Towards a Zero Waste Future

Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough presents the reader with the irrationalities at the heart of our current industrial system and argues why mainstream environmental solutions are not doing enough.  Reflecting themes we have covered previously in class, McDonough finds fault with consumer driven environmentalism. He criticizes these feel good measures as merely slowing down the detrimental side effects of our current system. The solutions he offers instead take aim at the systemic roots of our waste stream problems, and consumer driven industrialism in general.

One of the big ideas behind Cradle to Cradle is that we must kick off a new industrial revolution which focuses less on unnatural, unrestrained growth and more on a closed loop system where the resources involved never exit the stream and are continually used for the same or equally valuable purposes.   The physical book itself tries to exemplify this by being designed to be entirely reusable. The pages can be cleared and reused for a new book, while even the ink can be extracted and used for printing again.  Doing so does not require huge amounts of energy as traditional recycling processes since the book is designed to be reused.  This lack of design is at the heart of our current waste problems as many of our products are designed in way that makes them either impossible or prohibitively expensive to reuse.

Another major idea in the book is waste as food.  McDonough looks to nature as a guide for how our future economic and agricultural systems might function. Instead of massive, monoculture type processes our systems of production would instead reflect the complexities and diversity found in nature. A respect for natural systems is key to this, and the example of a cherry tree is used to show how the trees waste (leaves and fallen branches) are used each year to cycle nutrients in the soil.  Similarly our industry should be able to supply most if not all of its own energy and resource needs through a well design cradle to cradle process.

I agree strongly with the sentiments behind this book, specifically its critique of feel good, consumer driven environmentalism. Real and effective change will only be possible through radical shifts in how we do business and the ideas presented in Cradle to Cradle are in excellent step in the right direction.