo rld ? How coul d it be
a boon to both peop le and the e nviron me nt?
We might begin by cons ide ring wheth er paper itself is a
prope r ve hicle for reading matte r. Is it fitting to writ e our hi s-
tory on the skin of fis h with the blood of bears, to echo wri ter
Ma rgare t Atwood? Let's imagine a book tha t is not a tree. It is
not even pape r. In stead, it is made of pl astics developed around
a comple te ly diffe re nt paradigrn fu r ruatt::ri als, polyme rs tha t
are infinit e ly re c ycl a bl e at the s ame level of quality-tha t have
been des igned wi th the ir future li fe fore most in mind, rat her
than as a n awkward afte rthought. This " paper" doesn' t require
cuLLing down trees or leac hing c hlori ne into waterways. The
inks are nontox ic and can be washed off the polymer with a
s imple a nd safe c he mica l process or a n e xtreme ly hot wa ter

70
bath. from e ithe r of whic h they can be recove red and re used.
Th e cover is made from a heavier grade of the same pol yme r as
th e re,; t of the book, a nd the glues are made of com patib le in-
gred ie nts . so tha t once the mate rials a rc no longP.r nPNIPrl in
their pre ~C' n l form, the e ntire book can be reclaimed by the
publis hing indus try in a ,; imple one-step reryel ing process.
Nor is th e reade r's plea sure and conveni ence an after-
thought to environmenta ll y res ponsible des ign. The pages a re
wh ite and have a sensuous s moothness, a nd unli ke recyc led
pape r, I hey wi II not yellow with age. 'T'he in k won' t rub off on
the re acl er's fin gers. Although its nex t life has a lre ady been
imagine d , thi s book is durable e nough to last for many genera -
tions . It's even waterproof, s o you can read it at the beaeh, even
in the hot tu b. You 'd buy it , carry it, a nd read it not as a badge
of a us te rit y-a nd not on ly for its conte nt-but for its shee r tac-
til e p leas ure. It celebrates its material s rathe r tha n a pologizing
for them. Books become books become books over a nd over
aga in , each inca rn ati on a s parkling ne w vehicle for fresh im-
ages a nd ideas. Form foll ow,; not jus t Junttion but the evolu tion
of th e me d ium itself, in tlw endl essly p ropagating sp iri t of the
printe d word.
The ass ignme nt th at leads to the d1>s ign of this third book
is to LPII a story within the very molecu les of its page;;. ot the
old tale of da mage and de ·pa ir, but one of a bundanl'c and re -
newa l, human c reat ivity a nd poss ib ilit y. And although the book
you hold in your hands is not. yet tha t book, it is a step in tha t
direct.iou, a begin ning to the story.
We did not des ign th e mate rials of 1his book. Aft er years of
a nal yzing a nd testing pol ymers to rep lar<' pa pe r. we were de-

71
 C ll A IJ I. f. T 0 C II A ll U .

lighted when designer Janine .James happened to menti on our

searc h to Charl ie Melcher of Melcher Medi a. Melcher was
working with a pa per adapted from a polymer blend that had
been used to label detergent boul es, so that thP. I:Jhels cou ld he
recycled along with the bottl es instead of being burned off. For
"selfish" reasons, they want ed a n alte rnat ive to the usual " mon-
strow; hybrid." Cha rli e was in search of a wa terproof paper 011
whi ch he could print books tha t coul d be read in the bath or a t
the beach. He knew its qua lities ex tc ndrd beyond impervious-
ness to water a nd was eage r to have us explore its ceo-effecti ve
promise. Whe n Mi chael tested it, he found th at it off-gassed
s imilarly to a conve ntional book. But it C'ould be rccyd ed, a nd
more to the poi nt, it has th e potenti al to be upcye led: d issolved
and re made as polyme r of high quality and usefulness.
Once we set about designing with sueh missions in mind-
the short -te rm usefulness, conve nie nce, a nd aesthetic pleasure
of the prod uc t together wi th the ongoing life of its tnaleri als -
the process of innovation hegins in ea rnrs t. We leav<· aside the
old model of prod uct-a nd-was te, anJ its dour offsprin g, "effi-
ciency," and c mbraee the ehallenge of being not efficient but
effective with respect to a rich mix of ('O nsiderations and de-
sires.

Consider the Cherry Tree

Cons ider the c he rry tree: thousands of blossoms create fruit for
bi rds, huma ns, and other a nimals, in order that one pit might
eventuall y fall ont o the grou 11d, take root, and grow. Who would

72
 KC O- EF~E C TIVENE SS

look at the ground liu e red with c he rry blossoms a nd compla in ,

" How ineffi c ient a nd was teful!" 'l'he tree makes copious blos-
soms a nd fruit without deple ting its e nvironme nt. Once they
fa ll on thP. ground, th e ir materials decompose a nd break down
into nutrie nts that nouris h mi c roorgani sms, insec ts, pla nts, a n-
ima ls, a nd so il. Although the tree a ctuall y makes more of its
" produ ct" tha n it needs for its own s uccess in an ecosyste m,
thi s a bund ance has evolved (through millions of years of suc-
cess a nd failure or, in bus iness te rms, R&D), to se rve ric h a nd
varie d purposes. In fact, the tree's fecundity nouri s hes jus t
about everything a round it.
What might the huma n-built world look like if a cherry
tree had produ ced it ?
We know what a n eco-e ffic ie nl bui lding looks like . It is a
bi g e ne rgy save r. It minimizes a ir infiltration by sealing pl aces
tha t mi ght leak . (The windows do not open.) It lowe rs so la r in-
come with dark-tinte d glass, dimini shing the cooling load on
the building's a ir-conditioning syste m and the re by cutting the
amount of fossil-fu el energy used. Th e powe r plant in turn re-
lea ·es a s ma.lle r a mount of po lluta nts into th e e nvironme nt , and
whoever foots th e electri c bi II spends less money. T he loca l
utility honors the building as th e most e ne rgy-saving in its area
and hold s it up as a mode l for environme nta ll y consc ious de-
s ign. If all buildings were designed a nd bui lt thi s way, it pro-
c la ims, bu s inesses could do right by the e nvironme nt a nd save
money a t the same time.
He re's how we imagine th e c he rry tree wou ld do it: during
the daytime, 1ight pours in. Vi ews of the ou tdoors 1h rou gh la rge,
untinted windows are plentiful-eac h of the occupa nts has five

73
 Cll~fli.E T O CH ,I D I.E

views from wherever he or she happens to sit. Delicious, afford-

able food a nd beverages are ava ilab le to employet>s in a caft"
that opens onto a sun-filled courtyard. In th e office space, eac h
of thPrn co ntrols tlte flow of fresh ai r and the tcrnpPrature of
thei r personal breathing zonrs. The windows oprn. Tlw cooli ng
system maximi zes natural airflows, as in a haciend a: at night,
the system flushes th e buildi ng with cool evening air, bringing
the temperature down and clearing the rooms of stale air and
toxi ns. A layer of nat ive grasses covers the building's roof, mak-
ing it more attractive to songbirds and absorbing wate r runoff,
whilf' at the same time protf'rting the roof from the rmal hoc k
and ultraviolet degradation.
lrr fact, thi s building is just as e nergy-efficie nt as th e firs t,
bu t that is a side effect of a broader a nd more comp lex design
goal: to c reate a bui lding th at c-ele brates a range of c-u ltural and
natural pleasures-sun, light , air, na ture, even food- in order
to enhance the lives of the people who work the rf'. During con-
strue! ion, certa in r lernents of the second building did cost a li t-
tle mo re. For rxarnple, wi ndows th at open are morr ex pensive
th<tn windows th at do not. But the ni ghuime cooli ng ;;trategy
cut s down on the need for air-conditionirrg duri ng the day.
Ahund arr t dayli ght dimirrisht>s the need for fluort>scent li ght.
F're, h air mak es th e indoor spaces more plcasurah le. u pPrk for
current e mployees and a lure to potent ial ones-and thus arr
effect with economic as well as aestheti r consequcrrccs. (Secur-
ing a nd supporting a tale nted and proclucti ve workforeP is one
of a CFO's primary goals, bt>causf' thP earrying eost or pt>ople-
recruiting, e mploying, and retai ning thcrrr-is a hundred times
as grPat as the ca rrying cost of the average buildin g.) In its

74
every e le men t, the building expresses the clie nt's and arc hi-
tects' vis ion of a life-ce nte red community and e nvironment. We
know, because Bill's firm led th e team that des igned it.
We brought the same sens ibility to designing a factory for
He rman Mille r, the office-furniture manufacturer. We wa nted to
give workers the feeling tha t they'd s pe nt the day outdoors, un-
lik e wo rkers in the conve nti onal factory of the Industria l Revo-
lution , who might not see dayli ght until the weeke nd . The
oiiices a nd manufac turing space tha t we des igned for He rma n
Mille r were built for only 10 percent more money th an it would
have cost to erec t a s ta nda rd prefabricated me tal fac tory build-
ing. We des igned the fac tory a round a tree- lined inte1ior con-
ce ived as a brightly day lit "s treet" that ra n th e e ntire length of
the building. There a re rooftop s kyli ghts everywhe re the work-
e rs are stationed , and the ma nufacturing s pace offers vi e ws of
both the inte rnal s treet and the outdoors, so that even as they
wo rk indoors, e mployees get to participate in the cycles of the
day and th e seasons. (Even th e truc k doc ks ha ve windows.) The
fac tory was des igned to cele brate the local la ndscape and to in-
vite indigenous s pec ies bac k to the s ite ins tead of scaring the m
a way. Storm wate r a nd waste water are c hanneled through a se-
ries of connec ted we tla nds tha t c lean the m, in the process
lighte ning the luad urr tire lucal riv e r, wlridr aln::ady ~uffen; ~e­
rious floodi ng because of runoff from roofs, pa rking lots, and
othe r impervious smfaces.
An analys is of the fac tory's dra ma ti c produc ti vity ga ins has
s hown that one fac tor was "biophilia"-people's love of the out-
doors. Re te ntion rates have been im press ive. A number of
worke rs who left for highe r wages a t a eompe t itor's fa c tory re-

75
 C HADI.f. TO CI1AI)I.E

turned in a few weeks. Wh en as ked why, th ey told the manage-

ment they couldn' t work " in th e dark." Th ey were young people
who had entered th e workforce only recently a nd had never
worked iu a " uunual " factory before.

These buildings re present onl y the beginnings of eco-effecti ve

des ign; they do not yet exe mplify, in eve ry way, the principl es
we espouse. But you might start to envis ion the difference be -
tween eco-efficiency and eco-effective ness as the dilfe rence
between an airless, flu oresce nt-lit gray cubicl e a nd a s unlit
area full of fresh air, natural views, and pleasa nt places to work,
eat, a nd con verse.
Peter Druc ke r has point ed out that it is a manager's job to
"do things ri ght." l.t is an executive's job to ma ke sure " th e
ri ght things" get done. Even the most ri go rous eco-eflicient
bus iness paradigm does not cha ll enge bas ic practices and
methods: a s hoe, building, factory, ca r, or sha mpoo can rema in
fund ame nta ll y ill -designed even as the materials and processes
in volved m its man ufacture become more "effi cient." Our
concept of eco-effecti veness means working on the right
things-on the right products and se rvi ces and syste ms- in -
s tead of making the wrong things less bad. Once you are doing
th e ri ght things, th en doing the m " ri ght," with the help of effi-
ciency among oth er tools, makes pe1fect sense.
If nature adh ered to the human model of effic ie ncy, th ere
would be fewer cherry blossoms, and fewer nutri ent s. Fewe r
trees, less oxygen, and less c lean wate r. Fewe r songbirds. Less
di versity, less c reati vity and deli ght. Th e id ea of na ture being

76
 ECU-fFF[CTIVENE SS

more efftc ie nt, demateri ali zing, or even not "liLtering" (imagine
zero waste or zero emi ssions for nature !) is pre pos terou s. Th e
marve lou s thing about effective systems is that one wants more
of the m, not less.

What Is Growth?

As k a child about growth, and s he wi ll probably tell you it is a

good thing, a natural thing- it means getting bigger, healthier,
and s tronge r. The growth of nature (and of childre n) is us ually
perceived as beautiful and healthy. Indus tri al growth, on th e
other hand , has bee n call ed into question by e nvironmentalis ts
and others concerned a bout the rapacious use of resources and
th e dis integration of c ulture and environm ent. Urban and in -
du stri al growt h is often referred to as a cancer, a thing that
grows for its own sake and not for the sake of the organism it in -
habits. (A s Edward Abbey wrote, "Growth for growth's sake is a
cancerous madness.")
Co nfli cting views of growth we re a recurrent s ource of ten-
s ion on Pres id ent Clinton's origin al Counc il on S us tainabl e De-
velopment, a group of twenty-five representatives of business,
government, dive rse soc ia l groups, and environmental organi-
zati ons that met from 1993 to 1999. Th e comme rc ia l membe rs'
belief th at commerce is inherentl y required to perpetu ate itself,
that it must seek growth in orde r to fu el its continued existence,
brought the m to loggerheads with the e nvironme ntalists, to
whom comme rcial growth meant more sprawl, more loss of an-
cient fores ts, wi ld places, and s pecies, and more polluti on, tox-

77
 CH ,\IlLf. TO C ll ADLI:

ificati on, and global wa rming. The ir desire for a no-growth sce-
na rio naturally frus trated the commerc ial players, for whom " no
growth" could have only negative consequences. The pe rceived
confli ct between nature and industry made it loo k as if the val-
ues of one system must be sacrificed to the other.
But unques tionab ly th ere are things we a ll want to grow,
and things we don' t want to grow. We wis h to grow educati on
and not ignorance, health and not s ickness, prosperity and not
des titution, clean water and not poisoned wate r. We wis h to im-
prove the quality of life.
The key is not to make huma n in dustries and sys te ms
s ma lle r, as effic ie ncy advocates propound, but to des ign th em
to get bigger and beuer in a way tha t replenishes, restores, and
nouri shes the rest of the world. Thus the " right things" for ma n-
ufacturers and indus trialis ts to do are those that lead to good
growth-more niches, health, nouri s hment, diversity, intelli-
gence, a nd abunda nce-for this generation of inhabitants on
th e planet and fo r generati ons to come .

Let's take a closer look at th at cherry tree.

As it grows, it seeks its own rege nerati ve abundance . But
thi s process is not s ingle-purpose. In fact, the tree's growth sets
in moti on a number of positive effects. It provides food for ani -
mals, insects, a nd microorganis ms. Jt enriches the ecosystem,
sequestering carbon, p roducing oxygen, cleaning air and water,
and creating and stabilizing soil. Among its roots a nd branches
and on its leaves, it harbors a diverse array of fiora and fauna,
all of whi ch de pe nd on it and on one another for th e functions

78
 KCO- EFFE CT I VE NE SS

a nd fl ows that support life. Anfl whe n th e tree di es, it re turns to

the soil, releasing, as it decomposes, min erals tha t will fu el
hea lthy new growth in the same place.
The tree is not a n isolated e ntity c ut o(f from the systems
around it: it is in ex tricably and produc tive ly e ngaged with
the m. Thi s is a key differe nce be tween th e growt h of indu stri al
syste ms as they now stand a nd th e growth of nature.
Cons id e r a community of ants . As pa rt of the ir daily ac tiv-
ity, th ey:

• safely a nd effec ti vely ha ndle their own mate riul wastes

a nd those of other s pec ies
• grow and harvest the ir own food whil e nurturin g the
ecosyste m of whi ch th ey are a part
• cons truc t houses, fa rms, du mps, ceme te ries, li ving quru·-
Le rs, a nd food -s torage faciliti es from mate ri a ls that can
be trul y recycled
• c reate disinfectants a nd medici nes th at are health y, safe,
a nd biodegradabl e
• ma inta in soil health for the e ntire p la ne t.

Indi vidually we are muc h la rge r th a n a nts, but coll ecti vely
the ir biurnuss exl:eeds ours. Ju st as there is almost no corner of
the globe untou ched by huma n presence, there is ulmost no
land hab itut, from ha rs h desert to inne r c ity, untouc hed by
some s pec ies of a nl. They a re a good example of a popul a tion
whose de ns ity and produc ti ve ness a re not a probl e m for the rest
of the world , because e ve rything they make and use re turns to
the cradle-to-cradle cycles of na ture. All their ma terials, even

79
 C II AOL "- 1'0 C IIA D U .

their most deadl y chemi cal weapons, are biodegradable, and

when they return to the soil, they supply nutri ents, restoring in
the process some of those thai were taken to support the colony.
Ant::; abu recycle the wa:stes of olhe•· species; leaf-culler ants,
for example, collect clecomposing matter from the Earth's sur-
face, carry it down into their colonies, and usc it lo feed the
fungus gardens that th ey grow underground for food. During
their movements a nd ac ti vities, they transport min erals to up-
per layers of soil, where plan t life and fungi can use them as
nutrients. They turn and aerate the soil a nd make passageways
for wate r drainage, play ing a vital role in ma in ta ining soil fe-
cundity and health. They trul y are, as biologist E. 0. Wil son
has pointed out, the lit.tle things tha t run th e world. But al-
l hough they may run the world , they do not overmn it. Like the
cherry tree, they mak e the world a better place.
ome people use th e term rwture's services to refe r to the
processes by whic h, without human help, water a nd air are pu-
rified ; erosion, floocls, and drought are miti gated; mate ri als are
detoxified and deco mposed; soil is c reated a nd its fe rtili ty re-
newed; ecological equi librium and di versit y a re maintained;
climate is stabilized; a nd, nol least, aestheti c and spiritual sat-
isfaction is provided lo us. We don' t li ke this focus on services,
since nature does not do a ny of these things just to serve peo-
pl e. But it is useful to thin k of these processes as part of a dy-
nam ic interdependence, in whi ch many diffe rent organisms
and systems support one a nothe r in multiple ways. The eon-
sequences of growth- inereases in insects, mic roorgani sms,
birds, wate r cycl ing, a nd nutrient Aows-lend towa rd the posi-
ti ve kind that e nri ch the vitality of the whole ecosystem. The

80
 ~ CO -EVFECTIV~\~ SS

conseque nces of a new strip mall, on the other hand , while they
may have some immedi a te local be nefits ( jobs, more money c ir-
c ula ting throu gh the local economy) a nd may e ve n boost the
country's overall C OP, are gain ed a t th e expe nse of a dec line in
ove ra ll quality of life -in creased traffic, asphalt, pollution, a nd
waste -that ultima tely undermines even some of the ma ll's os-
te ns ible benefits.
Typi caJi y, conventiona l ma nufacturing operations have
predomina ntl y negative s ide effects . In a tex til e factory, for ex-
a mple, water may come in clean, bu t it goes out contam ina ted
with fab ri c dyes, whic h usua lly contain toxins s uc h as cobalt,
zirconium, other heavy me tals, and fini shing c he micals . Solid
wastes from fa bric trimmin gs and loom clippings present a n-
othe r proble m, as mu c h of the ma te ri a l used for tex til es is
pe troc he mica l-based. Efflu e nts a nd s ludge from produc ti on
processes cannot be safe ly de pos ited into ecosys tems, so they
a re ofte n buri ed or burned as hazardous waste . The fabric itself
is sold all over the world, used , the n thrown "away"-whic h
us ua ll y means it is eith er inc inera ted, releasing toxins, or
placed in a la ndfill. Eve n in the ra the r s hort life span of the
fa bri c, its partic les have abrad ed into th e a ir a nd been ta ken
into people's lungs . Al l this in th e nam e of effic ie nt produ ction.
Just about every process has s id e effects . But they can be
deli be rate a nd sustaining ins tead of uninte nded a nd perni-
c ious. We ca n be humbl ed by th e compl ex it y a nd inte lli gence
of nature's acti vity, a nd we can a lso be ins pired by it to design
some posi ti ve s id e effects to our own e nte rprises ins tead of fo-
c using exclus ively on a s ingle end .
E co-effecti ve designers ex pand the ir vis ion from the pri-

81
 C ll .~ IJ I. ~: T0 C II A D L E

mary purpose of a produc t or sys te m and cons ider the whole.

What are its goals and pote ntial effects, both immediate and
wide-ranging, with respect to both time a nd place? What is the
e ntire syste m- cultural , commerc ia l, ecologica l-of which this
made thing, and way of making things, will be a part?

Once upon a Roof

Once you begin to co ns ider the la rge r picture, th e most familiar

fea tures of huma n fa brication begin to s hape-shift. An ordi-
na ry roof is a good example. Conventional roofing s urfaces are
infamously among th e mos t ex pe ns ive parts of a building to
ma inta in: bak ing unde r th e sun al l day, they a re exposed to re-
le ntl ess ul trav iole t degradation, a nd dramati c variations be-
tween daytime a nd ni ghttime te mperatures s ubjec t the m to
consta nt the rma l s hoc k. But in the larger context, they re veal
themselves as part of the growing landscape of im pervious sur-
faces (along with paved roads, parking lots, s idewalk s, a nd
buildin gs the mselves) th at con tribute to Aood in g, heat up citi es
in the s ummertime (dark s urfaces absorb a nd re -erni t solar e n-
e rgy), and de pl e te habitat for ma ny species.
If we vie wed the:;e dfed ;; pi e~,;e m e al, we rni g;l1t all e rupt tu
address th e flooding proble m by calling for regul a ti ons requir-
in g bi g re te ntion ponds for s torm water. We'd "sol ve" the heat
proble m by providing additional air-conditioning units to build-
ings in the area, doi ng our best to ignore the fact that the ne w
units would contribut e Lo th e highe r a mbi ent te mpe ratures tha t

82
made the m necessary in the firs t place. As for shrinking habi-
ta t, we ll , we'd lik e ly th row up our ha nd s. Is n' t wi ldlife a n in-
e vi tab le casua lty of urba n growth '?
We have been working with a kind of roofing that responds
to a ll of th ese issues, inc lud ing the economi c ones. It is a li ght
layer of soil, a growing matrix, covered with plants. It ma intains
th e roof at a stable te mpera ture, provid ing free evapora ti ve
coo ling in hot weathe r a nd in sul ati on in cold weathe r, a nd
s hi elds it from the s un's des tru c ti ve rays, mak ing it las t longe r.
ln add ition, it makes oxygen, sequ este rs carbon, captures par-
tic ulates like soot, and absorbs storm wate r. And that's not a ll :
it looks far more a ttractive tha n naked asphalt a nd , with the
storm -wate r managemen t, saves money tha t wou ld be lost to
regula tory fees a nd flood dam age. l n approp ria te loca les, it can
even be engin eered to produce solar-gene rated elect ri c ity.
If th is sound s like a novel idea, it 's not. It is based on
ce nturies-old bu ild ing techniques. (ln Icela nd , for examp le,
ma ny old farms were bui lt with s tones, wood, and sod, and grass
for roofs.) And it is wide ly used in F"urope, where lens of mil -
lions of square feel of suc h roofin g a lready exis t. E nha nced by to-
day's sophi sti cated tec hnology a nd e ngin eering, th is approac h
to roofing is effective on multiple levels, not leas t of whi c h is its
ability to capture the public imagina tion. We helped Mayor
Ric ha rd Da ley p ut a gard e n on the roof of Chicago's city hall,
a nd he f()resees a whole c ity cove re d with green roofs th a t will
not on ly keep it coo l bu t produ ce sola r e ne rgy a nd grow food
a nd flowers, as well as provid ing sooth ing green sanc tu a ry from
bus y urban s treets lo birds a nd peop le a like.

83
 C R ,IOI.F. T O C RADLE

Beyond Control

Ta king a n eco-effec ti ve approach to des ign mi ght result in a n

inno vr~tion so PxtrPmP th>t t it rPsP mhi P-s nothing we know, or
it might me rel y s how us how to optimi ze a syste m already in
place. It's not the solution itself that is necessa ril y radi ca l but
th e s hift in pe rs pecti ve with whi c h we begin, from the old view
of nature as some thing to be controlle d to a sta nce of e ngage-
ment.
For thousa nds of years, peopl e s truggled to mainta in the
bounda ries between huma n a nd na tur·a l forces; to do s o was of-
len necessary to th e ir surv ival. Weste rn c ivili zati on in pa rti cu-
la r has been s ha ped by the be lief tha t it is the ri ght a nd dut y of
huma n be ings to s ha pe na ture to be lle r ends; as Fra nc is Bacon
put it, "Nature be ing known, it may be mas te r'd , managed, a nd
used in the se rvices of human life."
Today fe w na tura l disaste rs can reall y thre a te n those of us
rn the indus tri a l i1.ed na tions. On a day-to-day basis, we a re
fa irl y safe from a ll but the most seriou s epi demi cs a nd clima ti c
eve nt.s: earthquakes, hurri ca nes, volcanoes, floods, plagues,
pe rha ps a meteor. Yet we s till cl ing to a menta l mode l of c ivi-
lization based on the prac tices of our ances tors, who hac ked
and plowed the ir way th rough a diffic u lt wilde rness. Over-
whelming a nd cont ro lling na ture is not onl y the re igning tre nd,
it has even become a n aes the tic prefere nce. The hedges or bor-
de rs of the mode rn lawn sha rpl y dis tinguis h wha t is " natural"
from wha t is "civilized." In a c ity la ndscape of aspha lt, con-
crete, steel, a nd glass, nature's excess may be cons id e red
messy, eve n Lrseless, som ethi ng to be limit ed to a few ca re ful ly

84
 ECO-EFFECT I V~N~SS

sculpted garde ns a nd lrees. What autumn lea ves !he re are mus l
be qui ckl y gath ered from the ground, placed in plasti c bags,
and landfilled or burned rath er than com posted. Ins lead of try-
ing lo optimize na ture's abunda nce, we a utomati call y try lo gel
it ou l of the way. For many of us used Loa c ulture of control , na-
ture in its unta med stale is nei the r a familiar nor a welcoming
pl ace.
To e mphasize this po int, Mic hae l lik es to !e ll lhe s tory of
the forbi dde n cherry tree. In L986 seve ral peo ple in a ne igh-
borh ood in Hannover, Germa ny, dec ided they wanted to plant a
c herry tree on their s treet. They thought s uc h a n add ition would
prov id e habita t fo r songbirds a nd pleasure for p eop le who
mi ght want to eat th e c he rri es, plu c k a blossom or two, or s im -
ply admire the tree's beauty. lL seemed a n easy e nough deci-
sion, with onl y pos itive effects . But the tree was not so eas il y
lra ns posed from the ir imagina tions to real life. Accocd in g to
zoning laws in thai neighborhood, a new c he rry-lree pla ntin g
would nol be legal. What th e reside nls vie wed as de lighlfu l, 1he
legis la ture viewed as a ris k. People might sli p on falle n c he r-
ries a nd che rry bl ossom . Fruil lrees with da ngling fruit mighl
lure c hildre n lo c limb th e m- a liabilil y if a child fe ll a nd gol
hurl. The che rry tree was s impl y not ef~ci ent e nough for th e
leg isla tors: il was messy, c reati ve, unpredic tabl e. It could nol
be controlled or anti cipated. The syste m was not set up to ha n-
dl e some thing of tha i kind. Th e ne ighbors pressed on, however,
a nd eventually lh ey we re granted spec ia l p e rmission lo plan!
the tree.
The forbidden fruit tree is a useful me tap hor for a c ui -
lure of control, for the harri ers erected a nd mainta in ed-

85
 C 11 A 0 L E 'J' 0 C H A ll U :

whether phys ical or ideologicaJ- belwce n natu re a nd human

industry. Sweeping away, shulling out, a nd controlling nature's
impe rfect abundance are implicit fea tures of mode rn de ign,
ones rarely if ever qu es ti oned . lfbmte forre doesn't work. you 're
not using enough of it.
As we know from our own work, paradigms 80ntetimcs shi ft
not only beca use of new ideas but because of evolving tastes
and tre nds. Contemporary prefe rence. a re already tend ing to-
wa rd greate r d ive rsit y. Michaf! l te lls anot her story: in 1982 his
moth er's garde n, whi ch was fu ll of vegetables, he rbs, wildflow-
ers, a nd many othe r strange and wonderful pla nts, was deter-
mined by town legislators to be too messy, too "wild." She was
as ked to pay a fine. Rathe r than bow down to th is " minimiza-
tion demand," as Mi chael tails it, she dec ided to continue
grow ing the kind of ga rden she loved and lo pay a yea rl y f111e
for th e ti ght to do so. '1(:-n year later thi s very sa me ga rden won
a local awa rd for c reating habitat for songbirds. Wha t had
changed? The public taste, th e prevailing aesthe tic. It is now
fashi onable lo grow a ga rden th ai looks " wild."
lmaginc the fru its of such a shift on a large sea le.

Becoming a Native

The re is some talk in scie nce and popular c ulture about colo-
nizing othe r pla nets, suc h as Ma rs or the moon. Part of thi s is
ju:;l huma n nature: we a rP curious, ex ploring c realures. The
idC'a of taming a new fronti er has a compelling, even romanti c,
pull, li ke that of the 11100n itself. But th e idea also provides ra-

86
 EGO -EFFE CTIVENESS

tionalization for destJUction , a n expresswn of our hope that

we'll find a way to save ourselves if we trash our pla net. To this
s pecul ati on, we would respond: If you want the Mars experi-
ence, go to Chile and li ve in a typi cal copper mi ne. There are
no animals, the landscape is hos tile to huma ns, a nd it would be
a tremendous c ha llenge. Or, for a moonli ke effect, go to th e
nickel mines of Ontari o.
Seriously, hu mans evolved on the Earth , and we are mea nt
to be here. Its atmosphere, its nutrients, its natural cycles, and
our own b iological systems e volved together and suppm1 us here,
now. Huma ns were simply not designed by evolution for lunar
cond iti ons. So while we recogn ize the great scienti fic value of
space exploration and the exciting potential of new discovery
there, and while we applaud technological innovations that en-
able humans to " bo ld ly go where no man has gone before," we
caution: Let's not make a b ig mess here and go somewhere less
hospitable even if we figure out how. Let's use our ingenuity to
stay here; to become, once again , native to thi s planet.
Th is affi rmation does not mean tha t we advocate ret.urni ng
to a pretechnological s tate. We believe that humans can incor-
porate th e best of technology a nd cu lture s o that our civ ili zed
places reflect a new view. Buildi ngs, systems, ne ighborhoods,
and even whole cit ies can be entwined with surround ing
ecosystems in ways that are mutuall y enri chi ng. We agree that
it is importa nt to leave some natural places to thrive on their
own, withou t und ue hu man interference or habitation. But we
also belie ve th at ind us try can be so safe, effecti ve, enrichi ng,
and intelli gent th at it need not. be fe nced ofT from other human
acti vity. (Thi s could stand the concept of zoning on its head;

87
 CllAil l E ro C R A DLI:.

whe n manufacturing is no longer dangerous, comme rc ial a nd

residenti al s ites can ex ist a longs ide fac tories, to th eir mutual
be nefit and de light.)
The Me nominee tribe of Wiscons in, wood harveste rs for
many gene rations, use a logging me thod that le ts the m profit
from na ture while a ll ow ing it to thrive. Conventiona l logging
operati ons are focused on produc ing a certa in a mount of ca rbo-
hydrat e (wood pulp) for use. Th is age nda is s ingle-pu rpose and
utilita ri an: it does not count how ma ny pecies of birds the
forest may ha rbor, or how its s lopes s tay stable, or what occa-
s ions for rec reati on and res pite-as well as resources- it pro-
vides and cou ld cont inue to provide to future ge ne ra ti ons.
The Me nominee ofte n c ut onl y the weake r trees, leavi ng the
strong mothe r trees a nd enough of th e uppe r canopy for squ ir-
rels and othe r arboreal a nimals to continuous ly inhabit. T his
s trategy has bee n e normous ly produc ti ve; it has a llowed the
forest to thrive while suppl ying the tribe with comme rc ia l re-
sources. In 1870 the Menominee counted 1.3 bi llion standing
bom·d feel of tim ber- wha t in the ti mbe r indus try is Le llingly
known as "sturnpage" -on a 235,000-acre reserva tion. Ove r
the yea rs they have harvested 2.25 bi ll ion feet, yet today they
ha ve ] .7 bi llion standing feet- a s light increase. One mi ght say
the y have figured ou t wl1<1 l Ll1 e forest can productively offer
the m instead of cons ide ring only what th ey wa nt. (It's importa nt
to note here that thi s partic u lar form of forestry is not necessar-
ily uni versa l in its potential applications. In some insta nces-
includ ing restorative work, in whi ch you might remove a
rnonoc u lt.ural forest to plan t a more dive rse system-c lear-
cutting appears to be a s uccessful ma nagement too l. As the

88
 ~CO - [FFECT I VE N E SS

Forest Stewards hi p Council notes, there are no absolutes about

me thod.)
Kai Lee, a professor of e nvi ronme ntal sc ie nce at Will ia ms
Coll ege, tell s a n enli ght e ning s tory about nati ve peoples' vie w
of place. In 1986 Lee was in volved in pl a ns for the long-term
s torage of radioacti ve wastes at the Ha nford Beservation, a
la rge s ite in central Was hington State, whe re the United S ta tes
governme nt had produced pluton ium for nuclear weapons. He
s pe nt a morning with sc ie nti sts discussing how to ma rk a wa te
s ite o tha t even in the d is ta nt future, people would not acc i-
de ntall y drill for wate r there or othe rwise bring a bout harmful
ex pos ures and releases. During a break he saw several me m-
he rs of the Yakim a Indi a n Nation, whose trad itiona l la nds in -
c lude muc h of the Hanford Reservati on. They had come the re
to talk with federal officia ls about a noth er ma tter. The Yak ima
were surpri eel-even amused- at Kai 's concern over their de-
scenda nts' safe ty. " Don't worry," they ass ured him. " We' ll te ll
the m whe re it is ." As Kai pointed out to us, "Th e ir concepti on
of th e mselves and the ir place was not hi stori cal, as mi ne was,
hut e te rnal. This wou ld a lways be the ir la ntl. They would warn
othe rs not to mess with the wastes we'd le ft. "
We a1·e not leav ing thi s la nd e ithe r, and we will begin to
become nati ve to it whe n we recognize t.hi ,., fac t.

The New Design Assignment

An old j oke about effic ie ncy: An olive-oil vendor re turns from

the marketpl ace and compla ins to a frie nd , " l can' t make

89
 CIt A 0 L f: 'I' 0 C ll A I) I. E

money sell in g olive oil! By the time I feed the donkey tha t car -
ries my oi I to marke t, most of my profit is gone ." His fri e ncl sug-
gests he feed the donkey a Iinl e less. ix weeks late r they meet
aga in at the mark e tp l ae~ . Tit ~:: uil se ll e r is in r oor sha pe, with
ne ither money nor donkey. When hi s fr ie nd as ks wha t ha p-
pe ned, the vendor re plies, " We ll , I dicl as you sa id . I fed the
donkey a lillie less, and I began to clo reall y we ll. So I fed him
even less, a nd I d id e ve n bell.e r. But just at the point whe re I
was becoming rea ll y s uccessfu l, he dieJ !"
fs our goa l to sta rve oursel ves? To de pri ve ourselves of our
own c ultu re, our own industri es, our own p resence on the
pla ne t, to a im for zero? H ow ins piring a goa l is tha t? Wou ld n't
it be wonclerfu l if, rathe r tha n be moan ing hu ma n indus try, we
had reason to c ha mpion it? If e nvironme nta li sts as well as a uto-
mobi le ma kers could a ppla ud every time someone excha nged
an old car for a new one, because new ca rs purified th e a ir
a nd produ ced d rinking wate r? If ne w buil di ngs imitated trees,
providing s ha de, songbird ha bitat, food , e nergy, a ncl clean
wa te r? l f each ne w addition to a human community deepe ned
eco logica l and c ultura l as well as economi c wea lth ? If mode rn
. ocie ties we re pe rce ived as increas ing assets and deli ghts on a
very la rge sea le, instead of bringing the plane t to the brink of
disaste r?
We would like to s uggest a ne w des ign ass ignme nt. Instead
of fin e-lun ing the ex is ting destructive fram ework, why don' t
peopl e a nd indus tri es set out to c reate the foll owing:

• buildings tha t, like trees, produce more e ne rgy th an they

consume a nd purify th e ir own waste wa te r

90
 ECO-EFFECT I VENE SS

• factories that produce efAuents that are drinking water

• products that, when their useful life is over, do not be-
come useless was te but can be tossed onto the ground to
ciP.mmposf\ a nd hP-r.omP. food for p lants a nd a nima ls and
nutri ents for soil ; or, a lternately, that can return to in-
dus tri a l cycles to su pply high-quality raw materials fo r
new produ cts
• billi ons, even trillions, of dollars' worth of materials ac-
crued for human and natural purposes each year
• transportation that improves the qua lity of life while de-
li vering goods and services
• a wo rld of abundance, not one of limits, pollution, and
waste.

91
Cha pter Four

Waste Equals Food

Nature operates accord ing to a syste m of nutrients a nd metabo-

lis ms in which there is no suc h thing as was te. A c herry tree
makes many blossoms and fruit to (perhaps) germinate and
grow. That is why the tree bl oo ms. Bu t the extra bl ossoms a re
fa r from useless. T he y fall to th e ground , decompose, feed vari-
ous organis ms a nd microorgani sms, a nd enric h th e soiL Around
the worl d, anima ls and humans exhale carbon di oxide, whi ch
pla nts take in a nd use for their own growth . Nitrogen from
was tes is transformed into prote in by mic roorganis ms, a nima ls,
and pla nts. Horses eat grass a nd produce dung, whic h provid es
both nest and nouri s hmen t fo r the larvae of fli es. Th e Earth's
major nutri ents-ca rbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitroge n- are cy-
cled and recycled. Waste equals food.
This cyclical , cradle- to-cradl e biological syste m has nour-
ished a pl a net of thri ving, dive rse abundance for millions of
years. Until ve ry rece ntly in the Earth's history, it was the onl y
sys tem, and every living thing on the pl anet belonged to it.
Growth was good. It meant more trees, more s pecies, greater di-
vers ity, and more complex, resilient ecosystems. Then came in-
dus try, whi ch alte red the natu ra l equili b rium of mate rials on
the planet. Hu mans took s ubstances from the Earth's c ru st and
conce ntrated, a lte red , and synth esized them into vast qu anti -
ties of materi al that cannot safe ly be returned to soil. ow ma -
terial flows can be di vided into two ca tegories: bi ologica l mass
and technica l- tha t is, in d us tria l- mass.

92
 WA ~ 'n: EQLAL S ~· oo n

From our pe rs pecti ve, these two kinds of mate rial Aows on
the plan et are just biological and technical nutrients. Biological
nutrie nts are useful to the biosph ere, whil e technical nutrients
are useful for wha t we ca ll th P. u~r.hnnsphfm!, thP. !';ystP.m!'; of in -
dustrial processes. Ye t some how we have evol ved an indus trial
infrastruc ture that ignores the existe nce of nutri e nts of e ithe r
kind.

From Cradle-to-Cradle to Cradle-to-Grave: A Brief History of

Nutrient Flows

Long before the ri se of agricullure, nomadi c c ultures wande red

from place to place searc hing for food. They needed to trave l
light, so the ir possessions were fe w- some j ewe lry and a few
tool s, bags or c lothes made of a nimal s kins, baske ts (or roots
and seeds . Assemble d from local ma terial s, these things, whe n
the ir use was over, could easily decompose a nd be "consume d"
by na ture. Th e more durable obj ects, s uc h as weapon s of stone
a nd Hint, might be discarde d. Sanita ti on was not a proble m be-
cause the nomads were constantly moving. T hey could leave
the ir biological wastes behind lo replenish soil. For these peo-
pl.e, the re truly was a n "away."
Ea rly agri c u ltura l commun ities continue d to return bi olog-
ica l was tes to th e so il , re pl ac ing nutrie nts . Farme rs rotated
crops, letting fie lds lie fallow in turn until na ture ma de them
fertile again. Over Lime new agricultural tools a nd techniqu es
led to quic ke r food produc tion. Popu la tions s we ll ed, a nd many
communities began to ta ke more resources and nutrie nts than

93
 C 11 A D I. E T0 C I( A D L £

could be natura lly restored. With peopl e more Lightly packed,

sanitation became a proble m. Societies began to find ways to
get rid of the ir was tes. They also began to take more and more
nutrients from the ~oil and to ea t up reso111T:es (s11 r:h as frees)
without replac ing them at an equal rate.
There is an old Roman saying, Pecunia non olet: " Money
doesn't s tink." In Imperia l Rome servicepeople took wastes
away from public s paces a nd the toil ets of the wealthy and
piled the m outside the city. Agric ulture a nd tree-felling dra ined
soils of nutrients and led to e rosion, and the landscape beca me
drier and more arid , with less fertile cropl and. Rome's imperi-
alis m-and im perialism in general- emerged in part in re-
sponse to nutrie nt losses, the center expa nding to s upport its
vast needs with timbe r, food, and other resources elsewhe re.
(Tellingly, as the city's resources shrank and conquests grew,
Rome's agricultural deit y, Mars, became t.he god of war.)
William Cronon chronicles a s imilar relati ons hip between
a city a nd its natural e nvironment in Nature's Metropolis . He
po ints out that th e great rural areas arou nd Chicago, America's
"breadbas ket," were actually organized over time to prov ide
services for that city; the settleme nt of the s urround ing frontier
did not happen in isolation from Chicago but was inex tri ca bly
bound to the city a nd fueled by its needs. "The centra l story of
the nineteenth -ce ntury West is that of an expanding metropoli-
tan economy creating ever more ela bora te and intimate link -
ages between city and country," Cro non observes. Thus the
hi story of a city " must also be the h is tory of its human country-
side, and of the natura l world with in whic h city and country are
both located."

94
 WA S TE: EQltiL S F OOD

As they swelled and grew, th e great cities placed incredi -

ble pressure on the environment around them, s ucking materi -
als and resources from farther and farther away, as the land was
stripped a nd resourr:es taken. For examp le, as the forests of
Minnesota disappeared , logging moved on to Britis h Columbi a.
(Such expans ions affected nati ve people ; the Mandans of the
uppe r Mi ssouri were wiped out by s mallpox, in a cha in of
e vents resulting from selllers stak ing homesteads.)
Over time c iti es all over the world built up an in frastruc-
tu re for trans fe rring nutrie nts from place to place. Cultures
went into conflict with other cultures for resources, land , and
food. In the nineteenth a nd early twentie th centuries, synthetic
fertilizers were developed , laying the ground for the massively
inte ns ifi ed production of industri a li zed agric ult ure. Soils now
yie ld more crops than they natura lly could, but with some se-
vere effects: they are e roding at an unprecede nted rate, a nd
they are drai ned of nutrient-ric h humus. Very few sma ll farme rs
return local b iologica l was tes to the so il as a primary sou rce of
nutrients any .longe r, and industri ali zed farming almost never
does. Moreover, the syntheti c fe rt ili ze rs we re often heav ily co n-
Laminated with cadm ium and radioacti ve e lements from phos-
phate rocks, a hazard of whi ch fa rmers and residents were
generally unaware .
Ye t certain trad iti onal c ultures have well unders tood the
value of nutrient flows. For centuries in E gy pt, the Nile Rive r
ove rflowed its bank s eac h year, leaving a rich layer of silt
ac ross th e vall eys when waters withdrew. Beginning about
3200 l:l.C ., fa rmers in Egypt structured a seri es of irrigation
ditches that dwnneled the Nile's fer tile wa ters to their fields.

95
 CKADI.E TU C H JIIlLE

They also learned to s tore food s urpluses for periods of urought

The Egyptians max imi zed th ese nutri e nt flows for centuri es
without ove rt ax ing th e m. Grad uaJi y, as Britis h and French e n-
gineers e nte red the country during the nineteenth r.e ntury,
Egypt's agric ulture shifted to Western methods . Since the com-
pletion of the Aswa n High D am in 1971, the s ilt th at e nri c hed
Egypt for centuries now acc umula tes behind conc re te, a nd peo-
ple in Egypt build hous ing on once fe rtil e a reas ori ginally re-
served for c rops. Houses a nd roads co mpete dra mati call y for
space with agric ulture. Egypt produces less tha n 50 pe rcent of
its own food and depends on imports from Europe and th e
Un ited Stales.
Over thousands of years, the Chin ese pe rfected a sys te m
th at prevents pathogens from conta mina tin g the food c ha in , and
fe rtilized rice padd ies with biological wastes, includ ing sewage.
Even today some rural households expect dinne r guests to " re-
t.urn" nutrie nts in thi s way before they leave, and it is a com-
mon pract ice for farm e rs lo pay households to fill boxes with
th eir bodil y wastes. But today the Chinese, too, have turned to
syste ms based on the Weste rn mod el. And, like Egypt, the y a re
growing more depe ndent on imported foods.
Humans are the only species that La kes from the so il vast
quanti ties of nutrients needed for biologica l processes but
rarely pu ts the m back in a usabl e form. Ou r syste ms are no
longer des igned to return nutrie nts in thi s way, except on s mall ,
local le ve ls. Ha rvesting methods like cl ear-c utting precipita te
soil erosion, and c he mical processes used in both agric ultu re
a nd manufacture often lead to salinizatio n a nd ac idificati on,
helping to depl ete more than twe nt y tim es a s muc h soil each

96
 WA S TE EQlu \LS FOOD

year as na ture c reates . lt can take app roximately fi ve hundred

years for soil to build up an in c h of its ric h laye rs of mic roor-
ga ni s ms a nd nutri e nt flows, and ri ght now we are losing li ve
thousa nd Limes more soi l tha n is being made .
ln pre indus triaJ c ulture, people did co ns ume things. Most
produc ts wou ld safely b iodegrade once they were thrown away,
buried, or burned. Me tals were the exce pti on: th ese were seen
as hi ghl y valuahle a nd were melted down and reused. (They
were actu all y what we call ea rly tec hnical nutrie nts .) But as in -
dus tri alization adva nced, th e cons umption mode pers is ted,
e ve n though most ma nufactured ite ms could no longer ac tuall y
be consumed. In times of sca rc ity, a recogniti on of th e value of
technical material s wou ld Aare up; people who grew up during
the C real Depression, for example, were careful about re using
j a rs , jugs, a nd a luminum fo il, and during World War II , people
saved rubbe r bands , a lumin um foil, steel, a nd othe r materia ls
to feed inclus trial needs. But as c heape r mate ria ls a nd new syn-
the tics flooded the postwar ma rket, it became less expens ive for
industri es to make a new alumin um , plas tic, or glass boule or
pac kage a t a central p la nt and shi p it out tha n to build up local
infrastruc tures for collec ting, transporting, cleaning, a nd pro-
cessing things for re use. S imil arl y, in the earl y decades of in-
dustriali zu tion, peop le might pass down, re pa ir, or se ll old
service produc ts like ovens , refri gerators, and phones to junk
dea le rs . Today most so-called clura bles are tossed . (Who on
Earth would repa ir a c heap toas te r today? It is much eas ie r to
bu y a new one than it is to se nd th e parts back to the ma nufac-
ture r or track down someon e to repair it loca ll y.) Throwaway
produc ts have become the norm .

97
 CRAI>LE TO CHAD LE

There is no way, for example, that you are going to con-

s ume your car; and a lthough it is made of valuable technical
materia ls, you can' t do anything with them once you finis h with
it (unless you are a junk artis t). Af> w~ hHv~ m ~nlion~rl , th~se
materials are lost or degraded even in "recycling" because cars
are not designed from th e beginning for effective, optimal recy-
cling as tec hni cal nutrients. Indeed , indus tri es des ign produc ts
with bu ilt-in obsolescence-that is, to last until approximately
the Lime cus tomers typ.ically want to replace the m. Even things
with a real consumable potential, such as packaging materials,
are often deliberately designed not to break down under natural
conditions. ln fact, packaging rnay last far longer than the prod-
uct it protec ted. In places where resources are hard Lo gel, peo-
ple s till creative ly reuse materials to make new products (such
as u s ing old tire rubber to make sandals) and even ene rgy
(burning synthetic materials for fu e l). Such creativity is natural
and adaptive and ca n be a vital part of material cycles. But as
long as these uses are ignored by current indus trial design and
manufacturing, which typically re frain from embracing any vi-
sion of a product's furthe r life, s uch reuse wi ll often be un safe,
even lethal.

Monstrous Hybrids

Mountains of was te ris ing in landfill s are a grow ing conce rn,
but the quantity of these wastes-th e space they take up-is
not the major prob lem of cradl e-to-grave designs. Of greater

98
 WAST I•: EQU A I.S roan

concern are the nutrie nts-valuable "food" for both industry

and nature -that are contaminated, wasted, or lost They are
los t not only for lac k of adequ ate systems of retrieval; they are
lost also because many products are what we jokingly refer to
as "Frank enste in products" or (with apologies to Jane Jacobs)
"monstrous hybrid s"- mi xtures of materi als both technical and
biologica l, neither of which can be salvaged afte r the ir current
li ves.
A con ventiona l leath er s hoe is a monstrou s hybrid. At one
time, s hoes we re ta nned with vegetable chemi cals, whi ch we re
relatively safe, so the wastes from their manufacture posed no
real problem. The s hoe could biodegrade after its useful life or
be safely burned. But vegetable tann ing required that trees be
harvested for the ir tannins. As a resu lt, shoes took a long time
to make, and th ey were expens ive. ln th e past forty years, veg-
etable tannin g has been re placed with chrom ium tanning,
whi ch is faster a nd cheaper. But c hromium is rare and valuable
for industri es, and in some forms it is carc inogeni c. Today
shoes are oft en tanned in developing coun tri es where few if any
precautions are taken to protect peop le and ecosystems from
chromium ex pos ure; ma nufac turing wastes may be dumped into
nearhy bod ies of water or incinerated, eith er of whic h di strib-
utes toxins (often di sproportionately in low-income areas). Con-
ventional rubber s hoe soles, moreover, us ually contain lead and
pl asti cs. As th e s hoe is worn, parti c les of it degrad e into the at-
mosphere and soil. It ca nnot be safely co ns umed, either by you
or by the environment After use, its valu able materials, both
biological and tec hni cal, are usually lost in a landfill.

99
 CHA IlL~ TO C I\ A OLE

A Confusion of Flows

There may be no more pote nt image of disagreeah le waste than

sewage. It is a kind of was te peo ple are ha ppy lo gel "away"
from. Before modern sewage system s, people in c ities would
dump th eir wastes outs ide (wh ich mi ght mean out th e window),
bu ry them, s lop them into cesspools at the boll om of a house, or
dis pose of them in bodies of water, so metimes upstream from
drinking sources. It wasn' t until the late nine teenth century
that people began to ma ke th e connection b etwee n sa nitati.on
and public health, which provided th e impetus for more sophis-
ticated sewage treatment. Enginee rs saw pipes taking storm
water to ri vers and realized this would be a convenient way to
remove wa terborn e sewage. But that didn' t e nd th e proble m.
From time to time the dis posa l of raw sewage in rivers close to
horn e became unbearable; during th e Creal Stink of London
in 1858, for example, the reek of raw sewage in the nearby
Tha mes di srupted s illings of the House of Commons. Eventu -
ally, sewage treatment plants were bu ilt to treat efflu ents a nd
s ized to acco mmoda te wate rborne sewage combined with added
storm water during major ra ins.
The ori gin al idea was to take relati vely acti ve biologically
based sewage, principa ll y from humans (urine and ex<.: rernent,
the kind of waste tha t has interacted with the natura l world
for mille nn ia), and render it ha rmless. Sewage treatment was a
process of mi crobia l and bac te ria l d igestion. The solids were
removed as s ludge, and the rema ining liquid, which had
brought th e sewage to treatment in the firs t pl ace, could be re-
leased essentially as water. That was the original s trategy. But

100
 \IA ~ T!: [Ql' AL~ ~000

once the volume of s ewage overwhelmed the wa terways into

whi c h it flowed, har h c he mical treatme nts I ik e c hlorination
we re added to ma nage the process. At the s a me time, ne w prod-
ue ts were be ing ma rketed fo r household usc that were never
designed with sewage treatme nt pl a nt s (or aq uatic ecosyste ms)
in mind . In addition to biologica l was tes, people began to pou r
all kinds of things down the dra in: ca ns of pa int, hars h che mi -
cals to unclog pipes, blea ch, paint thinne rs, na il-poli s h re-
movers. And the waste itself now ca rried an tibi oti cs a nd even
estrogens from birth control pills. Add the va rious industri al
was tes, clea ne rs, c he mica ls, a nd othe r s ubsta nces tha t will join
household wastes, a nd you have highl y compl ex mixtures of
ehe mi ca l a nd bi ologi ca l s ubs ta nces tha t s till go by the na me of
sewage. Antimi c robia l produc ts -like ma ny soaps cu rre nt ly
ma rke ted for ba throom use-may sound des irable, but they a re
a problema ti c add ition to a syste m that reli es on mi crobes to be
effecti ve . Combine the m with a ntibioti cs a nd othe r antibacter-
ia l ingredie nts, and you may eve n set in rnotion a progra m to
c reate hype rres ista nt supe rbac te ri a.
Recen t. s tu di es have found hormones, e ndoc ri ne d is -
rupters, a nd oth er dangerous compounds in bod ies of wate r that
receive " treated " sewage e fflu e nts . These substa nces can con-
ta minate na tural syste ms a nJ Jriukiug-wate r suppli es and, as
we have noted , can lead to muta ti ons of aq ua ti c a nd a nimal life.
Nor have the sewage pipes the mselves been designed for bio-
logical syste ms; they contain ma terials a nd coatings tha t could
degrade a nd conta mina te efflu ents. As a re ult, even efforts to
re use sewage s ludge for fe rt il izer have been hampe red by fa rm-
e rs' concern over toxificati on of the so il.

101
 C II A[) t t: T0 C ll A 0 I. F.

If we a re going to design syste ms of efAu e nts tha t go back

in to the e n vironment, the n pe rhaps we ought to move back up-
s tream and think of a ll the things tha t a re J es igned to go into
s uc h syste ms as part of nutri e nt Hows . For exa mpl e, the mi ne ral
phos pha te is used as a fe rtilizer for c rops a round the world .
Typi ca l fe rti lize r us es pho ·pha te tha t is mined from roc k, how-
e ve r, a nd e xtrac ting it is e xtre mely des truc ti ve to the environ-
me nt. But phos pha te a lso occurs na turaJiy in sewage s ludge
a nd othe r orga nic wastes. In fact, in European sewage s ludge,
whic h is ofte n la ndfill ed, phospha te occurs in hi gher concen-
trati ons tha n it does in some phos pha te rock in China, whe re
muc h of it is mined to de vas ta ting e ffect on local ecosys te ms .
Wha t if we could design a sys te m tha t safely ca ptured the phos-
pha te already in c ircul ati on, ra the r th an discarding it a
s ludge?

From Cradle-to-Grave to Cradle-to-Cradle

People in volved in indus try, design, e nvironmentali s m, a nd re -

la ted fie lds oft e n refe r to a product's " life cyc le." Of course,
very fe w p rodu cts a re ac tua lly liv ing, but in a se nse we project
our vita lit y- a nd our morta lity-onto th e m. Th ey a rc ::;ome -
thing like fa mily me mbe rs to us . We wa ntthc m to live with us,
to belong to us . Jn Weste rn soc ie ty, people have graves, a nd so
do produc ts . We e njoy the idea of ourselves a s powerful , unique
indi vidua ls ; a nd we like to buy thi ngs tha i are bra nd-ne w, made
of ma te ria ls th a t a re " virgin." Ope ning a ne w produc t is a kind
of me taphori ca l deHora ti on: wrhis Vlrgm produc t is mine, for

102
 II ASTE E Q L AL S F OOD

the very first time. When I am finis hed with it (s pecia l, unique
pers on that I am), eve ryone is. It is hi story." Ind us tries des ign
and pla n according to this mind-set.
We recognize and unde rs ta nd the value of feeling ~ J.l e~,;i al ,

even unique . But with materials, it ma kes se nse to celebrate

th e sa meness a nd commonality that permit. us to enjoy the m-
in s pecial, e ven unique, produc ts -more tha n once. Wha t
would have happe ned, we sometimes wonder, if the l.ndu stria l
Revolution had ta ke n p lace in soc ieties that emphas ize the
community over the individual, and where people believed not
in a c radle-to-grave li fe cycle but in reincarna tion?

A World of Two Metabolisms

The overa rching des ign framework we ex is t within has two es -

sential ele ments: mass (the Ea1th) and ene rgy (the sun). Noth-
ing goes in or out of th e plane tary system except. for heat a nd
th e occasiona l meteorit e. Otherwise, for our practical purposes,
the system is closed, and its bas ic e leme nts m·e valuable and fi-
nite. Whateve r is naturall y here is all we have. Whatever hu-
mans ma ke does not go "away."
If our syste ms cont aminate Emth's bi ologica l mass a nd
continu e to throw away tec hnical materi al (s uch as metals) or
re nde r them useless, we will indeed live in a world of limits,
whe re production and cons umption a re restrained, and the
Ea rth will lite rally become a grave .
If huma ns are truly goi ng to pros per, we will have to learn
to imita te nature's hi ghly effecti ve cradl e-to-crad le system of

103
 CllAD LI.: TO CRAill. E

nutrie nt flow and meta bolism, in which th e ve ry co ncept of

waste does not exist. To eliminate the concept of wrtste means to
design things-producls, packaging, and S)'Stems-from the
very &eginning on the understanding that waste does not exist. It
mea ns that the valuabl e nutri ents conta ined in th e materials
shape and determine th e rl esign: form follows evolu tio n, not
just function. We think this is a more robust prospect than the
curre nt way of making things.
As we have indicated, th ere a re two di sc rt"te metabolisms
on the pla net. The fi rst is tlw biological metabolism, or the
biosphere-th e cyeles of nature. Tht" second is th e tech nical
metaboli sm, or tht" tec hnosphere-the <·yc l.cs of industry, in-
eluding the harvesting of tec hnical mat erial s from natural
plaees. With the ri ght design, a ll of th e products a nd materi als
manufactured by industry will safely feed these two metabo-
li ·ms, providi ng nouri shme nt for something IH'W.

Produc ts can he composed either of mate rials that biode-

grade a nd become food for biological cycles, or of technical
material s that stay in closcJ -loop techniml cycles, in whic h
th ey con tinually circul ate as va luable nutrie nts for industry. In
orde r for these two me ta bolisms to re main ht"a lthy, va luable,
and suc-eessfu l, grPat ca rP must be tak en to avoid contaminat-
iug one with the oth er. Things tha t go into the organ ic meta bo-
li sm mu st not conta in mulLlgens, carcinogens, pers istent toxins,
or othe r substa nees that acc umulat e in nat ural systems to dam-
aging effec t. (Some ma te rial s that would damage th e biological
metabolism, howeve r, could be safely handlt"d hy the tec hnical
metabo lism.) By the sa me token, biological nutrients are not
dPsigned to be ft"d into the technical metabolism. whe re they

104
would nol onl y be los t to the biosphere but would weaken the
quality of techni cal mat eri als or make their retrieval and reuse
more compli cated.

The Biological Metabolism

A biological nutrient is a ma te ri a l or product th at is des igned lo

return to the bi ological cycle- it is litera lly consumed by mi -
croorga nis ms in the soil and by other a nimals. Mos t packaging
(which makes up abo ut 50 percent of the vo lume of th e munic -
ipa l solid waste s tream) can be designed as biological nutri -
e nts, what we call products of consumption. The idea is to
compose these products of materi a ls tha t ca n be tossed on the
ground or compost heap lo s afely biodegrade aJter use- liter-
a lly to be consumed. There is no need for s hampoo boules,
toothpaste Lubes, yogurt and ice-cream cartons, juice contain -
e rs, and other packaging to last decades (or even centuri es)
longer th an what ca me ins ide them. Why s hou ld individuals
a nd communities be burdened wi th dow ncyc ling or la ndfi lling
s uch materia l? Wony-free packaging could safe ly decompose,
or be gath ered and used as fe rtili zer, bringing nutri ents back lo
the so il. Shoe soles could degrade to enric h the envi ronm ent.
Soaps and oth er liquid clean ing products could be designed as
biological nutrie nts as we ll; thai way, whe n they wash down the
drain , pass through a wetland, and end up in a la ke or ri ver,
they su pport the balance of th e ecosys tem.
In the early 1990s the two of us were as ked by DesignTex,
a di vis ion of Steelcase, to conceive and create a compostable

105
 C RA DLE TO C R ADLE

upholstery fabric, working with the Swiss tex tile mill Rohner.
We were asked to focus on creating an aesthetically unique fab-
ric tha t was also environme ntally intelli gent. DesignTex firs t
proposed that we consider colton cornLined with PET (polyeth-
ylene terephthalate) fibers from recycled soda boules. What
could be better for the e nvironment, they thought, than a prod-
uct that combined a "natu ral" materia l wi th a " recycled" one?
Such hybrid material had the additional apparent advantages of
bei ng read ily available, market-tested, durable, and cheap.
But when we looked carefully at the potential long-term
design legacy, we discovered some disturbing facts. F'irsl, as we
have mentioned, upholstery abrades during normal use, a nd so
our design had to allow fo r the poss ibility th at pmticles might
be inh aled or swallowed. PET is covered with synthetic dyes
a nd chemicals a nd contains other questionable s ubstances-
not exactly what you want to breathe or eat. Furthermore, the
fabric would not be able to continue after its useful life as e i-
ther a technical or a biological nutri ent. The PET (from the
plasti c bottles) wou ld not go bac k to the soil safely, and the cot-
ton could not be circ ulated in industrial cycles. The combina-
ti on would be yet another monstrous hybrid, adding junk to a
landfill , and it might also be dangerous. This was not a product
worth making.
We made clear to our c lient ou r inte ntion to create a prod-
uct that wou ld enter e ithe r the biological or the technical me-
tabolism, a nd the challenge crystallized for both of us. The
learn decided to design a fabric tha t would be safe e nough to
eat: it would not harm people who breathed it in, and it wou ld

106
 WA S TE EQU .~L S fOOD

not harm natural systems after its di sposal. In fac t, as a biolog-

ical nutrient, it would nourish nature.
The textile mill that was c hosen to produce the fabric was
qui te clean by accepted environmenta l s tand ards, one of the
best in E urope, yet it had an interesting d ile mma. Although the
mill's director, Albin Kaelin, had been d iligent about reduc ing
levels of dangerous e missions, government regulators had re-
cently defined the mill's fabric trimmings as hazardous waste.
The director had bee n told that he could no longer bury or burn
these trimmings in hazardous-was te inc inerators in Switzerland
but had to export them to Spain for di sposal. (Note the para-
doxes here : the trimmings of a fabric are not to be buried or
dis posed of without expensive precaution, or mus t be exported
"safely" to a nother location, but the material itself can still be
sold as safe for installation in an office or home.) We hoped for
a differe nt fate for our trimmings: to provide mulch for the local
garden club, with the help of sun, water, and hungry mi cro-
organis ms.
The mill inte rviewed peop le li ving in wheelchairs and dis-
covered that the ir most important needs in seating fabric were
that it be strong and that it "breath e." The team dec ided on a
mixture of safe, pesticide-free plant and animal fibers for the
fa hri~ : woo l, whic h provides ins ula tion in winter a nd summer,
and rami e, wh ic h wic ks moistu re away. Together these fibers
would make for a strong and comfortab le fabric. Then we began
working on the most difficult aspect of the design: the fini shes,
dyes, and other process chemicals. Instead of fi ltering out
mutagens, carc inogens, endocrine disrupters, persistent tox ins,

107
 C II A D u : T0 C II 1\ D I. E

a nd bioaccu mula ti ve s ubsta nces at the e nd of the process, we

would filte r the m out a t the beginni ng. ln fact, we would go be-
yond des igning a fabri c tha t would do no harm; we would de-
sign one that wa~ nutriti ous .
Six ty c he mica l companies dec.lined the in vita ti on to j oin
the proj ect, uncom fortabl e a t the idea of ex pos ing th e ir c he m-
istry to the kind of sc rutin y it would re q ui re. Finall y one E uro-
pean company agreed to join . With its help, we e limina ted from
cons ide ration a lmost e ight thous a nd c hemi ca ls tha t are com-
monly used in the textile ind ustry; we also th ereby e limina ted
the need fo r add itives a nd correc ti ve processes. Not us ing a
given dye, for example , re moved th e need for add itiona l tox ic
c he micals a nd processes to e ns ure ultraviole t-light s ta biliza-
ti on (tha t is, colorfastn ess). The n we looked for ingre dients tha t
had positive qua liti es. We e nded up selecting only th irty-e ight
of them, from whic h we c rea ted the e ntire fabric line . What
might seem like a n expens ive a nd la bori ous resea rch process
tu rn ed out to solve multipl e proble ms a nd to contribu te to a
highe r-qua lity produ c t that was ultima tely more economical.
The fa bric went into production. T he fa c tory director la ter
told us that whe n regula tors came on the ir rounds a nd tested
the effl ue nt (the water com ing out of the fac tory), th ey thought
the ir instrume nts were broke n. T hey could not ide nti fy a ny pol-
luta nts, not even e le me nts th ey kn ew were in the wa ter when it
carne into the fac tory. To con fi rm tha t the ir testing equi pme nt
was ac tuall y in working orde r, they c hecke d the infl ue nt from
the town's wate r ma ins . The e quipme nt was fin e; it was s imply
tha t by most parame te rs the wate r coming out of th e fac tory was
as c lea n as-o r even clea ne r th a n- the water goi ng in. Whe n a

108
factory's e fflu e nt is cl eane r tha n its influe nt, it might well prefer
to use its effiu e nt as influ e nt.. Being designe d into the ma nufac-
turin g process, this d ivide nd is free a nd requires no e nforce-
ment to con tinue or to expl oit. ot only d id our new design
process bypass the trad iti ona l res ponses to en vironmental
problems (reduce, reuse, recycle), it also elimina ted the need
for regul a tion, some thing tha t a ny b us inessperson will a pprec i-
a te as extre me ly valu able.
Th e process had additiona l pos iti ve side e ffects . Employees
began to use, fo r recreation and a dditi ona l work space, rooms
that were previously reserved for hazardous-chemi cal s torage.
Regu la tory paperwor k was elimina ted. Workers slopped weari ng
the gloves and masks that had given the m a thi n vei l of protec-
ti on aga ins t workplace tox ins . The mill 's prod uc ts beca me so
successful tha t it faced a new proble m: fi na nc ia l success, just
the kind of proble m bu s inesses want to have .
As a biological nutri ent, the fab ri c e mbodied the kind of
fecu ndity we find in na ture's work. Afte r custome rs finis he d us-
ing it, they cou ld s im ply tear th e fab ric off the c hai r frame a nd
th row it onto the soil or compost heap without fee ling bad-
even, pe rhaps, with a kind of re li sh. Th rowing something away
can be fun, let's a d mit it; a nd giving a guilt-free gift to th e nat-
ural world is a n in comparable pleasure.

The Technical Metabolism

A technical nutrient is a ma terial or produc t that is des igned to

go bac k into the technical cycle , into the ind ustria l me ta bolis m

109
 CRA DLE TO C RADLE

from which it came. The average television we analyzed, for ex-

ample, was made of 4,360 chemicals. Some of them are toxic,
but others are valuable nutrients for indus try that are wasted
when the televis.ion e nds up in a landfill. Isolating the m from
biological nutrie nts allows them to be upcycled rather than re-
cycled- to retain their hi gh quality in a closed-loop indus trial
cycle. Thus a s turdy plasti c computer case, for example , will
continually c irculate as a s turdy plastic computer case-or as
some othe r high-quality product, like a car part or a medical
device-instead of being downcycled into soundproof baniers
and f-lowerpots.
Henry Ford practi ced an earJy form of upcycling when he
had Model A trucks shipped in crates that became the ve hi cle's
floorboards when it reached its des tination. We are initiat ing a
similar practice that is a modest beginning: Korean rice husks
used as pac king for s tereo compone nts and electronics sent
to Europe, then re used there as a materi al for making bricks.
(Rice hus ks contain a high percentage of silica.) The pac king
material is nontoxic (rice hus ks are safer than recycled ne wspa-
pers, which conta in toxic inks and particles that contam inate
indoor a ir); its shi pping is inclusive in the freight cos ts the
electronic goods would incur anyway; and the concept of waste
is P.liminat.P.rl.
Industrial mass can be specifi cally des igned to retain its
high quality for multipl e uses. Cu rrentl y, wh en a n automobile is
discarded, its component s teel is recycled as an amalgam of all
its steel parts, along with the various steel alloys of other prod-
ucts. The car is crushed, pressed, and processed so th at high-
ductile steel from the body and stainless s teels are smelted

110
 WA STE EQUA L S FOOD

togethe r with various other sc rap steels and ma terials, compro-

mising th eir hi gh quality and drasti cally restricting their fur-
ther use. (It can' t, for example, be used to make car bodies
again.) The copper in its cables is melded into a gene ral com-
pound and lost to specific techni cal purposes-it can no longer
be used as a copper cable. A more prosperous design would al-
low the car to be used the way Native Americans used a buffalo
carcass, optimizing every eleme nt, from tongue to tail. Metals
would be s melted only with like metals, to re ta in their hi gh
quality; likewise for p lasti cs.
In ord er for such a scenario to be practical, however, we
have to introduce a concept that goes hand in hand with the no-
tion of a tec hnical nutrient: the concept of a product of service.
Instead of assuming that all products are to be bought, owned,
and di s posed of by "consumers," products conta ining valu able
technical nutri ents-cars, tele vi sions, carpeting, computers,
and refri gerators, for example- would be reconceived as ser-
vices people want to enjoy. In thi s scenario, customers (a more
apt term for the users of these products) would effecti ve ly pur-
chase th e service of s uch a product for a defined user period-
say, ten thousand hours of televi sion vie wing, rather than the
television itself. They would not be paying for complex materi-
als that th ~ y won't h ~ ab l ~ to use aft~r a product's current life.
When they finish with the product, or are simply read y to up-
grade to a newer version, the man ufac turer replaces it, tak ing
the old model back, breaking it down , and using its complex
materials as food for new produ cts. The customers would re-
ceive th e services th ey need for as long as they need the m and
could upgrade as often as desired ; manufacturers woul d con-

11 1
 CllA IJLE TO CllA ili.E

tinu e to grow a nd develop whi l.e retaining owners hip of their

material s.
A number of years ago we worked on a " re nt-a-solve nt"
concept for a c hemi cal compa ny. A so lve nt is a c he mical th ai is
used to re move grease, for exampl e, from mac hine parts. Com-
pa ni es ordinarily buy the c heapes l degreas ing sol vent avai l-
able, even if it co mes from ha lfway a round the globe. After its
use, the waste solvent is eith e r evaporaled or e ntered into a
waste treatme nt Aow, to be handled by a sewage treatme nl
pl a nt. The idea behind re nt-a-solvent was to provid e a degreas-
ing service us ing hi gh-qual il y solvents available to c ustomers
withoul. selling lh e s olve nt itself; the provid e r would recapture
th e e miss ions a nd separa te the solvent from the grease so thai il
would be availa bl e for continuous re use. Unde r lhese c irc um-
sta nces, the company had incenti ve to use high-qua lity so l-
venl s (how e lse to retain c ustomers?) a nd to re use it, with the
importan t s ide effect of keeping toxic ma te rials out of waste
Aows. Dow Che mi cal has experime nted wilh lhis conce pt 111

E urope, a nd DuPonl is ta king up this idea vigorou sly.

This scenario has tre me ndous impli cations for induslry's
mate rial wealth. Whe n c ustome rs fini sh with a trad itiona l car-
pel, fo r example, they must pay to have it re moved . At th a t
point ils male ri als a re a liability, not an asset- they a re a heap
of pe troc he micals a nJ olh e r pote ntially toxi c substa nces tha t
must be toted to a la ndfill. Thi s linea r, c radle-to-grave li fe cy-
cle has several negati ve conseque nces for bolh people a nd
industry. The e nergy, effort, a nd ma te ri als th a t we re put into
ma nufac turing the carpel are lost to the ma nufacturer once the
c uslome r purc hases it. Millions of pounds of pote ntial nutrie nts

112
 \1' ,\ S Tfc F.QUAL S FOOO

for th e carpe t indu stry alone are wasted eac h year, and new raw
mate ria ls mus t continua lly be extracted . Customers who decide
they want or need new carpe ting a1·e inconvenienced, fin a n-
cia lly hurn P-nP.d with a nP-w purcha sP. (thP- cosl oflht! unrecove r-
able mate rials mus t be bui lt into th e price), and , if they are
environm ent a ll y concerned , taxed with guilt as well about d is-
pos ing of th e old a nd purchas ing the new.
Carpet compani es have been among th e firs t indus tries to
adopt our produ c t-of-servi ce or "ceo-leas ing" concepts, but so
far they have applied the m to co nve ntiona ll y designe d prod-
ucts. An average comme rc ia l carpe t cons ists of nylon fibe rs
bac ked with fib e rglass a nd PVC. After th e produc t's useful life,
a manufac ture r typ ically downcycles it- shaves off some of the
nylon materia l for furth e r use a nd discard s the leftover ma teri a l
"soup." A lte rna tely, the manufac ture r may chop up the whole
thing, re melt it , and use it to ma ke more carpe t bac king. S uc h a
carpet was not origina lly designed to be recyc led a nd is bei ng
forced into anoth e r cycle for whi c h it is not ideally suited. But
carpe ting des igned as a tru e tec hnical nutri e nt would be made
of safe mate ri a ls des igned to be trul y recycl ed as ra w material
for fresh carpe ting, a nd the de li very syste m for its ser vice
woulJ cost the sa me as or less than bu ying il. One of our id eas
for a new des ign wou ld combin e a durable bot.t.om layer with a
detac ha bl e top. Whe n a c us tomer wants to replace the carpe t-
ing, t.he ma nufacturer s impl y re moves the top, snaps down a
fres h one in the des ire d color, anJ takes the old on e bac k as
food for furth er carpe ting.

• • •
113
 C ll A ili.F. T O C R ADLE:

Under this scenario, people could indulge the ir hunger for new
produc ts as ofte n as they wis h, without guilt, a nd indus try
could e ncoumge the m to do so with impunity, knowing tha t
both sides are s upporting the technical metabolis m in the
proces . A utomobile ma nufacture rs would want people to turn
in th eir old cars in order to regain valua ble ind ustria l nutri e nts.
Ins tead of waving industrial resources good -bye as the c us -
tomer d ri ves off in a new car, ne ve r to e nter the deale rs hip
again, automobil e compa nies could develop Ia ting a nd valu-
a ble rela tions hi p tha t e nh a nce custome rs' q ua lity of life for
ma ny decades a nd tha t continuall y e nric h the industry itself
with indus trial "food ."
Designing produ c ts as products of ser v.ice means designing
the m to be disassembled. Industry need not des ign wha t it
ma ke to be dura bl e beyond a certa in a mount of time, a ny more
tha n nature does. The dura bility of ma ny c urre nt products could
e ven be seen as a kind of inte rgene ra tiona l tyra nn y. Maybe we
want our things to li ve forever, but what do future gene ra tions
wa nt? What a bout. the ir right to the purs uit of life, l.ibeity, a nd
happiness, to a celebration of the ir own a bunda nce of nutrients,
of mate rials, of delight ? Ma nufacturers would, however, have
perma ne nt respons ib ilit y for s toring and, if it is possible to do
o safe ly, re us ing whate ve r pote ntially hazardous matP.ri als
the ir pmducts conta in. Wha t belle r incenti ve to e volve a design
tha t does without the hazardous ma te rials e ntirel y?
The ad vantages of this s yste m, whe n full y imple me nted ,
woul d be threefold: it would produce no useles a nd pote ntially
dangerous waste; it would save ma nufactu re rs billions of dol-
la rs in valua ble ma teria ls ove r time; a nd , because nutrie nts for

1 14
 WASTE EQU ,\ L S FOO D

new produc ts are cons tantly c irc ulated , it would dimini sh the
extracti on of raw ma te ri als (suc h as petroc he mi cals) a nd th e
ma nufacture of pote nti ally di sruptive ma te ri als, such as PVC,
and eventually phase them uut, n:~:sultiug in murt: :saviug:s tu the
manufacture r and enormous be nefit to the e nvironment.
A numbe r of products a re ah·eady be ing designed as bio-
logical a nd techni cal nutrients. But for the foreseeable future,
ma ny products will still not fit e ither category, a pote ntiaJiy
dangerous s itua tion. In addition , certain products cannot be
con11ned to one metabolism exclusively beca use of the way they
are used in th e wo rld. Th ese produc ts de mand spec ial allen-
Lion.

When Worlds Collide

If a product must, for the time being, remain a "monstrous hy-

brid," it may take ex tra inge nuity to des ign a nd ma rke t it to
have posi ti ve consequ ences for both the biological and techni -
cal metabolisms . Conside r the uninte nded des ign legacy of
the average pair of running s hoes, something many of us own.
While you a re go ing for your walk or run , an activi ty that s up-
posedly contributes to your hea lth a nd wei I.-be ing, eac h pound-
ing of your s hoes releases into th e environment tiny par-
ticles containing c he micals that may be teratogens, carc ino-
gens, or other s ubsta nces tha t can reduce fertility and inhibit
the oxid izing properti es of cells. The next rain will wash these
parti cles into the plants and soil a round the road. (If the soles
of your athl e ti c s hoes con ta in a spec ia l bubb le fi lled with gases

115
for c us hioning-some of which we re recently di scove red fac-
tors in global wa rmin g-you may a lso be co ntributing to cli-
mate c ha nge.) Running shoes can be redes igned so tha t their
soles are biological nutrients . The n when they breaks down un-
der pounding feet, they will nouri s h th e organic metabolis m in-
s tead of poisoning it. As long as the uppers re ma in techni ca l
nutrie nts, howeve r, th e shoes would be des igned for easy el isa -
sembly in order to be safe ly reci rc ul a ted in both cycles (w ith
the tec hni cal materia ls to he retrieved by the manufacture r).
Re tri e ving technica l nutrie nts from the shoes of fam ous a th-
le tes- and adverti s ing th e fact -could give a n a thl e ti c-gear
company a compe titi ve edge.
Some ma te ria ls do not fit into e ith e r the organ ic or tec hni-
ca l me ta bolism because th ey contain ma te ri als tha t a re haz-
a rdous . We call th e m unmarketables, and until tec hnologica l
ways of de toxifying the rn-or doing without the m- have been
de veloped, th ey a lso require c reative measures. They ca n be
storecl in " parking lots"-safe re pos itori es tha t the produce r of
the ma te ria l e ithe r ma intains or pays a s torage fee to use. Cur-
rent unmarketables can be recalled for safe storage, until they
ca n be de tox ified a nd returned as valuable mol ecules to a safe
human use. N uclear waste is clearl y a n unma rk etable; in a
pure se nse, the defin iti on s hould a lso inc lude ma te ri a ls know n
to have hazardous co mpone nts . PV C is one suc h example : in -
s tead of be ing inc ine ra ted or landfi lled, it mi ght ins tead be
safely "parked" until cos t-effec ti ve de toxification tec hnologies
have evolved. As c urre ntly made, P ET, with its a ntimony con-
Le nt, is another unmarke table: with some technologica l ingenu -
ity, ite ms tha t contai n PET, s uc h as soda bottles, rnight even be

116
 WA S TE EQIJAI. S f' O OD

upcycl ed to re move th e a ntimon y res idues and to c reate a c lean

polymer ready for continuous , safe re use.
Compa nies might unde rtake a waste phaseout, 111 whic h
unmarke ta bles-proble mati c was tes a nd nutri e nts- are re-
moved from the c urrent waste stre am. Certain polyeste rs now
on the market c ou ld be ga the red and the ir proble matic anti -
mon y re moved. Thi s would be pre fe ra ble to leav ing the m in
tex tiles, whe re they wi ll e ve ntually be dis posed of or inc in er-
a te d , pe rha ps the re fo re to e nte r na tural syste ms a nd nutrie nt
flo ws. The materials .i n certa in monstrous hybrids could be s im -
ilarl y gathe red and sepa ra ted. Cotton cou ld be composted out
of polyeste r-cotton tex tile ble nds, a nd the polyes ter then
re turn ed to tec hni cal eyc les. Shoe companies mi ght recover
c hromium from s hoes. Othe r indu stries mi ght retrie ve pa rts of
te levis ion sets and othe r service produc ts from landfills . Ma k-
ing a s uccessful trans ition requires leaders hip in these areas as
well as c reati ve owning up.
S hould ma nufacture rs of ex isting produc ts feel guilt y about
the ir compli c ity in thi s he re tofore destruc ti ve age nda? Yes. No.
It doesn't ma tter. Insanity has been defin e d as doing th e same
thing over and ove r and expecting a diffe rent outcom e. Negli -
gence is desc ribe d as doing the sa me thing over and over even
though yo u kn ow it is da nge rous, s tupid, or wrong. Now that we
know, it's time fo r a c hange. Negli gence s tarts tomorro w.

11 7
Chapter· Five

Respect Diversity

Imagine the primordial beginning of life on thi s pla net. There is

rock and wate r- matler. The orb of the sun sends out heat and
li ght--energy. Eve ntuaJly, over thousands of millenni a, through
chemical and physical processes scie ntists still don't fully un-
derstand, single-celled bacteria emerge. With the evolution of
photosynthes izi ng blue-green algae, a monumental cha nge
takes place. Chemistry and ph ys ics combine with the sun's
physical e nergy, and the Ea1th's c he mi cal mass turns into the
blue-green pla net we know.
Now biological syste ms evolve to feed on energy (rom th e
sun , and all heaven breaks loose. The planet's s urface explodes
with life forms, a web of diverse organi sms, pla nts, and an i-
mals, some of whi ch, billions of yea1·s later, will inspire power-
fu l religions, discover cures for fatal diseases, and write great
poems. Even if some na tu ral disaster occurs -if, say, an ice age
freezes large parts of the emth's sUiface-this pattern is not de-
stroyed. As the ice retreats, life c reeps back. In the tropics, a
volcano erupts and smothers the surrounding land in ash. But a
coconut shell floats across wate rs a nd ends up as debris on
a beach, or a s pore or spiderl ing moves through air, lands on a
crumbli ng roc k, and begins to reweave nature's web. It's a mys-
teri ous process, but a miraculously stubborn one. Wh en faced
with blankness, nature rises lo fill in the space.
This is nature's design frame work: a flowering of d iversity,

118
 HE ~V~ t T O I VE~ S ITY

a flowering of abund ance. It is Earth's response to its one

source of incoming e nergy: the s un.
The c urre nt design response of humans to th is fra mework
mi ght be called "allack of the one-s ize-fits-all." Laye rs of con-
crete a nd as ph alt obliterate forests, dese11s, coastal marshes,
j ungles-everythi ng in their path. Bui ldings that present a
bland , uniform fro nt ri se in communiti es where s truc tures were
for decades, even centuries, beaut ifu l and c ultura lly dis tinc t.
Spaces once lu h with foliage and wildlife s hr ink to margin al
places whe re onl y the hardiest spec ies-crows, roaches, mi ce,
pigeons, sq uirrels-s urvive. Landsca pes a re fla ttened into
lawns of a single s pecies of grass, a1tific ia ll y encouragecl to
grow but consta ntly cut bac k, wi th controlled hedges a nd a few
severe ly pruned trees. T he monotony s preads a nd s preads,
overwhe lming the details of place in its path. What it seems to
seek is s imply more of itself.
We see this as de-evolution- s impli fication on a mass
sca le -and it is not limited to ecology. For centuri es, our
spec ies has bui lt up a vari ety of c ultures across the globe, ways
of eating, s peaki ng, dressi ng, wors hiping, expressing, c reating.
A tide of sa meness is spreacl ing from sea to sea, sweeping away
these cultura l deta ils too.
Agains t this ti de of sameness we ad vance the prin cipl e
" respect d ivers ity." By thi s we mean to include not only b iodi -
vers it y but also cli vers ity of place and of cultu re, of des ire and
need, th e uni quely huma n element. How ca n a factory built in
a dese rt cli mate be delightfull y d iffe rent from one constructed
in the tropics'? What does it mean to be Ba linese, to be Mex i-

119
 ClliiO I.F. TO CRiiiJ I f:

can, a nd to ex press it? How can we e n ric h loea l spt>c ies. and
invite th em into our "c ulti vated" landscapes instead of destroy-
ing or c ha s in g the m away? fl ow can we ga in profit a nd pl easure
from a di ve rs ity of na tura l e ne rgy Hows? I low can we e ngage
with a n a bunda nce of di verse mate ri a ls, opti ons , a nd re-
s ponses, of c reative a nd e legant solutio ns?

The Fittest Survive, the Fitting-est Thrive

Po pula r wisdo rn ho lds tha t the fitt e st s urvi ve , th e s tro ngC'sl,

lea nest, la rgest, pe rhaps mea ne st- wha tever bea ls th(' compP-
titio n. But in hea lth y, thri ving nat ura l syste ms it is actua lly the
fitting-est who thri ve. Fill ing-es t impliPs a n Pne rgeti<' a nd rua-
teria l e ngageme nt with place, a nd a n inte rde pe nde nt re lati o n-
s hip lo it.
T hink aga in of the a nt s. We may have a n a rc hetypa l not io n
of "ant," but in fact tllC'r(' a rP more tha n e ight thousand d iffe r-
ent kinds of a nts tha t inh abit the rla nc t. Ov1:r milli ons of years,
eac h has evo lvNit o fi t its partic ular loca lE>, deve loping fea tu res
a nd be hav io rs tha t enable it to earve o ut a hab ita t and lo cu ll
the e ne rgy a nd nouris hment it needs. In the ra in fo n·s l, hun-
dre ds of di fferent s pcc ic;s uf a nts may eocx i:;t in the crown of a
s ingle la rge tree. T he r(' is the leaf-culle r a ni , with mand ibles
designed to eut and carry fo liage; the lire ani, a scavenger with
ad vanced methods of g ro u p tra ns port to IOtf' prey of vario us
s izes to its nest; the weave r a nt, with its ad vanced ph e ro mo ne
communication syste m usC'd to call a llie s a nd worke rs In war;

120
 H ~ 'i I' I C r IJ I I f H '-I r\

tht> lrap-jaw ani , whose feroc ious s rwpp1ng JaW is legenda ry.
Arou nd the world !here are anl s th ai hunl a lone. a nts !hat hunt
in grou ps, and a nls !hal raise broods of aph id "ea llle." whi ch
tll('y milk fo r s weet liq uid. In a startling u;:.e of sola r power,
hundre-ds of one eoluny's work ers may elusler on I he fores t noor
lo soak up s unli ghl befo re ca rrying ils wannlh in their vt"ry
bodies back down 10 I he nesl.
Being fi lling, ants do nol inevitabl y work lo destroy co m-
pel ing species. Ralher. tlw y compe te produel ivc- ly from !heir
ni(·hc-s, llw le nn scie nli sls use to deseriht" s pf'c ic-s' \'ariou,.,
zont"s of habilalion and resource use wi lhi n an ecosys tt"m. Jn
hi s book Diversify and th e Hain Pores/, John Te rborgh, a scie n-
list who has studied I he: compl ex ecosysll'ttt s of lhc rain fores t,
expla ins how te n s pee ies of an i wren ntanage lo !'olwbi l a s ingle
area of 1he forcsl while preying on tht" samP kinds of insects:
one- spe(·ies inha bils an area close lo lhe ground , St"Vt" ral more-
li ve in lhe middle li ens of lhe lrees, and anolher ocC'upies llw
high C'anopy. In eac· h of lhese areas, speei(•s forage difft> r-
c nlly- one middl e-li f' r wrc: n giP-ans lhe IPavcs fur insed s, a n-
olhcr lhe !wi gs and brunc hes. a nd so fo rllt, leaving food in the
olhc•r nidws.
The vita lily of ecosyste ms J epeud s on rt> lali ons hips: wha t
got>s o n beLW{'f'll sp ('(' il ·s, I he ir uses and cx<"hunges of matet·ials
unci t"ne rgy in a givr n pl ac·<". A lapeslry is lite mclaphor oflen
in vok ed lo desc ribe di vt" rs il y, a ri chl y lex lured web of indi viJ -
ual s pec ies woven togelhe r with inte rlocking !as ks. In s uelt
a selling, di vcrsil y means s trength, a nd monopullure nwa ns
Wt"a knt"ss. R!:'rnove lite lhrcads. o1w by one . and an ecosystt"m

12 1
 (. R I IJ I. f. r0 C R A 0 I. E

becomes less sta ble, less abl e to withstand natural catastroph e

and disease, less able to stay healthy and to evolve over ti me.
The more d ivers ity the re i , the more producti ve functions- for
the ecosystem, for the pla net- are pe rformed.
Each inhabitan t of an ecosyste m is the refore interdepen-
dent to some extent with the othe rs. Every creature is involved
in ma in taining the entire sys te m; all of the m work in c reati ve
a nd ultima tely effec ti ve ways for the success of the whole. The
leaf-culle r ants, for exampl e, recycle nutri ents, taking them to
deeper soil la yers so tha t pla nts, worm , and mi croorgani ms
can process the m, a ll in the course of gatheri ng a nd s tori ng
food for themselves. Ant s eve rywhere loosen and ae rate the so il
around plant roots, he lping to make it permeable to water. Trees
tra nsp ire and purify wate r, make oxygen, a nd cool the p lanet's
surface. Each s pec ies' industry has not onl y indi vidual and lo-
cal impli cations but global ones as we ll. (In fact, some people,
s uc h as those who subscribe to the Gaia princ iple , go so far as
to perceive the worl d as a s ingle giant organ is m.)
If nature is our mode l, what does it mean for huma n indus-
tri es to be in volved in ma inta ining a nd e nri ch ing th is vibrant
tapes try? Firs t, it means that in the cou rse of our ind ividual ac-
ti vities, we work towa rd a ri ch connect ion with place, and not
:,imply with surrounding ecosyste ms; b iod ivers ity is only one
aspect of di vers ity. Indus tri es that respect d ivers ity engage with
local materia l a nd energy Oows, a nd wi th loca l social, cu ltural,
a nd economi c forces, in lead of viewing the mselves as au-
tonomous enti ties, unconnected to the culture or la ndscape
around them.

122
 llE S Pt; C T OlYEil S I T\

All Sustainability Is Local

We begin to make huma n syste ms a nd industries fittin g whe n

we recognize that a ll s usta inab ility ( just li ke oU politics) is lo-
cal. We connect the m to local mate rial a nd e ne rgy flows, a nd to
loca l c ustoms, needs, a nd tas tes, from the leve l of the molec ule
to the level of the region itself. We cons ider how the c hemi cals
we use affect local w <:~ t e r a nd soil- rathe r th a n contam ina te,
how might they nou ris h?-wha t the produc t i made from, the
s urroundings in whi c h it is made, how our processes inte ract
wit h what is happe ning ups tream a nd downs trea m, how we ca n
c rea te mea ningful occ upations, e nha nce the region's economic
a nd phys ica l health, a cc ru e biological a nd techni cal wea lth for
the futu re. lf we import a mate ri al from a di sta nt pl ace, we
honor wha t happened the re as a local event. A we wrote in
Th e Hannover Principles, " B.ecogni ze inte rde pe nde nce. T he el-
e me nts of huma n design a re e ntwi ned with a nd de pe nd upon
the natura l wo rld , with broad a nd di ve rse impli ca ti ons a t eve ry
sca le . Expand des ign co ns idera tions a nd recogni ze di stant ef-
fect ."
When Bill trave lt>cl to Jorda n with his professor in 1973 to
work on a long- te rm plan for the future of the East Ba nk of the
J ord a n River Va ll ey, the team's des ign a:,:, ignme nt ww; to ide n-
ti fy stra tegies for buil d ing towns of the futu re in whic h the
Beclouin could se ttl e, now th a t political borde rs had put a stop
to the ir trad iti ona l nomadi c mi grati ons. A compe ting team pro-
posed Sov ie t-style prefabri ca ted hous ing bl oc ks of a sort that
lwea me ubiqu itou · in tht' former Easte rn Bloc a nd USSR,
"a nywhe r<'" building!; tha t can be found from S ibe ria to th€'

123
 (ll\lll~ TO C. R\ IJI.E

Caspian Desert. The buildings t.he mselvt-s wou ld be trucked

down rough roads from a n industrial ct-nlcr in the hi ghl ands
rwar Amman a nd as!'wmblt>d in tbe valley.
Bill and his coll t>agut>s created a proposal to adapt and c n-
couragf' adobe slruetures. Loca l peoplr could bui ld tlwse with
nwlf' ria ls a l hand- clay a nd straw, horse, came l, or goal hair,
and (not least) abundant sun. The materi als we re anc ie nt, well
und erstood, and uniqur•ly suited to the hot, dry c li mate. The
stru ctures the mselves were des igned lo opl im izC' lempf'rature
flu x over the course of the day a nd year: a t ni ght the ir mass ab-
sorbed a nd stored th e coolness of th e ai r. whi eh would keep the
intf' rior te mpe rature down du ring th e hot df'sf' rl days. The team
tracked down e lde r cra fts p<'ople in th e rf'g ion wlru could show
them lruw to bu ild thf' slnwlures (espec ially tlrf' domes) and
tlwn train tlw Bf'douin youths (who had grow n up with tf' nl s) to
bu ild 11 ith a nd rr pa ir adoh<' in tht> futurf'.
The question th at helped to guide the !Pam's work al eve ry
levt>l was: What is till' ri ght thing for this place"? Not prefabri-
ca ted elements, or maste ry of th e landsca pe with a uni versal
mod ern style, they co nc luded. They hoped ti H'i r pla n would e n-
ha ncf' tha t. pmiicular community in SC'vNal way!>: thf' homes
wf'rf' built fro m loca l materials th at. werf' biologically a nd tec h-
nically rf' usahle. Emp loying tlw se matt>rials a nd the servin·:; of
nearby craftsme n wou ld genNalf' local economi c aet ivil y and
support as many rf's idenl s as possible. It would involve local
peo piP in building thf' c·onrruunity and keep tlr f' m connected to
tlw region's cultura l he ritage, whi ch tlw stru ctures' aesthe tic
di:-.tinclil·f' ness itself lr<' lp('d to perpetual!'. En listing local
craftsmen to tra in young pC'ople in the use of loca l mate ria ls

t24
 llE S PECT D IV E H S I T Y

and techniqu es would encourage a n intergenerati ona l. connec-

tion.

Using Local M aterials

The id ea of local sus tainability is not limi ted to materia ls, but
it begins with the m. Us ing local materia ls opens th e doors to
profitable local e nterprise. It also avoids th e problem of bioin-
vas ion, whe n tra nsfer of materi als from one region to anothe r
inad verten tly introduces in vasive nonnative s pecies Lo frag ile
ecosystems. Ches tnu t b li ght, respons ible fo r wi ping out chest-
nul trees in the United States, e nte red this cou ntry on a pi ece
of lum be r from China. Chestnuts were a dominant tree of the
eas tern forests. The other nati ve spec ies evolved together with
them, and now they are gone .
We consider not only phys ical materials but physical
processes a nd the ir effect on the surrounding environme nt. In-
stead of destroying a land scape with conventi onal hac k-and-
mow practices, we imagine how to invite more local s pecies in
(as we did with the Herman Miller factory) . By seeing sustain-
ability as both a local a nd a global event, we can understand
that jus t as it is not viabl e to poison local water and air with
was te, it is eq uall y un acceptable to se nd it downstream, or to
ship it overseas to other, less regulated shores.
Perhaps the ultimate example of effective use of local ma-
ter ials lies in processing what we know as human waste -a
fundam e ntal app li cation also of the princ iple " waste equals
food." We have been wo rking on the c reati on of se wage treat-

125
 C H A D LE TO C H 1IDL E

me nt p la nts based on b iore mediat ion (the breaking down and

purifying of wastes by na ture), to replace the conventional
harsh che mi ca] treatme nt of sewage. Biologis t John Todd calls
these systems "living machines," because they use li ving or-
ganis ms-plants, algae, fis h, s hrimp, mi c robes, a nd s o on-
ins tead of tox ins like c hlorin e to purify water. Th ese li ving
machines a re often associa ted with artifi cial environme nts c re-
a ted in greenhouses, but th ey have ta ke n a ll kinds of forms .
Some of the syste ms we are c urre ntly integrating into our proj -
ects a re designed to work outs ide a nd year-roun d, in all k inds
of clima tes. Oth ers a re cons truc ted wetla nds, or even reed beds
Aoating on a tox ic lagoon, outfi lled with littl e windmills to move
the s ludge through.
f or developing countri es, this a pproach to sewage trea t-
me nt. represents a huge opportunity to max imize nutrie nt Aows
a nd imple ment a nutritious age nda right away. As the tropics
rapi dly deve lop, pop ul a ti ons are expanding, a nd th e pressure to
clean up e ffiu e nts (and the bod ies of wa ter in whic h they are
routin ely di spos ed) increases. Ins tead of adopting a one-size-
fi ts-all des ign solu tion tha t is highly ineffec ti ve in the long run ,
we a re e ncouraging these dive rse c ultures to deve lop new
s ewage treatme nt sys te ms th at ma ke waste equa l food. In 1992
a model was te treatme nt s yste m developed by Mic ha el a nd his
coll eagues was opened at Silva .J a rdin , in the province of Rio,
Brazi I. It was locall y fa bricated using clay pipes tha t carried
wastewater from village res ide nts to a la rge se ttling la nk , th e n
into an intricately co nnected se ries of s ma ll ponds full of a n as-
tonishing d ive rs ity of plants, mi c robes, sna ils, fis h, and shrim p.
The s ystem was des igned to recover nutrien ts along the way,

126
 H~ S PfCT DI VERS ITY

prod uc ing c lean, safe d rinking water as a by-product. Fanners

comp eted for access to thi s purified wate r and to the sludge's
valuable ni trogen, phos phorus, and trace mate rial s as nutri ents
for farming. Ins tead of being a liability, the sewage was from
the ou tset perceived a nd treated as a n asset of great valu e.
A community we are working with in Indiana s impl y s tores
its septage (the solids from sewage) in underground tanks dur-
ing the chilly wi nters. ln the s ummer, whe n th e su n s h ines long
and bri ght, the septage is moved to a large outdoor garden and
co ns tructed wetland, whe re plants, mi crobes, fun gi, snails, and
oth er organis ms purify and use its nutrients with the power
of th e s un. Thi s s ystem is locally relevant in several ways. lt
wor ks with th e seasons, optim izing solar power when it is avail-
able, instead of forc ing treatme nt during the winter whe n sola r
hea l is s carce. It uses na ti ve nutr ients a nd pla nts for a process
that return s qua lity drinking water to the aquifer a nd sus tains a
love ly garden. T he community ends up with milli ons of sewage
treatment " pla nts"-a li ving exampl e of bi od ivers it y.
A further poi nt: in thi s case, there was only one logica l s ite
for sewage treatment, on the edge of the community next to a
major hi ghway-which happens to be ups tream. Because they
have kept th e effects of th e ir sewage local, residents think
twice a bout pouring a dangerous s ubstance down the s ink, or
about mixing tec hnical a nd bi ological mate ri a ls. Jt re nde rs pal-
pable to them tha t their efflu ents do maller, not in some ab-
stract way, but to real people and their famili es. But even if we
had been able to s itu ate th e sewage site "away," we would have
don e well to ac l as if it were ri ght where it is. In planetary
terms, we' re all downstream.

127
 C H,\IJL E TO CH ,\DL E

Connecting to Natural Energy Flows

In the 1830s Ralph Waldo Eme rson traveled to Europe o n a

sailboat a nd re turned on a steamship. Jf we loo k a t thi s mome nt
sy mbol ica ll y, we could say he we nt ove r o n a recyclabl e vessel
tha t was solm-powe red, opera ted by cra ftsme n practi c ing an -
c ie nt a rts in the ope n a ir. 1-le re turn ed in wha t would become a
steel ru st buc ke t spewing oil o n th e wate r a ncl s moke in the s ky,
opera te d by rne n s hove lin g fossil fu e ls into the mou th.; of
boile rs in th e dark. In Ir is jou rna ls on the way bac k irr th e
s tea ms hip, Eme rson noted the lac k of wha t he wis tfull y de-
sc ribed as th e co nnec ti o n to th e " Aeoli a n kine ti c"- the force
of the wind. He wondered a t the impli cati ons of these c hanging
comwctions be twee n huma ns and nature.
Some of those implications mi ght we ll have dis mayed him.
With ne w te c hnologies a nd brule fo rce e ne rgy s upplies (s uc h as
foss il fuel s), the Indus tri a l Revo luti on ga ve huma ns unprece-
de nted powe r ove r na ture. No longer we re people so de pe nde nt
o n natural forces, o r so he lpl ess against the vic iss itudes of land
a nd sea. They cou ld override nature to a ccomplish th e ir goals
as never before . But in the process, a massive di sconnecti on
has ta ken p lace. Mode rn homes, buildings , a nd fac tori es, even
whol(' e iti es, are so c losed off from na tura l e ne rgy flows th at
they a re virtu a l steams hi ps. 11. was Le C01·bus ie r who said the
housf was a mac hine for li ving in , and he glorified s tea mships,
a long with airplanes. cars, and grain eleva to rs . In point of fac t,
the buildings he des ig ned had e ross-vent i Ia Li on a nd othe r
pe opl e -fri e ndl y e le me nt s, but a s his messa ge was tak e n up hy
the mod e rn moveme nt, it evo lved into a machin e like same ness

128
 B f. ,; P f: C T I) I V f. H S I T Y

of d es ig n. Glass, the heroic materia l tha i could conn ect indoors

and ou tdoors, was used as a wa y of culling us off from nature.
Whil e the s un s hone, peop le toil ed unde r Auoresce ntlights . lit-
e ral ly work in g in the dark. Our s tru<·lures mig ht be mac hines
fo r li ving in , hut the re was no longer mu c h a bout the m tha t was
a li ve. (A 1998 Wall Streel Journal arti c le about o ur buildings'
novel feature of having windows tha t ope n- tha t be ing a hot
new co lmnodity-refl e<·ted a true low point in the a nna ls of
I'Oillerr1porary <·nmnw rcia l arc h ilf'c lu n•.)
What a far cry fi·o nr the sa ltbox hou ses of colo nial New
Eng la nd , cons tru cted with a hi gh south s ide whe re 1he house's
prec ious wind ows were mostl y c lu ste red, lo max imi ze ex posure
to the wint e r s un. ( In s umme r, the leaves of a la rgt> mapl e to the
southwest prov ided s he lt f' r from the s un.) A C'f'nlra l fire pl ace
a nd c himney mass providf'rl a wa rm ~wartfr al the hea r! of the
home , a nd thf' low norllr roof hudd led th e hea le d mass away
from co ld be hind a windrow o f everg reen lrees pl a nted and
maintained ex pressly fo r the purpose. The s tru cture a nd the
s urround ing la nds('ape worked togethe r as a total d esign.
II i:; easy lo forget, in the gas-powe red g lare of a pos tindu s-
tria l age. that nol onl y loca l mate rials and cus toms but <~n e rgy
fl ows have prove nance. In less indus tri a li zed pa rts of th e world ,
howeve r, c rea ti ve a pproac hes lo ca pturin g loca l e ne rgy Aows
arc s till very much <J ii ve. 'l'h f' aborigina l people o n the coast of
Aus tra lia have a ~i mpl e, t>lega nl strategy fo r harn essing s un -
light : two fork ed sti c ks with a s ingle pole across th e lop make a
bea m again st w·hi c h bark is laid an d ove rlapped li ke roof t iles
on th e south side durin g coo le r month s, so the inha b itants can
sit in the warm no rth s un. In SII IIIII W r. Ihey move the bark lo the

129
 CKAOL£ TO CR\DJ.F.

north side to block the sun and sit on th e oth er side, in th e

shade. Their entire " building" consists of a few sticks a nd bark
ingeniously adapted to loc-al circumsta nce.
Wind lowers have been used for thousa nds of years in hot
climates to capture airfiows a nd draw them through dwell ings.
In Paki sta n, chimneys Lopped with " wind scoops" literall y
scoop wind and channel it down the chimney, whe re the re
mi ght be a smal l pool of water for cooling the wind as it moves
downward and into the house. Ira nian wind towers consist of a
ventil ated structure that constantl y drips water; air comes in,
flows down the chimney with its dripping sides, a nd ent ers th e
house, cooled. At Fatcpur Sikri in Ind ia, porous sand stone
screens, some times irrtrical cly carved , were saturated with wa-
ter to cool air passing throu gh. Jn the Loess Pla ins of China,
people dig their homes in the ground to seeurc shelter from
wi nd a nd sun.
But with mode rn irrduslrializal ion a nd its products, suc h as
la rge sheets of window glass, a nd the widespread adopti on of
fossil fuels for c heap a nd <:asy healing and cooling, such local
ingenuity ha · faded from industria li zed areas, and even in rural
rf?gions it is in decline. Oddly enough, professional a rc hit ects
seem lo get by wi thout und erstanding the bas ic principles
thai inspired aneienl building and archi ted ure orientati ons.
Whe n Bil l gives talks lo arehit ects, he asks who knows how to
firrd lrue south- not magneti c or " map" south but tru e solar
south- and gels few or no hands (and, strange r still , no re-
qu ests lu learn how).
Connecting to na tural flows allows us to re think everythin g
under th e sun: the very concept of power plants, of e nergy,

130
 RE S P E C T DIVER S I TY

habitation, and transportation. It means merging anc ie nt and

new technologies for the most intelligent des igns we have yet
see n. What it doesn' t mean, however, is to become " inde pe n-
dent." The popu lar image of going solar is linked to the concept
of "going off the grid"- becoming cut off from the current
energy infras tructure . This is not at all what we are implying.
Firs t of all, a rene wed connection to natural flows will of neces-
sity be gradual, and making use of ex is ting systems is a sensi-
ble transitional s trategy. Hybrid sys tems can be designed to
draw upon local renewable ene rgy Aows in addition to a rtificial
sources while more optimi zed solutions are bei ng developed
and implemented. In some cases, solar power- and a lso wind
and water power--can be c hanneled into the current system of
ene rgy s uppli es, greatly dimini shing the load of artifi cial en-
ergy needed and even saving money. Is thi s eco-efficiency? By
all means. But it is eco-effic ie ncy as a tool in service to a larger
vision, not as a goal in itse lf.
In the long run , connecting to natural energy fiows is a
matte r of reesta blis hing ou r fun dam ental connection to the
sou rce of a ll good growth on the pla ne t: the sun , that tre men-
dous nucl ear power pla nt 93 million miles away (exactly where
we want it). Eve n at such di stances, the s un's heat can be dev-
astating, and it commands a healthy respect for the delicate or-
chestration of circumstances that makes natural e nergy fiows
poss ible. Humans thrive on the earth under s uc h inte nse e ma-
nations of heat and light onl y because billi ons of years of evo-
lutionary processes have created the atmosphere a nd sUJface
that support our existence-the soil, pla nt life, and cloud cover
that cool th e planet down a nd d istri bute water around it, keep-

13 1
 C ll \ D I. f~ T0 C ll A I) I. t:

ing the a tmosph e re wi thi n a te mpe rate range that we ean li ve

in. So reestablis hing our co nn ec tion to the s un by d e finiti o n in-
cludes ma intaining interde pe ndence with all the othe r ec-ologi-
c a l circ umsta nces that make natural e ne rgy flows poss iLJ e in
the firs t plaee.
He re arc ~o rn e thou ghts on- and exa mpl t:>s or--ways of
o ptimizing crlt"r{!;y p roduc tio n a nd usP., in which di vers it y plays
a key ro le.

A Transition to Diverse and Renewing Energy Flows

Earli e r, we co ns ide red how di ve rs ity make:; an ecosyste m more

res ili e nt a nd a hle to respond s uccess full y to c ha n ge. Ouring
Limes of unex pec ted dis rupti on- li ke the s umme r o f 2001,
when unus ua ll y hig h e ne rgy d emanu in Cali fornia led to rolling
blac kouts, s k yrocketing pri ces, eve n acc usa tio ns of profit ee r- .
in g-a more complex sy::;le rn ca n adapt a nd s urvive. The same
is true o f an e co nomi c system: a di s tributed indus try mak es for
many smal l pl ayers, and a more s tabl e, res ili e nt syste m for both
provid ers and cus to mers . And from an eco-effee ti ve pers pec-
ti ve, th e g rea test innovations in e ne rgy s u pp ly a re be ing ma d e
by s mall-scale plants at the loca l leve l. Fo r exa mpl e, in ou r
wo rk with o ne uti lit y in Indi a na, it appears that produ c ing
powe r at the sca le of on f' s mal l plan t for every thre e c ity bloc ks
is drama ti cal ly mo re effe cti ve tha n more centra lized produc-
tio n. The s horter di s tances reduce the powe r lo s t in high-
voltage trans mission to insignificant levels .
Nuclea r powe r plan ts a nd othe r la rge-scale e ne rgy pro-

132
 IIESP EC T DII' ER S ITY

viders throw off tre me ndou s heat ene rgy th at goes unu sed and
oft en disrupts the s urrounding ecosyste m, as whe n it is cooled
by way of a neighboring river. With ;;maHer utilities, .i t becomes
possible to ha rness was te heal to feed local needs . For exam-
ple, the hot wa te r ge ne rated by a s ma ll fu e l cell or mi cro-
turbin e ins ta ll ed in a res taurant, sa y, or even a res id ence, ca n
be put to imme d iate use, a te rrif1c con veni e nce (a nd savings) to
bu;;in esses and homeowne rs .
Rath e r tha n ins tall more large-;;ca le powe r-gene rating
equ ipme nt to meet pea k e nergy loa ds, utility co mpanies can in -
tegra te sol a r collectors as produ c ts of service with syste ms c ur-
re ntl y in use. l~es i dents a nd bus inesses cou ld be asked for
pe rmiss ion to lease the ir south-fac ing or flat roofs fo r this pur-
pose, or to access sola r collectors a lready in pl ace. (These roofs
need not look Iike cas toffs from the ;;pace program, by the way.
The ubiquitou s flat comme rc ia l roof is easy to solarize, a nd the
least ex pe ns ive solar arrays a re s impl y laid down like tiles. In
many pa rts of Ca lifornia they are cost-eff~ctive now.) During
peak use tinws, thi s d ivers e ly s uppli e d syste m is muc h more in
tune with its own peak s; the highest demand on the powe r sys-
te m is c rea ted by the desire for air-conditioning, whe n the sun
is hi gh- ex ac tl y wh e n sola r coll ec tors a re working best. It can
meel pe riod s of inte nse de mand mu c h more flex ibly tha n cen-
trali zed ene rgy monoc ultures of coal, gas, a nd nu c- lear power.
Another approach to the dramati c (and ex pe ns ive) flu c tua-
ti ons in e ne rgy demand: " intelligent" appliances tha t rece ive
info rmation about the c urre nt pri ce of power along with the
powe r itself, and c hoose from a lte rnate power sources at:cord -
ingly, li ke a broke r instruct ed to bu y or sell a ceord ing to the

133
 CR ADLE TO CUAIJLE

ri se and fall of a given s tock pri ce. Why s hould you be pay ing
prime-time rates to have your refrigerator chi ll your milk a t two
o'clock on a s umme r afte rnoon, wh e n ai r-conditioning use has
the cit y on the verge of rolling blackouts? lnsteaci , your appli -
a nce could decide-accordi ng to c ri teria you dete rmi ne-when
to buy power a nd whe n to turn to a bl oc k of e utecti c sa lts or ice
that it conveni e nt.ly froze the night befo re, ready to keep your
refri gera tor coo l until dema nd and pri re come down. It's back
to th e fut ure : vo il a, you have an icebox. But you' re a vailing
yourself of th e c heapest, mos t read ily ava ilable powe r for a sim-
ple process, a nd you're not compe ting with the need of a hos-
pital eme rgency room to do so.
A s imilar foc us on d ivers ity and imm ed iately available re-
sources resulted in a break th rough in e ne rgy use in a la rge
automot ive manufacturing fac ility. The e ngineers were ha ving a
diffic ult Lime finding a n affordable way to make wo rk ers com-
forta ble. All the lillie things tha t cou ld save money were n't
adding up to muc h. They we re working with a typi ca l a pproach
Lo healing a nd cooling, in whi ch thermosta ts placed near burn-
e rs and a ir-conditioning units up nea r the roof sensed the need
to coo l or heat the building. In winte r, hot air rose toward the
roof, drawin g in cold air from outs ide, a nd had to he heated
again hy hurnP r~ and pum ped down to d is place the rolcl air it
drew in. All thi motion of a ir created an un welcome breeze
th at required even more hea lin g to count e rac t.
An e ngineer named Tom Kiser, of Professional Supply
Incorporated , proposed a radi ca l ne w s tra tegy. Ra the r tha n
drilling column s of cooled or heated a ir (as the seasons re-
quired) down toward e mployees a t hi gh s peed from "effi cientl y

134
 I{[SI'F:C.T lliVEU'iiTY

des igned" fa ns a nd duct at the top of the bui ld ing, he s ug-

geste d approac hing the bu il d ing itse lf as a giant d uct. Whe n
the builtling was pressurized with the hel p of four "bigfoots"-
s imple la rge uni ts -a ny holes in the struc ture, windows a nd
doors, for exa mpl e, could b!' made to pass a ir li ke pi nholes in
a n inne r tube, leaking ai r out rath e r tha n le ttin g it in. This had
some s ignifi ca nt uenefits . In war111 weat her, you cou ld si m-
ply d rop a blank!'l of te mpe rate a ir in th e bu ilding, and it
would s ink to th e fac tory fl uor without the need for multi ple a ir-
conditioning units or hi gh-speed fans, whi c h wou ld have been
dramati call y more expens ive to ope rate, no mall.er how effi-
c ientl y they we re made to fun c tion. During the win te r, a b lan-
ket of cool ai r acted as a lid, keeping the warm a ir generated by
the fac tory equipme nt down on the Aoor, whe re people needed
th e heat. (Withou t the breeze c reated by excessive a ir mo-
ti on, a nything about 68 d!'grees Fahre nhe it fe lt ple nty warm
e nough.) In oth e r words, Kiser's geni us was to hea l with cool
a ir. The rmosta ts we re placed near 1'111ployees, not in the equ ip-
me nt up nea r th e roof, in keeping with the idea of heating and
cooling people as needed, not the bu ild ing itself.
O the r be nefi t acc rued. For exa mple, in a conventional
sys te m, the opening a nd c losing of truck doc ks consta ntl y leaks
in uneom fo tia bly hot or el! ld a ir. A pressurized system keeps
undes ired a ir a t bay ra the r th an hav in g to cool or heal it to
restore the s tatu s quo. And excPss heat gene rated hy a ir
compressors (1vhi c h lose 80 pe rce nt of the e ne rgy they use as
"was te" heal), we lde rs , and oth er equipme nt could be eas il y
capture d a nd consoli dated for use in the bigfoots. It turns what
is genera lly a was te a nd a the rma l liabil ity in to a wo rki ng asset.

135
 C llALJLE 1"0 C R~Il L F

If you combined such a syste m with a grass roof to insulate the

slnJclure and protect it frorn heal ga in in the summer, wind loss
in the winter, and the wear a nd tea r of dayli ght, you'd be treat-
ing the bu ild ing as an ae rodyna mic event, designing it li ke a
machine-hut th is time, instead of a machine for li ving in, a
machine tha t's alive.

Reap the Wind

Wind power offers sim ilar possibili ties for hybrid syste ms that
rna ke more effec ti ve use of local resources. In places lik e
Chi cago, th e "wind y c ity" (where we are working with Mayor
Richard Daley to help c reate " the greenest ci ty in th e United
, tales"), and the Buffalo Ridge, whi ch runs along th e borde r of
Minnesota and South Dakota a nd is sometimes referred to as
the Saudi Arabia of wi nd, it's not diffic ult to imagine what local
source of pote nti al energy is most abu nd<Jnl. We are already
seeing multi-megawatt wind farms on the Ru ffalo Hid gc, and
the state of Minnesota has offe red incenti ve progra ms for wind-
fa rm developme nt. The Pae ir1c orth west, too, now sees itself
as a wind-powe r powerhouse, a nd new wind farms are springi ng
up in Pe mn;ylvani a. Florida. and Texas. Eu rope has had ag-
gress ive wi nd-energy programs for years.
From an eo1-effee ti ve perspec ti ve, howeve r, the design of
conventional wind -power plants is not always optima l. The new
wind farms are hu ge-as nwny as a hundred windmills (w ind
turbines, actuall y) grouped together, eac h of the m a Gol ia th ca-
p<~ hie of producing one megawatt of elec· tri city with a blade

136
 lt[ S PE C T DIVF.RSITY

span the length of a footbal l field. Deve lopers Iik e the central-
ized infrastruc ture, but the high-powered trans miss ion lines
they require means new giant lowers ma rc hing over a once bu-
co li c landscape, in add iti on to the windmills the mselves. Al so,
modern windmills are not des igned as techni cal nutrients with
ecologicall y intelli gent mate rial s.
Think bac k to those famous Dutch landscape pa intings.
The windmi ll s were always located a mong the fa rms, a s hort
dis tan ce from the fi eld s, for <;onve nie nt water pumping a nd
milling. They were distributed across the land a t a sca le appro-
pri ate to it, a nd they we re made from safe local materials-and
looked beautiful to boot. ow imag ine one of the new windmill s
dis tribut ed on every few fa mil y farms in th e G reat Pl a in s. As
with sola r collectors, utilities could lease land from the fa nne rs
for thi s pu rpose, distributing the windmill s and the powe r th ey
gene rate in a way th a t optimi zes exis ting power lines a nd re-
quires few new ones. The farm e rs gel muc h-needed s upple-
me ntal income, and the utility gels to reap the power, whic h it
adds to the grid. One of our projects for a utomoti ve e ne rgy con-
ceives of wi nd power reaped in just t.hi s way; we ca ll it " Ride
the Wind. "
Th ose who have diffi culty imagining thi s becoming a major
source of e ne rgy mi ~;ltt cu11~ id e r wha t the treme ndow; indus trial
capacity tha t a llows th e Unit ed Stales to produ ce millions of
au tomobiles pe r year might do if a frac ti on of it we re app li ed
in thi s d irection. And with the new windm ills a lready cost-
e ffec ti ve and d irec tly competiti ve with fossil-fuel-d erived a nd
nu clea r e nergy in appropriate landscapes, there\; no reason
why it shouldn't be. Combin ed wi th intelligent appli cations of

137
 r. I<A I) U~ TO GRAD U :

direc t sola r absorption a nd cost-effective conservati on, the im-

plications fo r na ti onal prosperity a nd security (tha nks Lo sove r-
eign so urces of en e rgy) are staggering. Ju st imagine th e robu st
be nefits of hav ing a new wi nd-turbine indust ry that produces
home-grown hydroge n for our pipe lines a nd vehicles in s l.~ad of
being forced to rely on poli ti cally a nd physica ll y fragil e oil
s hipped in sup~rlankers from ha lfway a round the world.
Tra ns itional stra tegies for e ne rgy use give us the opportu -
nity to develop tec hnology tha t is trul y eco-effecti ve- nol less
de ple ting bu t replen is hing. Ul tima te ly, we wa ntlo be des igning
processes a nd produc ts that nol only re turn th e b iologica l a nd
tec hni cal nutri e nts they use, but pay back with interest th e e n-
ergy they consume.
Working with a Learn assembl.e d by Professor Dav id Orr of
Oberl in College, we conceived the idea fo r a building a nd its
s ite mode led on th e way a tree works. We imagin ed ways that it
could puri fy the a ir, c reate s hade and ha bita t, e nric h soi l, and
c hange with the season s, eventua lly acc ruing more ene rgy th an
it needs to operate. features include solar pan e.ls o n th e roof; a
grove of trees on the bu ilding's north s ide for wind protection
and dive rs ity; an inte rior des igne d to c hange a nd adapt to peo-
ple's aesth eti c a nd fun ctional prefere nces with raised floo rs and
le a:sed L:a q.Je lirrg; a purrd tha t s to res wate r for irrigation; a l iv ing
machin e ins ide a nd beside the building tha t uses a pond full of
spec ial ly selected organi sms a nd pla nts Lo cl ea n the e fflu e nt;
c lassrooms a nd large p ubl ic rooms that face wes t and south to
ta ke ad vantage of so la r ga in; s pecia l windowpanes that control
th e amount of UV li ght e nt e ring th e building; a restored forest
on the east s id e of th e bui ldi ng; a nd a n a pproac h to landsca p-

138
 H ESPEC T DIVf.H S I TY

ing a nd grounds ma inte nance tha t obviates the need for pes ti -
c id es or irrigation. These features are in the process of being
optimize d- in its firs t summer, the building began to generate
more e nergy capital than it used- a s ma ll but hopeful s tart.
Imagine a building like a tree, a c ity like a forest.

A Diversity of Needs and Desires

Respec ting dive rs ity in des ign means cons id e ring not only how
a product is made but how it is t.o be used, a nd by whom. In a
c ra dl e-to-c radl e conce ption, it may have many uses, and ma ny
users , over time a nd s pace. An office building or store, for ex-
a mpl e, might be des igned so that it can be ada pte d to different
uses ove r many genera tion s of use, in stead of built for on e spe-
c ific purpose and late r torn down or awkwardl y re fiLLe d. The
So Ho a nd TriBeCa ne ighborhoods in lower Manh atta n continue
to thrive because th e ir buildings we re des igned with several
enduring advan tages that today would not be cons idered e ffi-
cie nt: they have hi gh ceilings a nd la rge, high windows tha t le t
in daylight , thi ck walls that ba la nce daytime heat with ni ght-
Lime coolness. Because of the ir attrac ti ve and use ful des ign,
these buildings have gone through many cycles of use, as wa re-
houses, showrooms, and work s hops, the n s torage and distri-
b ution centers, the n arti sts' loft s, a nd , more recently, offices,
galleries, a nd apartme nts. The ir appeal and use fuln ess is en-
duringly ap parent. F ollowing this lead, we' ve designe d some
corpora te bui ldings to be convertible to hou sing in the future.
!.ik e th e Fre nc h ja m pot s tha t co uld lw u;;t>d as drinking

139
 (; It A Ill. t: T0 C ll A II L F

glasses once th e jam was gone, packaging and products can be

designed with their fu ture upcycling in mind. l,;:xteri or packag-
ing, with its premium on large, Aa t, stiff surfaces, is a nat ural
precursor to a fur the r life as building materiul s, us He nry Ford
knew. A crate tha t is to be u ed to ship a product from Savan-
na h could be made of waterproof insulati on thut recipients in
Soweto would use in constru cting houses. Agai n, cultural dis-
tinctions are part of the pic ture. Afri can village rs who used to
drink out of gourds or c·lay cups and ha ve no recycling struc-
ture for "trash" mi ght rH' I'd a d rink package that ea n be thrown
ont o the ground to decompose and prov ide food for nature. In
Indi a, where materials und energy are ve ry t)x pc ns ive, people
might welcome packuging th at is saJe to burn. In indu strial ar-
eas, a be tter solution mi ght be pol ymers designed as "food" for
more bottles, with a n appropriately designed upcye ling infra-
struc ture.
In China, Styrofoam pac kaging present s suc h a d isposal
proble m tha t people often refer to it as "whitc polluti on." It is
thrown from the windows of trains and barges and liuers the
landscape everywhe re. l111agine designing such puckaging to
safely biodegrade aft er use. It could be made from the e mpty
rice stal ks tha t a re left in the fields afte r harvest, which are
now usua lly burned. They are readi ly a va ilablt· wu l cheap. The
r ac kaging could be e nri ched with a small amount of nit roge n
(potentially retrie ved frorn automoti ve systems). Instead of feel-
ing guilty and burdened when they are f-inished eating, people
cou ld e njoy th row ing their safe, healthy nutripackage out th e
train wi ndow onto th e ground, where it would qui ckly decom-
pose and provide nitrogen to the soil. It could even contain

140
 n E S P 1•: C T D I V " II :, I T Y

seeds of indi genous pl a nts tha t would take root as the pac kag-
ing deco mposes. Or people could wait to dis pose of the packag-
ing at th e next tra in stop, where local farm e rs a nd gardene rs
would have set up s ta tions to collect it for use in fertilizing
crops. We could even pla nt s igns that say " Please Liller."

Form Follows Evolution

In stead of promoting a one-s ize-fits-all aesthetic, indu stries

can design in the pote nti al for " mass " <.: ustorni zation , allowing
packaging a nd prod uc ts to be ada pted to local tas tes and tradi-
tions without comp romi s ing 1he integrity of th e product. Luxury
industri es like fashion a nd cos me tics have been the tra il blazers
in a ll ow ing for c ustomizat.i on to indi vi dual taste a nd local cus-
tom. Others <.:an foll ow their lead, accommodating the need for
ind ividual and c ultura l ex pression in their designs . For exam-
ple, the a utomob il e ind us try might honor the Fi li pino practi ce
of decorating vehi cles, provid in g c us tom ers wi th the opportu -
nity to att ac h fri nge a nd to pa in t c reati ve, outrageous des igns in
eco-fri e mlly paints instead of cons training t:h em to a " unive r-
sal" look (o r hav ing the m lose eco-effecti ve be nefi ts when they
asse rt. th e cu ltu ral predilectio n for adornment). Eco-eflectivc
des ign de mand s a co he re nt set of princ iples based on nature's
laws and th e opportu nity for constan t dive rs ity of express ion. It
has been famousl y sa id th at form foll ows fun c tion, but the
possibilities a re greate r when form foll ows evolution.
What goes for aes the tics goes for needs, which vary with
ecolog ica l, economi c, and c ultural circumsta nces-not to me n-

141
 CR ,\Ili.E TO C HADI.I:

Lion individual preferences . As we have pointed out, soap as it

is curre ntl y manufac ture d is des igned to work the same way
in every imag inable location a nd ecosyste m. Faced with the
q uestionable effects of suc h a design , eco-efficiency ad vocates
might tell a ma nufacture r to " be less bad" by s hipping concen-
tra tes instead of liquid soap, or by reduci ng or recycling pack-
aging. But why try to optimi ze the wrong syste m? W hy this
pac kaging in the first place? Why these ingre die nts? Why a
liquid ? Why one-s ize-fits-all ?
Why not ma ke soap the way th e a nts would? Soap manu -
facturers could reta in centralized inte lligence (the conce pt of
"soap"), but develop loca l packaging, shipping, a nd even
molecu la r effects. Fo r example, s hipping wa ter (i n th e form of
li q uid dete rge nt) inc reases trans porta tion expense a nd is un-
necessary, since th e re is water in the was hing machine, laun-
dry, tub, ri ver, or lake where the wash ing is done . Maybe soap
could be delivered in pelle t or powde r form a nd so ld in bu lk at
the grocery s tore. Wa ter needs d iffe r in different pla ces: d ille r-
e n! kinds of pe ll ets a nd powder mi ght be used for places with
ha rd wate r or soft wate r, still othe rs for p laces whe re people
pound cloth ing on rocks, feeding soa p d irectly into the water
s upply. A major soap manufac tu rer was beginning to think thi s
way whe n it paid a l.lc ntion to th e fact tha t wome n in fndi a were
us in g its soaps (whi ch had been des igned fo r washi ng ma-
c hines) to wash c lothing by ha nd, sprinkling th e hars h soa p
onto th e clothing with their fin gers and the n pounding the
clothes on rocks a t the side of the river. And the wo me n could
afford to buy only a s ma ll a mount of soap a t a tirne. Faced with
co mpe titi on from a more versa tile produc t, t.h e soap compa ny

142
 R F,S PF. C T lliV E H S IT Y

developed a gentler product and began to produce it in s ma ll ,

inexpensive packets that the women could open on the s pot.
Suc h thinking can go much furth er. For instance, manufactur-
e rs could reconceive soap as a produc t of ser vice, and des ign
was hing machines to recover dete rgent a nd use it aga in and
again. A was hing machine coul d be leased pre loaded with two
thousa nd loads' worth of inte rnall y recycling de te rgent- not
nea rl y as big a des ign c halle nge as it sounds, s ince onl y 5 per-
cent of a s tandard measure of de tergent is ac tually consumed in
a typi cal la undry cycle.

Biologis t Tom Lovej oy tells a s tory about a meeti ng between

E. 0. Wilson, the great evoluti onary bi ologist who has writte n
exte ns ively on bi od ive rs it y (a nd on an ts), and George H. W.
Bus h's c hi ef of staff, John Sununu, aroun d the time of th e Ea rth
Summit in 1992. Wil son was the re to e nco urage th e pres ident
to s upport the Biod ivers ity Convention be ing put forward by the
majority of the wo rld's countries as a s ignal of the ir dire con-
ce rn ove r thi s iss ue. Wh e n Wil son had finis hed describ ing the
great value of bi od ivers ity, Sununu res ponded,"] see. You want
a n e nda nge red spec ies act for the whole wo rl d ... and th e d ev il
is in th e de tails ." To wh ic h Wilson responded, " o, s ir. Cod is
in the de tail s ."
Wh e n d ivers it y is na ture's des ign fram e work , human de-
s ign solutions th at do not respec t it degrade the ecologica l a nd
cultu ral fa bric of ou r li ves, and greatl y dimini sh e njoyment a nd
delight. Charles de Gaull e is reported to have sa id tha t it is dif-
(ic ult to manage a co untry that produces four hundred kinds

143
 C II A 1J u: 'I' 0 C H ,\ 1J I. f:

of c heese. But wh at if, for the sake of marke t growth , a ll Lhe

cheese ma ke rs of Fra nce began to concenlrale on produc ing in -
dividually wrapped squa res of ora nge "cheese food" tha t all
La sted exactly the same ?
According lo vis ual prefere nce s urveys, mosl people see
cultura ll y di stinc ti ve commu nities as des ira bl e e nvironme nts
in whic h Lo li ve. W he n they a re s how n fast-food res ta urant s o r
gene ric-look ing buildings, th ey score Lhe images ve ry low. T hey
pre fe r quaint Ne w li:n gla nd streets lo mode rn suburbs, eve n
though they may li ve in developments that destroyed the Main
Streets in the ir very own hometowns. Whe n given th e opportu -
nit y, people choose some thing oth e r th a n Lha l whi c h th ey a re
typ ica ll y offe red in most one-size-fits-all des igns : th e s trip, the
subdi vis ion , the ma ll. Peopl e wanl dive rs it y beca use it brings
the m more pleas ure and de light. They want a world of four hun-
dre d c heeses.
Di versity e nric hes the quality of life in anoth e r way: the
furi o us cl as h of c ultura l di ve rs it y can broad en pers pecti ve a nd
in spire c reative e hange. Th ink how Ma rlin Luth e r Kin g, Jr.,
adapted Ma hatma Gandhi's teac hings on peaceful transforma-
ti on Lo the concept of c ivil di sobe die nce.

A Tapestry of Information

Tra ditionally, compam es have relied on feedbac k for s ig nals

tha t inJiuence c hange, looking bac kward to assess previou s
fa ilures a nd sueeesses, or they have looked around th em Lo
discove r what the competitio n is up to. Respecting di ve rs ity

144
 H~ S P ~CT UIVEHSITY

means widening the scope of input too, to e mbrace a broader

range of ecological and socia l contex ts and a lon ge r te mporal
framework as well. We can consult " feedforward," asking our-
selves not onl y ,vhat has work ed in th e pas t a nd present, but
what will work in the future. What kind of world do we intend,
and how might we des ign things in keeping wi th tha t vis ion?
Wh at wi ll a s usta ining globa l co mmerce look like le n- or even
a hundre d-years from now? How ean our produ cts a nd sys-
te ms he lp to create and sustain it, so tha t future ge nera tion s a re
e nric hed by what we make, not tyrannized hy hazards and
was te? What can we do now to begin the process of indus tria l
re-evolution?
If tha t la undry de te rgent ma nufacturer continu ed to th ink
in thi s d irection, it wou ld move beyond the qu estion of c re a ting
a de te rgent that is co nveni e nt to use and gentler on human
hand s to as k, Is it gentl e on th e Ganges? Wi ll it foste r diverse
aquati c life? Now that we know what kind of soap the c us-
tome rs want, what kind of s oap does the ri ver wan t? Now tha t it
is pac kaged for in d ividua l a pplica tions, how can the pac kaging
be des igned as a produc t of co ns umption tha t wi ll readil y
bi odegrade on the rive rba nk , contributing nutri e nts to t.he soi l,
or be burned safely as fue l, or both ? What about fabri cs tha t
don' t need soap to get cle an , that arc designe d to enjoy a " lotu s
effect" '? (Nothin g s tic ks to a lotus lea f.) One by one, th e e le -
me nts of a produ c t mi ght be redefined pos iti vely against a n
ever wid e nin g bac kdrop, until the produc t it sel f evolves a nd is
tra nsformed, a nd its every aspect is des ignecl to nouri sh a Ji-
verse world.
Working with a major European soap man ufacture r on a

145
 C HAIJI. I:: T O C HAIJI.E

s hower gel, we se t ourselves the design c ha lle nge of res ponding

to the question, What kind of soap does the river want? (Th e
ri ver in question was the Rhine.) At the same tim e, we a imed to
fulfill c us tom e rs' desire fo r a healthy, pleasura ble s hower gel.
In th e initi al a pproach, Mi c hae l told the manufacture r that he
wanted to defin e the produc t in the way tha t medi c ine was de-
fine d, proac tive ly c hoos ing the best ingredie nts . G ive n the na-
ture of the product, the client compa ny was more recepti ve to
this approac h tha n, say, a c he mical company ma nufa cturing
house paints mi ght be. Mic ha e l a nd our colleagues ide ntified
twe nty-two c he micals in a typical s hower ge l, a numbe r of
whi ch were added to counte rac t the ha rs h effec ts of other c heap
c he mica l ingredi e nt s . (For insta nce, mois turi zing age nts we re
added to offse t the drying effects of a partic ula r c he mi cal.)
The n he a nd th e tea m se t a bout se lec ting a fa r s ma lle r Iis t of
ingredie nts tha t would have onl y the e ffec ts they sought, de -
s igning out the intricate c hec ks a nd ba la nces of conve ntiona l
formulas and resulting in a p roduc t that would be hea lth y for
both th e s kin a nd the ecosyste m of the river whe re .it would
e nd up.
Once the li s t of proposed ingre di e nts was compil ed-
a tota l of nin e -the compa ny initi a ll y re fu sed to go forwa rd
with the produc t, because the ne w c he micals were more e xpe n-
s ive than the ones it had been using. But whe n the compa ny
cons id e red th e e ntire process, not on ly th e cost of the ingred i-
ents, it came to li ght that the ne w soap was approx ima te ly
15 perce nt c heape r to ma ke, th anks to s im p le r pre pa ra tion a nd
s torage require me nt;;. The gel went on sale in 1998 a nd it is

146
 BE SPEC T IJIVEil S IT Y

still on th e ma rke t- but now in a pure polypropylene pac kag-

ing a fte r Mi c hael a nd the resea rc he rs found tha t a ntimony from
th e original PET boul es was leac hing into the soap.

A Diversity of "Isms"

Ultimatel y, it is the agenda with whic h we ap proach the mak ing

of things tha t must be truly di verse. To concentrate on a ny s in -
gle c riterion c reates insta bility in the larger context, a nd repre-
se nts what we call an " is m," a n ex treme pos ition disconnected
from the overa ll struc ture. And we know from human history
the havoc an is m can c reate -think of th e conseque nces of fas-
c is m, racis m, sex is m, Na zism, o r te rroris m.
Cons ide r two manifestos th at have s ha ped in d us trial sys-
te ms: Adam Smith's Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the
WeaLth of Nations (1776), and The Communist Manifesto by
Ka rl Marx a nd Fri ed ri c h Enge ls (1848). ln the firs tma nifesto-
wrille n whe n England was still trying to monopoli ze her col-
on ies a nd publi s hed the same year as the Dec larat io n of
Independe nce-Smith d iscoun ts e mpire a nd a rgues for the
value of free tra de. He links a country's wealth and produc ti vity
with gene ra l improveme nt , claiming that "Eve ry man working
for hi s own selfis h int e rest will be led by an in vis ibl e hand to
promote th e pub lic good." Smith was a ma n whose be lie fs a nd
work centered o n mora l as well as economi c forces. T hus, the
in vis ible ha nd he imagined wou ld regu late commercial stan-
dards a nd ward off injustice would have been working in a mar-

147
 CBA IJI.f: TO CHAI1 L~:

ke t full of " mora l" people ma king indi vid ua l c hoi ces- a n idea l
of the e ig hteenth ce ntury, not necessaril y a rea lity of th e
twe nt y- fi rs l.
Unfair di stribu tion of wealth a nd worker exploita tion in -
s pired Ma rx a nd E ngels to write The Communist Manifesto,
in whic h they sounded a n alarm for the need to address hu -
ma n ri ghts a nd s ha re econo mic wea lth. "Masses of la bo re rs,
c rowded into th e fac tory, are organized like soldi e rs ... th ey
a re da ily a nd hourly e nslaved by the machin e, by the fore ma n,
a nd , a bove all , by th e individua l bourgeois ma nu fac ture r him -
se lf." While capita lis m ha d ofte n ignore d the inte rest of the
work er in the purs uit of its econom ic goals, soc iali sm, whe n
s in gle-minde d ly purs ued as an is m, als o fa iled. If nothing be-
lo ngs to anyone hut the s ta te, th e indi vidual can be dimini s hed
by th e syste m. This happe ned in the fo rme r USS R, whe re gov-
e rnme nt de ni ed fundamenta l hum an ri ghts s uc h as freedom of
speech. The e nviro nme nt a lso suffe re d: sc ie ntis ts have deemed
16 percent of the form er Sov ie t sta te unsafe to inh abit, due to
ind ustrial polluti on a nd conta mina ti o n so seve re it has been
te rmed "ecoc ide."
In the United Sta tes, Engla nd , a nd othe r co untries, cap i-
ta li sm Aouris he d, in so me places info rmed by a n inte rest in so-
c ia l we lfare combined with economic growth (for exa mple, with
H e nry F ord's recognition tha t "cars ca nnot buy cars") and
regul ated to reduce pollu tio n. Rut e nviro nme nta l proble ms
gre w. In 1962 Rac he l Carson's Silent Spring promoted a new
agenda-ecologis m- tha t s teadil y ga in ed a dhe re nts . Since
th e n, in response to growing e nvironme ntal concerns , indi vid u-
als, com muniti es, governme nt agenc ie;;, a nd e nvironmt:'ntal

148
 11 f S P f I. T ll I V t: It S I T Y

groups have offe red va n ous stra tegies for protecting na ture,
conserving resources, a nd cl ean ing up polluti on.
All three of these manifestos were ins pired by a ge nuine
des ire to improve the huma n eondition, and all three had the ir
trium p hs as we ll as the ir perceived fa ilures. But taken to
extre mes- reduced to is ms -the stances they insp ired can
neglect fa ctors e ruc ial to long-term sueeess, s ueh as soeial fa ir-
ness, the di vers ity of huma n culture, th e hea lth of the e n vi ron-
ment. Carson se nt an important wa rning to the wo rl d, bu t even
eeo logiea l eoncern , s tretehed to an is rn, can neglect social, c ul-
tura l, a nd eco nomi c eoncern s to th e de triment of the whole
syste m.
" How ea n you work with them?" we a re often asked , re-
garding our willingness to work with eve ry sec tor of the econ-
omy, includ ing big corpora tions . To whi c h we sometimes re pl y,
" How ca n you not work with the m?" (We think of Emerson vis-
iting Thoreau wh e n he was j a iled for not pay ing his taxes- pa rt
of hi s c ivil di sohedie nee. "W ha t a re yo u doing in the re?"
Eme rson is said to have as ked , prompting Thoreau's fa mous re-
tort: " What a re you doing out there?")
Our questi oners ofte n be li eve tha t the inte rests of com-
me rce a nd the e nvironme nt are in he rentl y in conAie t, a nd tha t
env ironme ntalis ts who work with big bus in esses have sold oul.
And bus inesspeopl e have the ir own uiases about e nvironme n-
ta li sts a nd soc ia l ac ti vists, whom the y ofte n see as extre mists
promoti ng ugly, troublesome, low-teeh, a nd impossibly exp e n-
s ive designs a nd polic ies. The eo nventi onal wisdom seems to
be that yo u s it on one side of the fence or th e oth e r.
Some ph il osophies marry two of the ostensibly compet ing

149
 CHAD U : TO CHAULE

sectors, propounding the notion of a "social market eco nomy,"

or " bus in ess for soc ia l respons ibili ty," or " natura l capita l-
ism"-ca pita lis m that ta kes in to account th e values of natu ra l
systems and resources, an idea fa mously associated with Her-
man Daly. Clearl y these dyads can have a broadening effect.
But too oft en they re present uneasy alli ances, not true unions of
purpose. £co-effec ti veness sees commerce as the e ngin e of
cha nge, a nd honors its need to fun cti on qui ckl y and prod uc-
tively. But it also recogni zes that if commerce shuns envi-
ronmenta l, soc ial, and cultura l concerns, it will p roduce
a large-scale tragedy of the commons, destroy ing valuable
natural and hu man resources for generati ons to come. £co-
effecti veness celebra tes com merce and the commonweal in
whi ch it is rooted.

ECO LOGY

EQU IT Y ECONO MY

To make the process of engagin g the vanous 1ssues less

abstract, we have created a visualization tool that allows us to
conceptu alize and creati vely examine a proposed des ign's rela-

150
 K£ P £ C T DI V ER S ITY

ti onship to a multi pli city of factors, such as those we have been

discussing in thi s chapter. It is based on a fractal tile, a form
with no apparent scale that is composed of self-similar parts.
Thi fl tool all ows us to honor the questi ons ra ised by people in
positions that lean dra matically toward one sector or anothe r
(Economy, for insta nce) as deserving of respect when taken in
contex t. The fracta l is a tool, not a symbol, and we have ac -
ti vely applied it to our own projects, ranging from the design of
indi vidual products, buildings, a nd factories to effects on whole
towns, c ities, even countries. As we pla n a product or system,
we move around the fractal, asking questions and looking for
a nswers.
The extreme lower right re presents what we would call the
Economy/Economy sector. Here we a re in the realm of an ex-
tremely pure capita li m, a nd the questions we ask would cer-
ta inly include, Can 1 make or provide my product or servi ce at
a prof1t? We tell our commercial clie nts that if the answer is no,
don' t do it. As we see it , the role of commerce is to stay in busi-
ness as it transforms. It is a commercial company's responsibil-
ity to provide share holder value and inc rease wealth- but not
at the expense of soc ia l structure a nd the natura l world. We
might go on to ask, How much do we have to pay people to get
our product on the mm-ket and make a profit? If they are firml y
entre nched in this corner- in the grip of an ism ( pure capital-
ism)- they might consider mov ing production to a place where
labor and transportati on a re as c heap as possible, and end the
discussion there.
Lf they are committed to a more stable approac h, however,
we press on. We move over to the Economy/ Equity sector,

151
 C RAOI.E TO CllA O LE

whe re we must cons ide r q uesti ons of money a nd fairness; fo r

instance, Are e mployee ea rning a livi ng wage? (He re, again ,
s us l.ai na bility is loca l: A livi ng wage is go ing lo be d ifferent
whe rever you live. From our perspective, it wou ld be wha tPvP.r
it ta kes to raise a fa mily.) Mov ing into the Equity/Economy sec-
lor, the emphasis s hifls more toward fai rness, so th at we a re
see ing Eco nomy through th e le ns of Equ ity, in a sense. Here we
mighl ask, Are me n a nd wome n being pa id the sa me for th e
ame work? In the extre me Equi ty corne r, th e qu estions are
pure ly social- Arc peop le trea ting one a nothe r with respect?-
with no conside rati on of economics or ecology; th i i whe re we
ca u discuss issues s uc h as rac is m or sex ism.
Mov ing up to th e Ecology corne r of the Eq ui ty sector, the
emphas is s hi fts agai n, with Equity s ti ll in th e foreground, but
Ecology is in the piclure. He re lhe quesli on mi ght be, Is it fair
to expose worke rs or c uslome rs 10 toxins in the workplace or in
lhe prod uc ts? Is it fa ir to ha ve workers in offices whe re un-
defined ma te rials a re off-gass ing, exposing 1he m to pole nti a l
health ri s ks? We mi ght also as k, H ow is lhi s prod uct going
to alTect fut ure gene rati ons' health? Cou tinui ng into Ecology/
Equ ity, we cons ide r q uestions of ecosy le m e ffects, nol just in
the workplace oral home, but with respecl to I he e ntire ecosys-
te m: Is it fai r to po llut e u ri ver or poison the air?
Now deep into I he t::cology sector: A re we obeying na lure's
laws? Does was te equa l food? Are we us in g c urre nt sola r in-
come? Are we sus ta ining nol only ou r owu s pec ies bu t all
s pec ies? (The is m posilion in thi s corner wou ld be Earth comes
first, a le ne l of "deep ecology"; do these things without worry-
ing a bout Economy or Eq u ity.) The n on around lo Ecology/

152
 llE S PEC T IJ I V E H S IT Y

Economy, where money reenters the frame: Is our ecological

strategy econom ically fecund too? rr we are des igning a build-
ing that harnesses sola r Aows to make more e nergy than it
needs to operate, the answer would be yes.
Finally, Economy/Ecology: this is where ceo-effic ie ncy 1s
coming from, where we find people tryi ng to be less bad, to do
more with less whil.e con tinuing to work within the ex isting
economi c paradigm. Still, as we have seen, eco-eHiciency is a
valuable tool in optimizing the broader ceo-effecti ve approach.

The Triple Top Line

The conve ntiona l des ign c riteri a are a tripod: cos t, aesthe tics,
a nd pe1forma nce. Can we profit from it? the compa ny as ks. Will
the cus tomer find it attractive? And will it work? Champions of
"s ustainable developme nt" like to use a "triple bottom lin e"
approac h based on the tripod of Ecology, Equity, and Economy.
Thi s approach has had a major pos itive eflect on efforts to in-
corporate s usta inability concerns into corporate a ccountability.
But in practi ce we fi nd tha t it often appea rs to center only
on economic cons iderations, with social or ecological benefits
cons idered as an afterthought rather th an given equal we ight at
the ou tset. Bus inesses calc ulate their conventional economi c
profitab ility and add to tha t what they perceive to be the social
benefits, with , perh aps, some redu ction in environmental dam-
age- lower emiss ions, fewer ma te rial s sent to a landfill ,
reduced materi als in the product itself. Jn othe r words, they
assess th eir health as they always have-economi ca ll y- and

153
 C R AD L E TO C RA DLE

the n tack on bonus points for eco-efficiency, reduced accidents

or product lia bilities, jobs created, and philanthropy.
If businesses are not using triple bottom line analysis as a
strategic design tool , they are missing a rich opportun ity. The
real magic results when industry begins with all these ques-
tions, addressing the m up front as " triple Lop line" questions
rather than turn ing to the m after the fact. Used as a design tool,
th e fractal allows the designer to create value in all three sec-
tors. In fact, often a project that begins with pronounced con-
cerns of Ecology or Equity (How do I create habitat? How can l
create jobs?) can turn out to be tremendously productive fi nan-
cially in ways that would never have been imagined if you'd
started from a purely economic perspecti ve.
Nor are these criteri a the only conceivable ones. High on
our own lists is fu n: Is the product a pleasure, not only to use
but to discard? Once, in a conversation with Mic hael Dell ,
founder of Dell Computers, Bill observed that the elements we
add to the basic business crite ria of cost, petformance, a nd aes-
the tics-ecological in te lli gence, justice, and fun-correspond
to Thomas Jefferson's "life , li berty, and th e purs uit of happi-
ness." Yes, Dell responded, but noted we had left out a most
important consideration: bandw idth.)

An Industrial Re-Evolution

Design that deeply respects divers ity on a ll the le vels we have

discussed brings about a process of industrial re-evolution. Our
products and processes can be most deeply effecti ve when they

154
 RE SPECT DI VERS I TY

are resonant with information and responses-when they most

resemble the living world. Inventive mac hines that use the
mechanisms of nature instead of harsh c he mi cals, concrete, or
steel are a step in the right direction, but they are still ma-
chines-still a way of using technology (albe it benign technol-
ogy) lo harness nature lo human purposes. The same could be
said of our increasing use of cybertec hnology, biotechnology,
and nanotechnology to replace the func tions of che micals and
brute force. The new technologies do not in themselves create
industrial revolutions; unless we change their context, they are
simply hyperefficient engines driving the steamship of the first
Industrial Revolution to new extre mes.
Eve n today, most cutting-edge environ me ntal approaches
are still based on the idea that human beings are inevitably de-
structive toward nature and must be curbed and contained.
Eve n the idea of "natural capital" characterizes nature as a tool
to be used for ou r benefit. This approach might have been valid
two hundred years ago, when our s pec ies was developing its in-
dustrial systems, but now it cries out for re thinking. Othe rwi se,
we are limited to e ffor1s to slow the destruction of the natural
world while we sustain the current industrial system of produc-
tion a nd consumption for a few hundred years more. Wilh hu-
man ingenuity and technological advances, we might even be
able to create sustaining systems for our own s pecies beyond
that, after the natural world has greatl y declined. But how ex-
citing is sustainability? If a man characterized his relationship
with hi s wife as sustainable, you might well pity them both.
Natural syste ms Lake from their environment, bul they a lso
give something bac k. The cherry tree drops its blossoms and

155
 CUALJLJ-: TO CRADLE

leaves while it cycles water and makes oxygen ; the ant commu-
nity red is tributes the nutrients throughout the soil. We can
follow their cue to create a more inspiring engagement- a part-
nership-with nature. We can build fac tories whose products
a nd by-prod ucts nouri s h the ecosystem with biodegradable ma-
terial and recirculate technical ma teria ls instead of dumping,
burning, or burying them. We can design syste ms that regulate
themselves. Instead of using nature as a mere tool for human
purposes, we can s tri ve to become tools of nature who serve its
agenda too. We can celebrate the fecundity in the world, in-
stead of perpetuating a way of thinking a nd making that elimi -
nates it. And there can be many of us and the things we make,
because we have the right system- a creati ve, pros perou s, in -
telligent, and fertile system-and, lik e the ants, we will be "ef-
fecti ve."

156
Ch apter Six

Putting Eco-Effectiveness
into Practice

[n May 1999, William Clay Ford, Jr., chairman of Ford Motor

Company a nd great-grandson of its found e r, Henry Ford , made
a dramatic announcement: Ford's massive Ri ver Rouge factory
in Dearborn, Mic higan, an icon of the first Indus trial Re volu -
tion, wou ld undergo a $ 2 billion makeover to tra nsform it into
an icon of the nex t.
Henry Ford had bought the property when it was a mars h,
and by the mid-l 920s the pla nt began producing cars . In
the following decades th e Ri ver Rou ge manufacturing plant
grew to become one of th e largest industri al complexes on
the planet, fulfilling Ford's vis ion of a s prawl ing, vertically inte-
grated fac ility capable of producing a n automobile from start
to fini sh. Coal, iron ore, rubber, and sand were brought in
on barges from the Great Lakes. Blast furn aces, s melters, and
rolling and stamping mi lls worked a rou nd th e clock to
prod uce th e necessary materi als. Working wi th Albert Kahn,
his a rchitect, Ford oversaw th e design of powerhou ses, body
s hops, assembl y bui ldings, tool and die shops, an array of
stockpiles, warehouses, factories, and associated infras tru c-
ture.
"The Rouge" was heralded as a marvel of manufacturing
engin eering and sca le, and an embl em of modern industry.
During the Depression, th e factory even took on the job of tak-
ing apart us ed cars. A "disassembl y line" was set up, with
workers s tripping each ear of radia tors, glass, tires, a nd uphol-

157
 CHAD U : TO CHADLE

stery as it moved down the line, until the steel body and
chassis were dropped into an enormous baler. Admittedly the
process was primitive and driven by brute force more than so-
phisticated design, but it was a striking illustration of "waste
equals food" and an early step toward the reuse of industrial
materials. Eventually the Rouge covered hundreds of acres and
employed more than one hundred thousand people. It was a
popular touri st destination a nd an inspiration to artists. In his
photographs and paintings of the Rouge, Charles Sheeler por-
trayed the essence of a rational Ame rican ma nufacturing sys-
tem. Painter Diego Ri vera immorta li zed the fac tory from a
worker's pers pecti ve in his astonishing murals installed at the
Detroit Institute of the Arts.
By the end of the century, the facilities were showing their
age. Although Ford's Mustang was still made there, the ran ks of
employees had dwindled to under seven thousand through
divestiture, automation, a nd reduced integration. Over the
years the plant's infrastructure had deteri orated. Its technology
was outdated- the car plant, for example, was originall y co n-
structed in keeping with an assembly method in which parts
were dropped down from floor to floor and assembled in a
completed car on the bottom floor. Decades' worth of manufac-
turing processes had taken a toll on the soil and water. Major
parts of the site had become brownfield-abandoned industrial
land.
Ford Motor Company easily could have decided to do as
their competitors had done-to dose down th e site, put a fence
around it, and erect a new plant in a site where land was clean,

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 PUT TING ECO-E FFE C T I VENE SS I~TO PllA CT I CE

cheap , a nd easily developed. Instead, it was committed to

keeping a manufacturing operation going at the Rouge. ln 1999
William Clay Ford, Jr. , in his new post as c hairman, took the
commitment a step fu1ther. He looked at the rusting pipes and
mounds of debris and took on the challenge (and the responsi-
bility) of restoring it to a li ving e nvironment. Instead of leaving
the old mess and starting afresh somewhere else (moving on
" like a pack of locusts," as one employee put it), Ford decided
to help his company become na ti ve to its place.
Soon after becoming chairman, Ford had met with Bill to
explore eco-effective thinking. A short meeting became a n af-
ternoon of exciting discussion, a t the end of which Ford took
Bill to his new office under construction on the twelfth floor,
overlook ing the Rouge in the di stance. Did Bill think they
could apply the principles they'd been discussing to that
place- to go beyond recycling and "efficiency" to something
truly new and inspiring? In May, Ford publicly asked Bill to
lead the redesign of the River Rouge, from the ground up.
The first step was to create a "Rouge Room" in the base-
ment of the company's headquarters, where the des ign learn-
which included representatives of all sectors of the company,
along with outside rs like chemists, toxi cologists, biologists, reg-
ulatory specialists, a nd union representa tives-could come
togethe r. The ir primary agenda was to create a set of goals,
strategies, and ways of measuring progress, but they also just
needed a setting that rendered visibl e the ir thinking process
and encouraged them to raise the difficult questions. The walls
were covered with working documents positioned under giant

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 C U JID I.F. TO C RAIHF.

labels so that anyone walking through could see what was being
cons ide red in the way of socially, economically, and ecologi-
cally informed s ta ndards to measure the qualit y of air, ha bitat,
community, e nergy usc, e mployee relations, archit ec ture, and,
not least of a ll, production. Hundreds of employees came to th e
Rouge Room (j okingly referred to as a "peace room," as op-
posed to a "war room") durin g the process for s tructured meet-
ings or s impl y to meet (often for other purposes) in a pl ace
s uffused with so many of Ford's newly arti culated inte ntions.
The company's commitment to fin anc ia l secu rity had been
forged in the fire. Henry Ford had narrowl y s kirted ba nkruptcy
during World War 11, and se rious ly s truggled to get the com-
pany back on its feet. Ever s ince th en the bottom line has been
a solid focus for everything th e company does-every innova-
ti on mus t be good for profits. But the team had complete free-
dom to explore innovati ve ways of creating s hare holde r value,
and the company's conventi ona l decis ion-making process was
to be inJormed by all aspects of the fractal tool we disc ussed in
Chapter Five.
On ce Bill Ford opened th e door to the new thinking,
hundreds of e mployees across all sectors of the co mpa ny-
in manufacturing, su pply-c ha in manageme nt, purchas ing, fi-
nance, design, environmental qualit y, regula tory compli ance,
and research and development (not only at Ri ver Rouge) began
to come forward with ideas. Th ere was internal resis tance to
overcom e, to be s ure , an entrenched s kepticis m tha t saw envi-
ronme ntal strategies as at best extraneous to economi cs, and at
worst as inherently uneconomi c. One engineer burs t int o an

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 PUT T I NG u :0 - E ~- ~· t: C T I V ~; N t: S S I N T 0 P I< A C T I C E

ea rl y meeting say ing, " I' m nol he re lo ta lk to no eco-arc hitect

about no eco-arc hiter,ture. I hear you want to put skyli ghts a ll
over the factory, a nd he re a t f ord we ta r over skylights . And T
hear you want to put grass on the roof. ow why am I here?"
(He la te r turne d oul to be a hero of the project.) Also, as one
scientific innovator within the compa ny put it, the esta bli s he d
sc ie ntific e le me nt at the compa ny could be " like a fortress with
a big moat." But, he added , " If th e re we re no struggle around
this, the n by definition it wou ld not have been very importa nt."
Ford was already uni qu e a mong automobile ma nufac tur-
ers in tha t, unde r the n-direc tor of e nvironme nta l quali ty Tim
O'Brie n (and wi th Bi ll Ford's influe nce in hi s forme r role as a
me mber of th e environme nt committee), a ll of its pla nts had In-
terna tional Sta nda rds of O rga ni zation (IS O) e nvironmenta l cer-
tificati ons tha t reflected the ir a bility not onl y to monitor the
qua lity of wha t they produced by s ta nda rd me tri cs, but the ir
e nvironme nta l pe rforma nce as we ll. The compan y had ta ke n
the additiona l s te p of requ esting it s suppli e rs to have the sa me.
The ISO certification di c ta ted tha t th e company underta ke a
proacti ve investigation of e nvironmental in terests and concerns
ra ther tha n re lying on regulators to moderate it.
As Tim O' Brie n himself poin ted out, most ma nu fac ture rs
with uld :s it e:; lik e the Rouge la ke a " dur1 '1 a:sk, dun'! te ll''
a pproac h, prefe rring not lo exa mine th e ir s urround ings too
care full y because a ny probl e m they di scover will incur some
obligation to act (and some vulne ra bility to lawsuits). Whe n
they do d iscover (or a re forced to acknowle dge) conta mina ti on,
they usually re move the contam ina ted soil and bury il in a safe

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 C RADL E TO C RADLE

place, in complia nce with EPA regulations. S uch "scrape and

bake" strategies may be efficient, but they are expensive and
simply relocate the problems along with the topsoil.
Ford's design team sa id, "Let's assume the worst." When it
found tha t there was indeed contaminati on a t several of its
plant sites, Ford negotiated with the government to experiment
with treating its soil in a new way. It would re move and bury
only the top layer of soil, then clean the deeper layers. It has
been exploring innovative cleanup methods s uch as phytoreme-
diation, a process that uses green pla nts to remove toxins fro m
soil, and mycoremediati on, or cleaning soil with mus hrooms
and fun gi. From Rouge Room conception to implementation on
the site, the a pproach is framed in positive, proac tive terms-
not "clean up" but "create heal thy so il ," for exampl e. The ph y-
toremediating pla nts are chosen for the ir indi genous as well as
the ir toxin-cleansing properties. The health of the site is mea-
sured not in terms of meeting minimum gove rnment-imposed
standards but with respec t to things like the number of earth-
worms per cubi c foot of soil, the d iversity of birds and insects
on the land a nd of aquatic species in a near by ri ver, and the at-
trac ti veness of the site to local reside nts. The work is governed
by a compelling goal: creating a factory site where Ford em-
ployees' own children could safely play.
As th e compa ny loo ked a t its new s usta inability manufac-
turing agenda, it found more and more opportunities to improve
environmental pe rformance without conflicting with financial
objectives, and these successes jus tified taking on more ambi-
tious environmental c hallenges. Storm-wa ter management and
quality was a good start , beca use it is ofte n ta ke n for granted

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and appea1·s to be inexpensive. But Ford discovered that storm-

water management could be very expensive; regulations emerg-
ing from the Clean Water Act required new concrete pipes a nd
treatment plants, threatening to cost the company up to $48
million. Instead, when the new plant is finished, it will have a
green roof capable of holding two inches of rainwater, and
porous pa rking lots tha t can also absorb and store water. Then
the storm water will seep into a constructed marsh for purifica-
tion by the plants, mi crobes, fun gi, a nd othe r biola that live
there. From the marsh th e water will travel through swales-
ditches full of na tive plants -on to the river, clear and clean.
The storm water will take three days to seep to the river instead
of heading there a t once in a fierce, messy washout requiring
qui ck, d rastic measures. Instead of simply being a huge invisi-
ble liability, storm-wate r ma nagement is treated as a visible
and enjoyable asset. The ceo-effecti ve approach cleans the wa-
ter and the air, provides habitat, and e nhances the beauty of the
landscape while it saves the company a great deal of money-
as muc h as $35 milli on by one estimation.
The redesign of the manufac turing fac ility e mbod ies th e
compa ny's commitment to social equity as well as to ecology
and the economic bottom line. The old factory had become
dark , dank, and unpleasant. Workers would keep one pair of
shoes for use in th e plant a nd one for street wear. In winter they
mi ght not see the sun for weeks, except on wee kends. The com-
pany appreciates th e fact tha t an enjoyable place to work is key
to attracting a creati ve, diverse, and producti ve workforce. Af-
ter visiting the Herman Miller factory Bill's arc hitectural prac-
ti ce had designed in Michigan, the Ford team needed no more

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convinc ing: the new fac ility would be dayli t-cvcn th e cafete-
ria, so tha t worke rs could get to day light even on a short
break- as He nry Fo rd's origina l fa c tories had been, in a n age
of le s e nergetic e lec tri ca l syste ms . It wou ld have high ceili ngs,
p lenty of unobs truc ted views, a nd {as a safe ty measure) super-
visors' offices and team wo rk rooms on a mezzani ne lo reduce
th e ri s k of acc ide nts. Th e team also adopted Torn Ki ser's way of
vie wing the building as a giant duct -a nd focusi ng on heating
a nd cooling the people in the building rathe r than th e building
itself (see Cha pte r Fi ve).
Ford sees Ri ve r Houge as a laboratory where it can test
ideas it hopes will tra ns late into a new way of des igning for
ma nufac ture worl dwide . Cons ide ring, for e xa mple , tha t th e
compa ny a lone owns a pproximately 200 milli on sq uare feet
of roofing a round the wo rld , successfu l in nova tions could be
qui c kl y imple mented at indus try-t ransformi ng sca le. The spe-
c ific solutions mus t grow out of a nd res pond to loca l c irc um-
s ta nces, however. A green roof might work in I. Pete rs burg,

F lorida, but not in St. Pe te rs burg, Russ ia. Already the work a t
Hi ve r Houge has led to a revie w of oth e r Ford pla nts whe re
windmills a nd so la r co llectors could make economic e nse if
they are conceived as prod uc ts of service within a total energy
pac kage. The compa ny':; overa rc hing decis ion is to become na-
ti ve to each place. From th at decis ion, .loca l solut ions follow,
a re adopted and adapted e lsewhere as appropriate , a nd a re
continuall y revised a nd refin ed, e ffec ting a profounci process of
c ha nge tha t may ult imat e ly e mbrace every aspect of what a
company makes and how it is produced, marketed, sol d , a nd
cycled on. A redes igned automobi le factory may ultima tely re-

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 P U TTI\ G EC O -J:: f t' ECT I V E I'\ E S S 11\ T O P U A C T I C E

s ull in an e ntire ly new noti on of wha t a n a utomobile is. It will

ta ke time to transform an indu stry so la rge, with suc h a com-
p lex infrastruc ture, but pe rha ps we will live to see a ne w
a ut omobile disassembly pl a nt a t the s ite of the fi rst mode rn
asse mbly pla nt.

Five Steps to Eco-Effectiveness

How does a compa ny like Ford- with it s long a nd d is tin -

guis hed history, its vast infrastru cture, its large numbers of e m-
ployees used to ce rtain ways of doing things-begin to re make
itself? It is not poss ibl e (nor would it. necess<Hi l.y be des irable)
to s im ply s weep away long-es ta blis hed me thods of working, de-
s igning, and dec is ion-rnaking. For the engineer who has always
ta ke n- indeed , has been trained his or he r e ntire life to ta ke -
a tradi tional, li nea r, c- rad le-to-grave a pproac h, foc us ing on one -
s ize-f1ts-alltools a nd systems, a nd who ex pects to use ma te ri als
a nd che mi cals and e nergy as he or s he has alwa ys done , the
shift to ne w models and more dive rse input ca n be un seuling.
In the face of immediate deadlines and de ma nd s, s uc h c ha nges
ca n seem messy, burde nsome , and threa te ning, even over-
whelmi ng. Bu t as Albn t F::inste in observed , if we are to solve
the prob le ms tha t pl ague us, our thi nking mu st e volve beyond
the level we we re us ing whe n we c reated I hose proble ms in the
firs t place.
Fortunate ly for huma n na ture, in mos t cases c ha nge begins
with a s pec ific produc t, sys tem, or proble m a nd , dri ven by
a c-ommitme nt to pu ll ing ceo-e ffecti ve principles into acti on,

165
 CRADLE TO CRADLE

grows incrementally. In our work, we have observed companies

of all sizes, types, and cultures in this thrilling process of tran-
sition, a nd we have had ample opportun ity to witness the steps
they go through as they begin to retool the ir thinking and their
actions in service to an eco-effective vision.

Step 1. Get "free of" known culprits.

Beginning to turn away from substances that are widely recog-
nized as harmful is the step most indi vidua ls and indus tries
la ke first as they move toward eco-effectiveness. We are so ac-
customed to hearing products touted as " phos phate free," " lead
free," and " fragrance free" that the approach seems natural to
us. Yet think how curious a practice it is. Imagine, for example,
how your guests wou ld react if, ins tead of describing the old
family recipe you' d lovi ngly pre pared , and the tasty ingredie nts
you' d gone to such length s to gather, you announced proudly
that dinner would be "arsenic free."
It is important to acknowledge th e pote ntia l abs urdity
of the approach and the less visible problems it may conceal.
The detergent may be "free of" phosphates, but have they
been replaced by something worse? The solvents that bind con-
ventional printing inks are de ri ved from problemati c petro-
chemi cals, but switching to a water base to make them "solvent
free" may simply make it easier for the heavy metals th at are
still in the inks to ente r the ecosystem. Bear in mind that posi-
ti vely selecting the ingred ients of whic h a produc t is made, and
how they are combined, is the goal.
Several years ago, we were asked to develop a c hlorine-
free container for a food company. When we thought about the

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 I' L T T I ~ G E<: 0 • 1: F F 1: C T I \' E ~ E S S I ~ r0 P K A CT I C E

proj ect seriously, it became a bit of a sick joke, because we re-

alized that s impl y be ing free of one thing did not necessaril y
ma ke a produc t hea lth y and safe . As we have point ed out, the
dec is ion to make paper products tha t a re ch lorin e-free means
us ing virgi n pulp ra the r tha n recycled paper, and even the n,
some naturally occurring c hlorin e will c reep in. Moreove r, the
package cont a ined ot her problematic s ubstances-it had a
polyurethane coating, for example, and th e re we re heavy me tals
in the inks used to print on it-but these s ub La nces were not
on anyone's well-public ized e nvironme nta l hit list and so
had yet to be pe rceived by the general public as dangerous.
(We imagined the ma nufacture r could inc rease sal es a nd save
money a nd e ffort by s impl y a nnounc ing that th e packaging was
" plutonium free"!) Ironi cally, the ma nufacture r fin all y got
it s c hl ori ne-free pac kaging on ly to discover c hl orine-related
diox in in the food produc t it self.
evertheless, the re a re s ome s ubs tances that are known to
be bioaccumulati ve and to ca use suc h obvious harm tha t get·
ting free of the m is a lmost always a produc ti ve s tep. These are
wha t we call X substances, and th ey inc lude suc h ma te rials as
PVC, cadmium , lead , a nd me rc ury. Consiclering that the mer-
c ury in thermomete rs sold to hos pita ls a nd consumers in the
United States eaeh YP<l r is P.stimated to total 4.3 tons, and it
Lakes only one gram to contaminate the fi sh in a twenty-acre
lake, des igning a me rcury-free the rmome te r is a good thi ng. A
we ll -public ized ca mpaign is under way to e liminate merc ui-y·
based thermome te rs, but in fact that use accounts for onl y
about 1 pe rcent of the me rcury used in the United States . By
far the greatest amount is used for industrial s witches of vari-

167
 C H ADLE TO C H ADLE

ous kinds. A few auto manufacture rs have phased out the use of
mercmy switc hes in cars-Volvo, whi ch has bee n address ing
these issues for years, a lso has a p lan for phasing out PVC-
but most have nol. An indus tries-wide phaseout of mercury for
thi s use is, from ou r pers pecti ve, cruc ia l.
The dec is ion to c reate produ cts that are free of obvious ly
harmful substances forms the rud ime nts of what we ca ll a "de-
sign filter" : a filter that is in th e des igner's head ins tead of on
the ends of pipes. At thi s s tage, th e filter is fa irly crude -
equ ivalent to the dec ision not to include any items that might
make your guests s ick, or that they are known to be allergic to,
when plan ning the menu for your d inne r part y. But it is a s ta rt.

Step 2. Follow informed personal preferences.

In the early 1980s, when B ill was designing the firs t of the so-
ca ll ed gree n offices for th e Environmental Defe nse Fund's na-
tiona l headqu arte rs, he sent qu esti onna ires to manufacture rs
whos e produ cts he was cons id ering us ing, ask ing them to e x-
pl a in exactly what the prod ucts contained. The questi onna ires
came back saying, in esse nce, " It's proprietary . It's lega l. Go
away." ln the absence of data from the manufacture rs them-
se lves, BiII a nd his coll eagues had to make choices based on
th P. ir limitP.fl a mount of informati on. For in!'> ta nce, th ey chose to
tack down ca rpe ting rather than to glue it, to avoid s ubjecting
people to the various adhes ives' unknown ingredi ents and ef-
fects . They would have preferred to use low-emiss ion or no-
emi ssion ad hes ives that would allow the carpe ting to be
recycl ed, but those appea red not to ex is t. Lik ewise, they chose
wate r-based pa int. T he ir dec is ion to use full-s pectrum lighting

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 I' U T TIN C E C 0- f: F F f: C T I V f: N f: S, I ~ T 0 I' K ACT I C f:

meant impo rting bulbs from Germa ny, a nd while the y preferred
the qua lity of li ght (ami kne w it would ma ke the workers feel
good), th ey did not know mu ch a bout the c hemi ca ls in the
hulhs or thP. ~ irr~umstancP.s of the ir ma nufac ture. For th ese and
o the r des ign decis ions, the team ma de c hoi ces based o n the
best info rma ti o n ava ila bl e to the m, a nd on their aes theti c judg-
me nt. Jt would not dolo se lec t una ttractive things just because
they had mo re e nviro nme nta l a uthority-a n ugly fa c ility was
not wha t they were hired to build.
Whe n BiU began dealing with these issues as a n a rc hitec t
111 the 1970s a nd 1980s, he be lieved his j oh was to find the
ri ght things to put togethe r, and he thought those things were
alread y some whe re in the wo rld . The proble m was s imply to
find wha t and where they were. But it didn ' t La ke him long lo
discove r that few truly eco-effec live compon e nts fo r a rc hitec-
ture a nd design existed, a nd he hega n to see that he could he lp
to mak e the m. By the Lime we me l, Mi c hael's thinking had
e volved in a s imila r directi on, a nd the future course of our work
togethe r wa s c lear.
Th e truth is, we are s ta nding in the middl e of a n e no rmou s
marketpl a ce fill ed with ingredie nts tha t are la rgely unde fin ed :
we know liLLie a bout what they a re made of, a nd how. And
based o n what we do kno w, for th e mos t part the news is not
good ; mos t of the produc ts we have a nal yzed do not meet truly
eco-e fl ec ti ve des ign c rite ria . Ye t dec is ions have to IJe made to-
day, forc ing upon the des igne r th e d if~ cult q uesti o n of whi ch
ma terials are sound e nou gh to use. Peopl e a re coming for din-
ne r in a few hours, a nd they expect to-need to-eat. Despite
the as toni s hing pauc ity of h ea lthy, nutritio us ingredi ents, and

169
 CH~Ili.F: 1'0 CRADLE

the mys te ry s urrounding, say, genetica lly mod ifi ed c rops (to
carry the me taphor furthe r), we cannot put off cooking until
pe rfect ion has been achi eved .
You mi ght dec ide, as a pe rsona l prefe re nce, to be a vege-
taria n ("free of " meat), or not to consume meat from an ima ls
that have been fed hormones (anoth er " free of" s tra tegy). But
what a bout the ingredie nts you do use? Being a vegetarian does
not tell you exac tly how the produce you are us ing has been
grown or ha nd led . You might prefe r organicall y grown spinac h
to conventionall y grown pin ach, bu t without knowing more
a bout th e processor's packaging and tra nsportation me thods,
you can't be certain tha t it is safe r or be tt e r for th e e nvironme nt
un less you grow it yourse lf. But we mus t begin some whe re, and
odds are tha t as an initial ste p, cons id ering these issues and ex-
pressing your prefe re nces in the c hoi ces you ma ke will result
in greate r ceo-effecti veness tha n had you not conside red the m
at a ll.
Many rea l-l ife decis ions come down to compa ring two
things tha t a re both less tha n ideal, as in the case of c hlorine-
free paper ve rsus recycled pa pe r. You may find yourself c hoos-
ing be tween a pe troc he mi cal-based fabric a nd an " all natural"
colton tha t was produced with the help of large amount s of
pe truche mi call y gene rated nitrogen fe1tilizcrs a nd s!J·ip-min ed
radioac tive phosphates, not to me ntion in sec tic ides a nd he rbi-
c ides . And beyond what you know lurk othe r troubli ng ques-
tions of soc ial equity a nd broade r ecological ramifications .
Whe n the choice is consiste ntly between the frying pan and thP.
lire, th e c hooser is apt to feel he lpless a nd frustrated , whi c h is
why a more profound approar h to redesign is crit ical. Bu t in the

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 I'UT TI~G E CO -EFFE C TIVF:~ ESS I N TO PRA CT I CE

meantime , there are ways to do the best with what we have, to

make better choices.

Prefer ecolog ical intelligence. Be as sure as you can th at a prod-

uct or s ubs tance does not contain or support subs tances and
practi ces that are blatan tl y harmful to human and e nvironmen-
tal health . When worki ng on a building, for example, our archi-
tec ts might say that they prefer to use sus tainably harvested
wood. Without doing extens ive researc h into individual sources
that c la im to s upply such wood , they mi ght decide to use a
wood that comes with th e Forest Stewardship Council seal of
approval. We have not seen the particular forest where they are
harvesting, a nd we do n' t know how deep their commi tment to
s ustainability goes, but we have dec ided to go with the produc t
based on what we know now, a nd the res ults will proba bly be
bette r than had we not thou ght about the issue at all. And as
Michael points out, a product that is, say, " free of PVC" or tha t
in a general sense appears to have been made with care and
conscwus ness points to a ma ker that has these issues as a
miSS IO n .

In our work with an a utomobile maker, we've identified ex-

is ting materials that a re known to have some important pos iti ve
q ua li ti es and are known not to have some common drawbacks:
rubbers and new polymers and foa m meta ls, "safe r" meta ls
such as magnesium, coatings and paints that wo n' t put dioxin
into the a ir. In ge neral, we prefer products tha t can be taken
back to I he manufacture r and disassembled for reuse in techni-
cal produc tion or, at the very leas t, returned to the industrial
metabolism at a lower level- that is, "downcyc led." We te nd

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 CllAI) Lt; T O Cll •l ll l. t:

to opt for rlw mi cal prod uc ts with fe we r additi ves. especiall y

sta bili zers, anti oxidants, antibacteri al substa nces, a nd othe r
"clea ning" solu tions that a re add ed to everything from cosrnet-
ics to pai nts to create the illus ion of d ea n und health y prod-
ucts. In truth, only a surgron ne('ds such protection: othe rw ise,
these ingrcdi t•nts a re only tra ining mi croorgani sms to beeome
stronger whil e they exert unknown effects on ecological a nd hu -
ma n health. In gr neral, beca use so few things seem to have
b('('n designed for indoor usf', we try to c hoose ingredi e nts tha t
will minimize the ri sk of making people ill- that off-gas less,
for example.

Pref er respect. The issue of respect is at the hea rt of ceo-

effecti ve design, a nd although it is a diffrcult q uali ty to qu an-
tify, it is manifested on a numbe r of different levels, some of
whic h may be read il y appn re nt to the designer in sea re h of ma-
terial: res pee t for those who make the product, for the commu-
niti es near whe re it is made, for those who ha ndl e a nd transport
it , a nd ultimntely for the custome r.
This last is a complica ted matte r, heca usc people's rf'asons
for ma king choices in the ma rketplace-even so-called e nvi-
ronment al t hoices-are not rat ional , a nd ea n easily be ma-
ni pul ated. Mic hael knows thi ~ firs th a ~rd , from a stud y he
pe rformNI for \Ve ll a Industri es, an interna ti onal hair-ca re and
cosmeti c-prod ucts rnanufacturPr that was trying to de te rrni rtP
how people might lw Pncouraged- through ma rketing a nd
paekaging-to droosr r nvironment a ll y fri endl y paekaging for
body lot ions. A small but significa nt num be r of eonsumers
chose to buy the loti on in a highly unattracti ve "('co" package

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 PIJ T TI 1. ~ C0-£ H' £t; TI VU\E:SS I TO P flA C T I C ~:

shelved next to th e identical product in its regula r package, but

the number who chose th e "eco" package kyroc keted when it
was placed next to a n over-the-top "luxury" package for the
vet-y sa me pt·oduel. People lik e the idea of buying something
that makes them feel spec ia l and smart, a nd they recoil from
products that make them feel crass and unintelligent. These
compl ex moti vations give manufacturers power to use for good
a nd for ill. We a re wis e to beware of our own moti vations when
choos ing ma te ria ls, a nd we a lso ca n look for materials whose
" ad vertis ing" matc hes t.he ir ins ides, again as indicative of a
broader commitment to the issues that concern us.

Prefer delig ht, celebration, and fun. Anot·her e leme nt we can a t-

tempt to assess-a nd perhaps the mos t readily a pparent- is
pleas ure or de li ght. It's very importan t for ecologically intelli-
gent prod uc ts to be at the forefront of huma n expression. They
can express the best of des ign c reativity, adding pleas ure a nd
delight to life. Certainly they can accomplis h more than s imply
making the customer feel guilty or bad in some way while irn-
rnediate dec is ions a re be ing made .

Step 3. Creating a "passive positive" list

Tltis is tht: point at which design begins to become truly ceo-
effecti ve. Going beyond ex is ting, readil y ava ila ble information
as to th e co nte nts of a given product, we conduct a deta iled in-
ventot-y of the entire palette of materials used in a given prod-
uct, a nd the subs tances it may give off in the course of its
manufacture and use. What, if any, are their probl ematic or po-
tenti all y probl emati c c haracteris tics? Are they toxic? Carcino-

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 CRAI>LF TO C RAOI. F:

gen ic? How is the product used , a nd what is its end s ta te?
What are the effec ts a nd poss ib le effects on the local and
global commu niti es?
Once screened, subs tances are placed on the foll owing
lists in a kind of technica l triage that assigns grea te r and less
urgency to proble ma tic s ubsta nces:

The X list. As mentioned ea rlie r, X-lis t subs tances inclu de the

most proble ma tic ones-those tha t are tera togeni c, mutagenic,
carc inogenic, or othe rwi se harmful in d irec t a nd obvious ways
to huma n a nd ecological health . lt also includes s ubsta nces
strongly u pected to be ha rm fu l in these ways, e ve n if they
have not absolutely been proved to be. Certai nly it s hould in-
clude the mater ials p laced on the list of s us pected ca rci noge ns
a nd othe r proble ma tic s ubs ta nces (asbestos, be nze ne, vinyl
chloride, a ntimony trioxide, c hromi um , and o forth) assembled
by the Inte rnational Age ncy for Researc h on Cancer (lA RC)
a nd Germany' Maximum Work place Concentration (MAK) lis t.
Subs tances pl.aced on the X lis t a re cons ide red highest pri ori -
! ies for a compl e te ph a eout a nd , if necessary a nd possible , re-
placement.

The g ray list. The gray li st conta ins proble ma tic ~ u b~ l <trl cco;

that are not qu ite so urge ntly in need of phaseout. The li s t also
includes prob le ma tic s ub la nces tha t a re es e nti a) for ma nu -
facture, a nd for whi ch we c urre ntly have no viable s ubsti tutes.
Cadmium, for example, is highly toxic, but for th e time being, it
cont inues to be used in the produ c tion of photovo ltaic sola r col-
lectors. If the e a re made a nti ma rke ted as produc ts of se rvice.

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 I' LTTI (, ECO-t:tt't:CTJ\ E E!>!> I'<TO J'IIACTJCE

with the manufac turer reta ining owners hip of the cad mi um
molecules as a lec hnica l nutri ent, we might even co ns ider thi s
an appropriate, safe u e of the materi al- at leasl until we ca n
reth ink the des ign of solar collectors in a more profound wHy.
On the othe r hand , cadmium in the contex t of household bat-
te ries-which may e nd up in a ga rbage dump or, worse, a ir-
h orne by a "was te -to-energy" inc inerator- is a more urge ntly
problema tic use.

The P list. This is ou r " pos itive lis l," sometimes referred lo as
our " preferred lis t." II includes substa nces actively defined as
healthy and safe for use. In gene ral, we cons ider:

• acute ora l or inha lative toxicil y

• c hronic loxic ity
• whether lhe s ubstance is a s trong ens it ize r
• whethe r lhe ubs la nce is a known or s us pec ted ca rc ino-
gen, mutagen, teratogen, or endoc rine d is ruplor
• whethe r I he substa nce is known or s uspected to be bio-
accumulalive
• tox icity lo water orga ni sms (fish, da phnia, algae, bac te-
ria) or soil organ is ms
• biodcgraclubi lity
• potent ia l for ozone-layer depletion
• wheth er all by-prod ucts meet I he same c rite ria

F'or the mome nt, pass1ve redes ign of the producl s lays
with in its cu rrenl fra me wo rk of production; we ar e s im ply ana-
lyzing our ingred ie nts and ma ki ng sub ·titut ions whe re possible,

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 <. II A Ill. E T O C R A 0 L ~

a iming to select as ma ny ingredi e nts in the product as poss ibl e

from the P li st. We a re rethinking what the prod uc t is made of,
not wha t it funda me nta lly is-or how it is marke ted and used . [f
you we re pla nning dinn e r, you mi ght be p lanning to not only
usc o rga ni ca ll y raised , ho rmo ne -free beef, but- havi ng fou nd
spinac h a t a loca l fa nne r's marke t- to use the gree ns as we ll ,
a ncl to eliminate the nut s you had pla nned to put in th e ca ke
because you' ve been a le rted tha t one of yo ur g uests is a lle rgic
to the m. But the me nu wou lcl stay essentiall y the s a me.
Fo r exa mple , a ma n ufac ture r of po lyester fabri c , hav ing
d iscovered tha t the blue d ye it is using is mut age ni c a nd ca r-
c inoge ni c, 1nig ht c hoose a nothe r, safe r blue d ye. We improve
th e ex isting produc t in in c re ment s, c hanging wh at we ca n wi th -
out fundam e nta ll y reconc e iving the produc t. In look ing a t a ca r,
we mi ght help (a s we have) a ma nu fac ture r s wit c h to uphols te ry
and l·a rpe ti ng tha t a re a ntimony-free, but we a re not yet re-
thin king the fund a me ntal des ign of the ca r. We mi ght s ubstitu te
a ye ll ow pa int witho ut c hrornium for a yell ow with c hro mium.
We mig ht omit a numbe r of probl e ma tic, s us pect, or s imply un-
known s ubs ta nces if we ca n ma ke the prouue t wi thout the m.
We loo k as wide ly a nd deeply as we c a n a t wh at is. So me ti mes
q uestionable s ubsta nces in a produ ct a re not ar tua ll y coming
fro m tlw ing redi e nt:; in the produc t but from so mt>thing in o r
around th e machin e ry u5cd to ma ke it, s uc h a s a mar hine lu-
bri c ant, for whic h a IPss probl e mati c s ubs titute rnay be readil y
fo und .
evc rthcless, thi s s tPp f' ntai ls growing pa ins. ot yet hav-
ing tack lf'd a whol esa le red <' ·igu of the produ<'t, the c ompany
has to matc h the qu a lit y of the o ld produet whil t- hPginning to

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 P UTTI~G f~ CO- f:FFE C 'I'IVf: ~E SS 1\'1' 0 1'11 ,\ C TI C E

alte r the ingredi e nts lis t- the c ustome r wants a blue ju st like
the old blu e. Ju st confro nting th e comple xity of a given produc t
can be daunting-imagine discovering (as we d id) tha t a s im-
pl e, everyday produ c t used widel y in ma nufacturing has 138
known o r suspected hazardous ingre di e nts. Ye t thi s s tage is the
beginning of real c ha nge, a nd the in ve nto ry process can galva-
nize creativity. It may s timula te the de ve lopme nt of a ne w prod-
uc t line th a t will avoi d the proble ms a ssoc ia ted with the old
produ e l. As s ueh, it re prese nts a paradigm shift and leads d i-
rec tl y to . ..

Step 4. Activate the positive list.

1-lere's whe re rede s ign begins in ea rn est, whe re we stop trying
to be less bad and start fi guring out how to be gooJ . ow you
set o ut with ceo-effective princ ip les, so tha t the produc t is de-
s igned from beginning to e nJ to become food fo r e ithe r bi o-
logic a l or te chni cal me tabo li s ms. In c ulina ry te rms, yo u' re no
longer s ubs tituting ingredi e nts-you've thrown th e rec ipe out
the window a nd a re sta rling from sc ra tch, wi th a bas ketful of
tasty, nutriti o us ingred ients tha t you'd love to eook wi th , a nd
tha t give you a ll sorts of mouth wate ring id eas.
lf we a re workin g with a n automob il e ma nufa c ture r, a t thi s
point we have le arn ed all that we eun about th e c a r as it is. We
kno w what it has been mad e of, and ho w the ma te ri a ls were
put togethe r. Now we are c hoosing new materia ls for it witil a
tho ug ht to how th ey ca n e nte r bi ological and techni ca l cycles
safe ly a nd prosperously. We might be c hoos ing ma te ria ls fort h(~
brake pa <.ls a nd rubber for the tires that ca n abrade s a fe ly and
beeomc true produc ts of co nsurnpt ion. We mi ght he uphol ster-

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 C 11 A D L E T 0 C R A Il l. E

ing the seats in "edibl e" fa bric. We mi ght be us ing biodegrad-

able paints that can be scraped off on s ubstrates of s teel, or
polymers tha t don't requ ire tinting at all. We might be design-
ing the car for clisassemhl y, so that the steel , plastic , and other
techni cal nutri ents can once again be available to indus try. We
might be encoding information about all of the ingredients in
the materials themselves, in a kind of " upcyc ling passport" tha t
can be read by scanners and used producti vely by future gener-
ations. (Thi s conce pt could be applied to many sectors of de-
s ign and manufacturing. A new building could be given an
upcycling passport that identifies all the substances used in its
construc tion and indi cates whic h are via ble for future nutrie nt
use and in whic h cycle.)
These are vas t improvements on the c urrent paradi gm of
"car." It wi ll not end up on a scrap heap. And yet ... it is s till
a car. And the c urrent system of more a nd more cars on wide n-
ing berths of asphalt is not necessarily idea l for the world of
ab undance we envis ion. (Buckminste r Fuller used to joke that
if ex traterres trial beings came in for a land ing on Earth , the ir
impression from le n thousa nd feet up would probabl y be that
it was inhab ited by cars.) Indi vidua ll y, ca rs can be fun, but ter-
rible traffic jams a nd a world cove red in aspha lt are not. And
so, having perfected the car as car, as nearl y as we ca n, we
rnove to . ..

Step 5. Reinvent.
Now we are doing more than des igning fo r biol.ogical and tech-
nical cycles. We are recasting the des ign ass ignment: not "de-

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 PLTT I NG E C O-EFFECT I VENESS I NTO I'BA C T I C E

s ign a car" but "des ign a ' nutrive hicle.' " Ins tead of aiming to
create cars with minimal or zero negati ve emissions, imagine
cars des igned to release positive emissions and ge nerate oth er
nutritious effects on th e environment. The car's engine is
treated like a c hemi cal plant modeled on natural systems.
Everything the car emits is nutritious for nature or industries.
As it burns fuel , the water vapor in its e miss ions could be cap-
Lured, turned back into water, and made use of. (Currentl y the
ave rage car e mits approximately four fifths of a gaJion of wa te r
vapor into the air for every gallon of gas it burns.) Instead of
ma king the catalytic convert er as small as possible , we might
develop the mean s to use nitrous ox ide as a ferti li zer and con-
figure our car to ma ke and s tore as mu ch as possible while dri v-
ing. Instead of releas ing the carbon th e car produces when
burning gasoline as carbon d ioxide, why not s tore it as carbon
blac k in canisters that could be sold to rubber manufacturers?
Using fluid mechanics, tires could be designed to a ttract a nd
capture harmful particles, thus cleaning the air instead of fur-
the r d irtying it. And , of eou rse, aJter th e e nd of its useful life,
a ll the ea r's materia ls go back to the biological or technical
cyc le.
P us h th e design assignme nt further: " Design a new trans-
portation infras tructure." ln othe r words, don 't just re invent the
recipe , re think th e menu.
Most tra ns portation infrastructu re sprawls and devours
valu able natural habitat or land that could be used for housing
and agriculture . (The amount of s pace devoted to roads in E u-
rope is curre ntly equal to the spaee used for hous ing, and the

179
 CH .~/li.E TO CH ,\DI.E

two compe te with agri c ulture.) Conven ti ona l deve lopme nt a lso
de pl etes quali ty of life, wi th traffic noi se, exha ust, and ugliness.
A nutri vehiele tha t doesn't emi t fou l exhaust opens the way to a
ne w approach to highways. T hey could be covered over, provid-
ing new green space for hous ing, agriculture, or recre a tio n.
(This might requ ire less effort t han it appears to. In ma ny
places, roadways a re among th e littl e pub li c s pace s till fla nked
by field s of green.)
If the re a re three times as ma ny cars 111 twe nty years as
the re are today on the plane t, of course, it won' t rna ll er very
mu c h if they are highl y effi c ie nt ultralight cars made from ad -
vanced ca rbon fib ers a nd get a hu ndre d mi les to a gall o n, or are
even nutrive hi r les. The plane t wil l be c rawling with cars, and
we will need othe r options . A more far-rangin g ass ig nme nt?
" Des ign tra ns portation. "
Sound fanc iful ? Of course. But re member, the car itself
was a fa nc iful notion in a wo rl d of horse a nd carri age.

Th is fina l ste p has no absolute e nd point , a nd the res ults may

be a n entire ly differe nt kind of product than the one you began
to work on. Bu t it will be an evolution of tha t product in the
sense tha t it a ddresses the li mitat io ns yo u beca me mvarc of as
yo u moved throug h I he previous steps. Design is based on I he
a tte mpt to ful fill hum an needs in a n evolving tec hni cal a nd c ul -
tura l context. We begin by applying the acti ve pos itive lis t to
exis ting things, then to things that are only beginn ing to be
imagined , o r have not yet been conceived. Whe n we optimize,

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 P l T T I N (, U : 0 - 1: f f r CT I I £ £ S~ I ~T 0 PR ~ CT IC E

we o pe n our imagina tions to radi call y ne w possibiliti es. We

as k: What is the c ustome r's need, how is thf' c ult ure evolving,
a nd how c a n these purposes be met by appea ling a nd diffe re nt
k inds of pmrlur ts OJ" se rvices"?

Five Guiding Principles

Tra ns fo rma tion to a n ceo-effec tive vis io n doesn' t ha ppen a ll a t

once, a nd it requ irf's pl e nt y of tria l a nd e rro r- and time, e ffo11 .
money, a nd c re a ti vity ex pe nrled in ma ny direc tions. Athleti c-
we a r ma nufac tu re r ikf' is one compa ny th a t is tak ing a num-
be r of cco-e fTecti ve initia ti ves to expl o re ne w ma te ria l a nd ne w
scena rios of prod uc t usc a nd re use. O ne of thf' compa ny's a ge n-
das is to ta n lea th<'r wit ho ut questionab le toxins, so tha t it is no
longe r a mo nst ro us hybri d a nd ca n be safel y composte d afte r
use. Beca use lea the r tann ing affects so ma ny prod uc ts -in-
c luding cars, furniture, a nd c lothing- s uc h a n initi a ti ve co uld
I ra nsfo rm not o nt: but seve ra l ind ustri es. ikf' is a lso tes ting a
clean ne w ru bbe r compound tha t will be a b iological nutrie nt
a nd cou lrlli ke wi se have a revolu tio na ry impact o n ma ny indus-
tria l sectors . At the . ame time , th e compa ny is ex plo ring inno-
vu tio ns at the re tri eva l s ta ge, a tt e mpting not on ly to make
tr c·hni ea l a nd bi ological nutri e nts but to put in pl ace syste ms
fo r re trie ving the m. The process is neeessaril y gra rl ua l- du ring
thi s trans itio na l pe ri od uf introduc ing its ne w s hoes, ike sepa-
rates and grinds the uppe rs, ou lsole, a nd c ushi oning mi dsole,
a nd the n works with lice nsef's to c re ate s urfaces for s p01t s ac-

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 C RAil L E TO CRAIJLE

ti vities (a fair ly hi gh-level use, s till , as these mate rials offer

protectio n from the eleme nts as well as s hock absorption). Th e
goa l re mains upcycl ing, adapted to di verse locations and cul-
tures, but not every avenue of explorati on wi ll p11n out. As
Dm·cy Winslow, Nik e's global director of women's footwear,
points out, in medium- and high-tec h industrie s innovation typ-
ica ll y has a success rate of lO to ] 5 percent. The compan y is
initi ating several p ilot programs to begin unde rs tanding the
complex ity of a prod uc t take-bac k program, wi th the ex pecta-
tion th e~ t one or several of those may e nd up working in th e fu -
ture. ike sells prod uc ts in approxim atel y I JO countri es, so the
program mus t be designed to incorpor ate regional and cultura l
re levancy.
The re a re some things design innovato rs and bus ine s
leaders ca n do to help s teer the transi tion a t every s tage and
im prove the odds of s uccess:

the~n
Signal your inlention. Commit to a new paradigm , rather
to inc remental improveme nt of t he old. For exampl e, whe n a
Dn

bus iness leader say , "We are go ing to make a olar-pow ered
product, " that is a s ignal s trong enough for everyone to unde r-
stand the compan y's pos iti ve inte ntions, particula rly s ince total
a nd immedia te c ha nge is d iffic ult i n a marke t dominate d by the
status quo. In th is case, the int e ntion is not to be slightly more
e ffic ie nt, to improve on th e old mode l, but to change the frame-
work itself.
Employees "down on the ground" need to have this vis ion
111 place at the top, especia lly as they encounte r resistanc e

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 I' UTT I NG t:CO-F:FFF:CT I \ E ~ E SS I T O 1' 1\ACTI C E

within the company. Tim O' Brien, ne wl y promoted to vice pres-

id ent of real estate for Ford, says: " l know whe re lo gel 'yes':
the twe lfth floor," referring to th e location of f ord's forward-
thinking senior ma rwgf' mP.nl IP.am. "ThP.re may be a rgument on
what the next s te ps will be a t Ford, but the re is no a rgument on
th e direction."
It is importa nt, however, that s igna ls of inte ntion be
fou nded on healthy princ iples, so tha t a compa ny is sending
s ignals not only about the tra nsformation of phys ical ma te ri a ls
bu t a lso a bout the tra ns formation of values. For example, if the
solar collectors powe ring a ne w solar-powe red company are
made with toxic heavy me ta l a nd no thou ght is given to the ir
furth e r use or di sposal, the n a ma te ri a ls prob le m has simply
been substitu ted for a 11 e ne rgy probl em.

Restore. S tri ve for "good growth," not just econom ic growth.

Think of the ideas we have presented he re -and of designs in
genera l- as seeds . Suc h seeds ca n ta ke a ll ma nne r of c ultura l,
ma te ria l, a nd e ve n spiritua l forms. For insta nce, a dila pidated
ne ighborhood ca11 be pla nted with s uch seeds as a ne w tra ns it
syste m, innovati ve ways of providing services thai a re not
linked to was te and s praw l, water puriftcation, the inc rease of
green space and the p la nting of trees for· clea ne r air a nd bea uty,
the restoration of old a nd c rumb li ng buildings, the revitaliza-
tion of s torefronts am! rna rke tplaces. On a s malle r sca le, build-
ings ca n be res torati ve: .like a tree, they can purify wa te r and
send it out into the la ndsca pe in a purer form , accrue solar in-
come for the ir own ope ra tions, provide habita t (for instance, de-

183
 C R .~IlLE TO CRAD L E

s igners can ma ke roofs a nd courtyards altrac tive Lo bird!;), and

give bac k to the environme nt. A nd , of course, des ign produc ts
that are restorati ve, as bi ologica l and techn ical nutrients .

Be ready to innovate further. o matter how good your produc t

is, re me mbe r tha t pe rfecti on of an exis ting product is not nec-
essa ril y th e best in vestme nt one can mak e. Re member the Erie
Canal, which Look four years to build and was he ra lded as the
height of efficie ncy in its day. What its bui lde r a nd investors
had not reckoned on was tha t the adven t of cheap coaJ and steel
wou ld ass ure the ca na l's insta nt de mise. The ra il road was ex po-
ne ntia lly quicke r, c heaper, a nd more conveni ent. By the ti me
the cana l was fin is hed, th e ne w nic he and fitting-est technology
for transportation had been deve loped.
When the fu el cell is becoming the a utomotive e ngine of
choice in the a utomotive indus try, those compan ie focused on
inc reas ing the pe rformance a nd efficiency of the inLernaJ com-
bus tion e ngine mi ght find the mse lves le ft beh ind . Is it Lime to
keep ma king what. you a re making? O r is it time t.o c reate a ne w
nic he? Innovation req uires notic ing s igna ls outside the com-
pany itself: signals in the community, the e nvironme nt, a nd the
world at large. Be open to " feedforwa rd ," not just feedback.

Understand and prepare fo r the learning curve. Recognize that

c hange is diffic ult, messy, and ta kes extra mate rial s a nd Lime.
A good analogy is tha t of deve loping a wing. If you want to Ay,
at some point you need the s loppiness of add itiona l mate rial s,
the redundancy-and a s tretc h for the researc h and devel-
opment- to grow a wing. (Many scie ntists bel ieve that wi ngs

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 PUTT I ~G ECO -I::FFEC TI V E~E SS I N TO PRACTICJ::

evo lved as a secon dary use for limbs with feathers for warmth .)
Biologis t Ste phen ]ay Goul d has captured this concept nicely
in a way that can be useful to indus try: "All biological struc-
tures (at all scales from genes to organs) maintain a capac ity for
massive redundancy- tha t is, for bu ilding more s tuff or infor-
mation than minimally needed to maintain an adaptation. The
'extra' material then becomes available for cons tructing evolu-
tionary novelties because e nough remains to perform the origi-
nal , and still necessary, fun cti on." Form follows evolution.
You may not even know today what it is that you need to
grow in the future, but if all of your resources are tied up in ba-
sic operations, there won' t be anything extra to allow for inno-
vation a nd experimentation. The ability to ada pt and innovate
requires a " loose fit"-room for growing in a new way. Ra ther
tha n spend all its time and money fine-tuning an ex is ting vehi -
cle, for example, an automobile manufacturer might also be de -
s igning another car on the side: an innovative vehicle based on
"feedforward." Innovati ve design ta kes time to evolve, but rest
ass ured, in len years th e "perfect" vehicle of today will be a
thing of the past, and if you don' t have the new new thi ng, one
of your competitors will.

Exert intergenerational responsibiLity. In 1789 Thomas Jefferson

wrote a letter to ] ames Madison in whi ch he argued that a fed-
e ra l bond s hould be repa id within one generation of th e debt,
because, as he put it, "The earth belongs ... to the li ving . ..
No man can by natural right oblige the la nds he occupied, or
the persons who succeeded him in that occupation, to the pay-
ment of debts contracted by him. For if he coul d, he might, dur-

185
 CRA IHE TO C R ADLE

ing hi s own life, eat up th e usufruct of th e la nds fo r several

gene rations lo come, and the n the la nds would belong to the
dead, and not to the li ving."
The contex t is differe nt , but the logic i beautiful a nd
timeless. As k: How ca n we support and pe rpetua te the rights of
a ll li ving things to s ha re in a world of abundance? How can
we love the c hildre n of all spec ies -not just our own- for a ll
time? Imagine what a world of pros pe rity a nd hea lth in the fu-
ture will look lik e, a nd begin designing for it right now. What
would it mean to become, once again, nati ve to thi s place, the
Earth- the home of all our re la tions? This is going to La ke us
a ll, a nd it is going to ta ke forever. But the n, that's the point.

186
Notes

Chapter One. A Question of Design

2 0 "Citys . . . nrc nuthing" : John Cla re (1793- 1864), ·'Letter to Messrs
Taylor and llessey, II ," in '/he Oxford Au1hors: j ohn Clare, edited by E ric
Hobinsoro arod David Powell (Oxford and 1\ e w York: Oxford University
Press, 1984), 457.
21 Consider car~: Jano.-e 1'. Womack, Daniel J oucs, and Daniel Roos, The
Machine 1'lwt Changed !he World ( e w York : MaC'millan, 1990), 2 1- 25.
22 He nry Furd : Quoted in Hay Batc helor, 1/enry Ford: Mass Prodttc/.ion,
Modemi.sm, and Oesign (Manchester and J\ ew York: ManC'heste r Uni ver-
s ity Press, 1994), 20.
24 " power , nccoH·ucy, econo m y": Ibid. , 4 1.
25 " essences unch a n ged" : l{alph Waldo Emerson, " Nature," in Selection.!
from Ralph IVctldu t;mersun. edited by tcphen E. Whicher (Bos ton:
Houghton Millliro, 1957), 22.
27 m ore th un 90 pe r cent: Hobe rt Ayres a nd A. V. \cese, "Externalities:
Economics and Thc nnod ynamics," in Economy and Ecology: 7owarrL!
Snstainable Oevelopmen/., edited by F'. Archihugi mod P. Nijkamp (Nether-
lands: Kluwer Acaucmic, 19B9), 9:1.
30 mulnliuns tuul infe t•tiljty: Marla Cone. " ll ivt'l' Pollrotion Study Finds
Hormonal Defects in Fis h Science: Discovery in Britain Suggests Sewage
Plants Worldwide May Cause Similar Ht>prodne tiV<"-Traet Damage," l..os
Angeles 1tmes, Septe mbe r 22. 1998.
31 T he reality of global warming: DuPurot, BP. Hoya l Dutc h Shell. Foru,
Da imler Ch rysiPr, 'lf>xaro, a nd General Motors haw withdrawn from the
Global Climat(' Coalition, a group hacked hy imlus trialists that discounts
global warm ing.
32 llcgulatio ns for airhm·rw po lluta nts: Thl' EPA is also adding sta tutt'S
that ma nufac turt'rs upwind of pollute< I areas arc affcctcu by regulations in
those an·as. Set' Mallhl'w Wald, "Court Bac ks Vlost I!:I'A Action in Pol-

187
 NOTES

luters in Ce ntral Stales," The New York 11m.es, May 16, 200 1, and Linda
Greenhouse, " EPA's Authori ty on Air Hules Wins Supr<'me Court 's Back-
ing," The New York Times. Fe bruary 8, 200 1.
33 us pbalt und c onc r e t e: In 1996 the impervious s urfaces of the tristate
metropo lita n region a round ew York-the roads, build ings, pa rking lots.
and nonliving parts -were meas ured at 30 percent. A generation ago this
figure was 19 pe rcent. The projec tion for 2020 is 4-5 percent. See To ny
Hiss and Hobert D. Ya ro, A l?egion at Risk: The Third Negionnl Plan
for the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut Metro/)olitan Area (Washington,
D.C.: Is land Press, 1996), 7.
35 s ii rgle -m.inded c ultiva tion: Wcs Jackson has pointed out tha t the prai rie
as it was, with a ll of its di versity and grasses, ac tually produced more
carbohydrates and protein pe r hectare than modern agriculture. !Jut con-
ventional agricult ure has not engaged this rich ecosystem on its own
te rms .
35 " a simplifier of eco syst.e ms": Paul H. Ehrlic h, Anne II. Ehrlich, and
J ohn P. Holdren, E:coscience: Popula.tion, Resources, Environment (San
f ra ncisco: W. II . Freeman, 1970), 628.
3 5 re tun1ing complexity: Ma ny fo rms of "organic" agriculture tha t cele-
brate complexity and pnx luct ivity are being df've lopcd a round the world
with rota tions of animals and pla nts. For details, see the work of S ir Albert
ll oward, J. T. Hoda lc, Masunobu Fukuoka, Joel Salntin, and Michael Pol-
lan . Anothe r example of "homeostatic" (not s ingle-puq)Ose rnonocultural)
fanning, accord ing to \Vcs J ackson, is the Amish agric·nltura l method.
37 u s i.mpl.is tic economic fig ure: For an in-de pt h discussion of the GOP's
fa ilures and a presenta tion of new measure ments for projl;r!'ss. see Clifford
Cobb, Ted Halsted. a nd J onathan Rowe, " If the GDP Is Up, Why Is Amer-
ica Down'?," Atlantic Monthly, Octo ber 1995, 59.
38 S ince 1987: Mi chael 13ra unga rt ct al., " Poor Design Practices-Gaseous
Em issions from Complex Prod urts," Project. Report (Humburg, Germa ny:
Hamburger Umweltinst ilut, 1997), 47.
3 9 " a for mal ris k usso•ssnwnt" : Wayne H. Orr and John W. Hoberts,

188
 'IOTE S

"Everyday Exposure to Tox ic Pollutants," Scientific American, Febru-

ary 1998, 90.
40 le gislation establish.ing: Legislation is just begin ning in Sweden.
41 a child's swim wings: Braungart et al., " Poor Design Practices," 49.
41 Consider e ndoc rine disruptors: See Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
(1962; rpl. New York: Penguin Group, 1997), and Theo Colburn, Dianne
Durnanoski, and John Peterson Myers, OtLf Stolen Futnre, for an in-
dept h look at the effect s of synthetic c hemicals on human and ecological
health.

Chapter Two . Why Being "Less Bad" Is No Good

45 "I have read" : Thomas Malthus, Population: The First Essay (1798)
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1959), 3, 49.
46 "in Wildness": Henry David Thoreau, "Walking" (1863), in Walden and
Other Writings, edited by William Howarth (New York: Random House,
1981), 613.
46 " When I submit": Quoted in Max Oelshaeger, The Idea of Wilderness:
From Prehistory to the Age of Ecology (New Haven: Yale University Press,
1992), 217.
48 " hm1dreds of millions" : Paul R. Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (N ew
York: Ballantine Books, 1968), xi, 39.
48 " The n the fuse": Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich, The Population
Explosion (New York : Simon & Schuster, 1984), 9, II , 180-81.
49 " Tf the 1wesent" : Quoted in Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows,
and Jorgan Sanders, Beyond the Limits: Confronting Global Collapse, En-
visioning a Sustainable Fntnre (Post Mills, VT: Chelsea Creen, 1992),
XV III .

49 " Mi.J1imize the nse": Ibid., 214.

49 "The ide a of unlimited growth": rritz Schumacher, Small Is Beauti-
ful: Economics as if People Mauered (1973; rpl. New York: Harper and
Row, 1989), 3 1, 34, 35, 39.
50 "Tho~ s im1)le truth" : R. Lilienfield and W. Rathje, Use Less Stuff: Envi-

189
 1\0rt: s

ronmental Solutiomfor Wh o \Ve l?eally Are (New York: Balla ntine Books,
1998), 26, 74.
5 1 " What we thought was boundless": Joan Magrelta, ··Growth Through
Sus tainability: An Interview with ~l o nsa nto's C[O. Robert B. Shapiro."
1/arvard Business Review (Ja nua ry- February 1997). R2.
51 " You must get the mos t" : Quoted in Joseph J. llomm. l..ean and Clean
lV/(utagement: Now to /Joost. Profits and Produrtivity by !<educing Pollution
(New York: Kodansha Ame rica, J 994), 2 1.
52 " Industries and indust o·ial ope o·utions" : World Cornrnission on Envi-
ronment and Development, Our Common Futur<' (Oxford a nd ew York:
Oxford University Press. 1987), 2 13.
52 " Within a decadf'" : Stephan Sclomidheiney, "Eco-Efli<'ieney a nd Sus-
tainable Development.'' Risk Management 43:7 (1996). S I.
53 mm''' tloan $750 million: 3M. ·'Pollut ion Prevention Pays.'' htt p://www.
:3nr.t·om/about3m/environ mcort/policies_a bou t31'.j ht orrI.
53 a lmos t 70 p•·rc<'nt : Gary Le('. ' "rhe Three H's of Manufactu ring: Hecy-
d,., Heuse, Heduce Waste.'' Washington Post, February 5, 1996, A3.
5 4 a g roundbrf'aking r••poo·t: Theo Colbom, Dianne Dumanoski, and John
Pe te rson Myers, Our . /olen Future ( 1ew York: Penguin Group. 1997). X\ i.
54 new res<>ar c lo on luu·ti<·ooluh•s: ~lary Beth Hcgan. ''The Dustup Over
Dus t,'' /Jusine.1.1 Week, Det·rrnber 2, 1996, L19.
59 two fundume nt.al syrulo·mnes: Jane Jacobs. Systems of Surm:val: A Dia-
logue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politics (New York : Vin-
tage Books, 1992).
65 no indepe nde nt " " " "'' For a u interesting discussion of the ''value'' of
e fficiency. see James Hillmau. Kinds of Power: A Guide to Its flltelligenl
Uses (.\ ew York: Doublt'day, 1995), :13-44.

Chapter Three. Eco-Effectlveness

76 n munugcl''s j o b: Pe te r Druf' ker, Th e 1':./Jerliut• Executive ('\ew York:
l larpt'r Business, 1986).
79 some s pecies of nnt: J::rie h Ho) 1. 1'l1e Earth Owelll'f.t: Adventures in the
l.11nd of Ants ( c 11 York: 'imou & Sdru"l<'l'. 1996). 27. 19.

190
 OTES

80 na ture's ser vices: Gretche n C. Da ily, in troduction l.o Nature's Services:

Soci£taJ Dependence on Natural f_;cosystems, t>diled by Gretchen C. Daily
(Washington. D.C.: Is la nd Press, 1997), 4.
84 ' at ure being known": Quoted in Cli vP Ponling. A Green History of the
World: The Environment and the Collapse of Creal Civilizations ( cw York:
Pe ngu in 11ooks. 199 1). 148.

Chapter Four. Waste Equals Food

94 Horne 's in'lwr-ia li.~n" S ir Albert I loward notes thai tlu" " ma in causes" of
Borne's dedin~ ..app('ar to have been fourfold : tlw t•onslanl drain on the
manhood of llw count ry s ide by the legions, which <"u loninaled in lht' lwo
long wars with Carl hag<': the operations of the lloonan capitalist landlords;
fail u re lo work out a balanced agriculture bciw('('ll t·rops and l ive stock
a nd lo ma inta in illf' fertility of the soil: the e mploymen t of Slaves instead
of free labourers.'" Albert lloward, An Agricultural 'J"estrww11t (Lo nd on:
Oxfortl UnivPrsily Prf'ss, 1940). 8.
94 wrhe centr·al s tory": Wi ll iam Cronon, Nature's MetroJJOiis: Chicago and
the Great lfiP.<t ( Pw York and London: \V. W. or1on. 199 I), xv. I9.
95 For· centurit•s in Egypt : F'or more d etails on lhl" Eg) plians· susta in-
a ble usage of 1l1e Nile. ;ee Do nald Worster, " l'h in king Like a River," in
Meeting the f-"xpt'Ciolioll.< of the IAmd, ed ited by Wcs J ackson, Wendell
Berry, and n,.,,.., Col111an (San Francisco: i\ortlo Point l'ress, 1984),
58-59.
96 the C hinese l""' rf<·o·t.•·•l a •y•te n~: Also sec F'. II. Ki11g, Farmers of Forty
Centuries: Or, Pamfllll'llt Agricult.ure ill China. Korea, a11d japan (Lon-
do n: Jonathan Capt•. 1925).
100 C r·cal Stink of Lorulttn : Clive Ponling. A CrPen 1/istory of the World:
Tlw Enviro11men1 Ollllthr Collapse of Creal Civilizatio11s (New York: Pe n-
guin Books. 199 1), 335.
105 Mos t pac k n,..•iJrg: Kyra Hnlzl'l, " Paeka~;i ng's llftd ·Wrap.'" J::cologieal
Critique and Objeeth·es in Design :3 :~ ( I <)CY,I), I 0 I.
11 2 r t>nt-a-solvf'nl : \1ie hacl firs t proposPd I hi' •·onN·pl in 1986. It is impor-
tant lo nolc. how<·ler. tha i it i; 1101 )f'l up limi><·d: no rw of lh<' companic;

191
 ~OTf: S

lhal have adopted the conccpl so far have yet cornpletely remalerialized
lhe solvenl as a technical nutrirnl.

Chapter Five. Respect Diversit y

120 Thjnk again of the anlil: F.:rirh Hoyt, The Earth Dwellers ( ew York: Si-
mon & Schus te r, 1996), 2 11 - l:l.
121 ten Si>Ccies of ant wren: John "lh borgh, Diversity and the Tropical Rain
!'ores/. (New York: Scientific i\rneri ran Library, 1992), 70-71.
1 2 1 A t apestry is the me taphor: Wil liam K. Stevens, "Losl Ri vcls a nd
Threads, and Ecosyste ms Pul led Apar1," 1he New York Tim es. July 4,
2000.
147 " Evf'ry man working" : Adam Smith, " Restraints on Particular Im-
ports," in An Inquiry into the Nature and Ca.r1.1es of th£ Wealth of Nations
(New York: Random House, 1937), 423.
148 " Masses of laborer~": Karl Marx a nd Friedrich Engels, 1he Commr.mist
Manifesto ( 1848; rpl. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1964), 70.
148 "e<·oc idc": See Murray Fes hbach and Alfred Frie ndly, Jr., Ecocide in the
U.S.S.R.: flealth a nd Nature Under Siege ( ew York: Basic Books, 1992).
15 1 a fractal tile: Our fractal diagram is modeled on lhe Sie rpinski gasket,
named for lhe Polish nralhcmalician who discovered il in 19 19.
153 " triple hottom line": For more on this concept, see tire work of John
l•:lkington al www.sus lainubility.com.

Chapter Six. Putting Eco -Effectiveness into Practice

157 u " •lisnssembly line" : Charl('s Sore nson, My Forty Years witlr Ford (New
York: W. W. orton. 1956), pp. 174-75.
185 "AU biological structurf's": Stephen Jay Gould, "Creating lhe Cre-
ators," Discover, October 1996, pp. 43- 54.

192
 Acknowledgments

We can' t begin to acknowledge all the people who contributed

to the ideas in these pages, and who are fostering and e ngaging
with us in this di scussion and in this work in the world-we
would end up with a list that was endlessly long, and we know
we mi ght miss someone. So-we are deeply gratefu l to you all.
We would li ke to take partic ular note of the people who
made this book possible, who worked on it, and who were in-
volved in its creation. We reserve a spec ial thanks for Lisa
Wi lli ams, for her ed itorial endeavors during the whole of this
project. We would also like to thank others whose vision a nd
creativity have contributed in various ways to the s hape this
book took: .Jan ine James; Charlie Melc her; our agent, Melanie
Jackson; our ed itor, Becky Saletan, at North Point Press-
which has ins tigated a new paradigm for bookmaking-and
Anne Johnso n, for her helpful researc h.
We especia lly want to acknowledge and th ank our fam il ies.
So here's to Michelle, Drew, and Ava from Bill, an d to Monika,
Jonas, Nora, and Ste lla from Mic hael. We celebrate you r many
gifts to us.

193
\1 II II\ \1 MCDO'WL (,I I i~ au tn t·hilt•t•l u11d II II' fou nd i n~ prinl'ipa l of
\\'ill ium Mc· Donough + l)u rtlw~. \ n·hih•t·lult' and Communi!) Dt'~ i gn .

ha~t·d in C harlott t'~l ill t•, \irgi nia. From 199 1 In 1999 lw ~t'nt'd a~

dt•a u of tlw !'<·hool of an·hilt'I'IU I'l' al lht• L niH'~ II ) of \ trginia. In 1999

1/m(' nwga.r.int' n·eognitt·d him a., a " ll ero fo r the P lt~~lt' l .'' ~luling thai
" hi, ulopiuni,m i, groundt>d in a uui fit·d ph ilo~o ph ) thul- i n demon-
, 1ruhl1· and praelin1l ll a)"-i" d wnging the de~ i gn of lht• 11orld." In
191X>. he rt'el'i\l·d tlw l'~t ·,i dl'ul iu l \ 11unl for Sn,luinable De1dopmenl.
1l11· h iglw~ l em ironn11• nt ul honor gi\!'u h) tlw L nill'd Stale....
\lit II It I llll II \1,\ll I ''a 1' h 1· m i~1 and till' foundt·r of lht• Em i-
ronmt•nt al l'rolt•<'liou 1-:twuur agt•uwnl \ 1(1'111') (1·:1'1·: \ ) in ll amburg.
Ct·rnla n}. l'rior In ~tart iug EPI·: \ . Ill' lltb tlw tlin·t·lol of thl' t·lw m i~lf)

"t'l'liuu for Grel:' npt•at'l'. Si iH't' II)H I lw ha, bt't'n lt'l'ltn iug al uniH•r,i-
l it·~. hu ... i ne~~<':-. and in ~ l i lul i u n ... a mu ud 1111' 1\0rld uu ni lil'al nt'll <'lll l-
t't'Jlh for PI'Oiugi<'u l l' l wm i ~l n and malt'rial... fl o11 mu uagt•meul. Dr.
llrauugurt i;. lilt' n·t·ipit·nl of uu u wrou~ houo~. <mank and fi' IIOII-
-.hip' from thP ll l'i llt Eudull lll\'111. the \\ . \ hun J u u t·~ Foundation. and
uth..r orga uiw liuu....
 Tn J995 the authors c reated Mc Donough Bra ungart Design
Che mistry, a produc t and systems deve lopme nt firm ass is ting c lient
companies in impleme nting their unique susta ining des ign protocol.
The ir c lie nts inc lude Ford Motor Company, Nike, He rman Miller,
BAS F, DesignTex, Pe ndleton, Volvo, and the c ity of Chicago. The
c ompany's Web s ite can be found at www.mbdc.com.
.,....... ...._ nqc~e.• ~~g~IIWIRII,_IIIIIIta; In olhlr WOlds. do men ..,.._In
order to "**niie dlmlgt. aut • an:1111ct Wllllm Mc:Donoust~n ct.n~~t MlchMI
Brulglrt polrit out In thll pnMICIIIIve, vlllonlry book. IUCh ., ~ only
. , . , . . . . the one-way. "cndde to WfNfi' manufacUing modal, dlllng to the lndullrlal
Revolution, that~ IUCh f8ntaltlc emounta of waste and pollution In the flrlt
.,_,Why not~ the belief that humin lndultry must dan'lage the nelUrll world?
In filet. why not tiMI'IIbn lllllf • cu modal for rnllclng thlngl? A tNe ~
~cl bloeeomlln order to Cleale anot1w tNe, y.t we conlldlr .. lluldlnce
not...a.ftjbul ..... ~ ... ~elleciM.

C3ulded by this principle. McDonouctl and 8raunglrt explain how producta CM be

dellgned from the outlet 10 that, after their UMfulllvel, they wl pnMde nou1lhment
for eome1t11ng .,_ 111er _,be conceived • •biCJioglcll rUrlenW' that_. ellly
,_,..the water or 1011 without depoelllng aynthellc meterlall and bini. Or they
. , be "18ct•llcal rUrfen~a• that . . conllrullly ciR:ulll8- pura .........
........ within cloeecHoop lnduetrlal cyclee, ,..,., than being ~-NIIIIy.
dcJwnc)ded--No low1Pide lftlllllell n - . Drawing on thelr....-~eern
(retdeelglllllg ~~~~flam~ to corpolale ClmJ)Uell, McDonough ...
Bru1gert melee an exclllng n viable ceee for putting~ Into praollce,
n ehow how ..,..lrMIIII'ed wllh making anything can begin to do eo• 'MIL

Cover d•J.&n by Ja.nlne Jam.. /'lbe Modems U.S.A. 126.00 I ea... "' oo
Envll'onmenl/ O..lp
~r North Point Press ISBN-13 978-G-86547·587-8
A dlvl8lon or Farrar. &rau• and Olrowr. ISBN-10: o-86547-587·3

A Melcher Media Book

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