Well folks, just a few more blog responses to write. Let's try a nice open question this week.
This time around I'd like you to consider the book we're reading at the moment. What do you make of the "Cradle to Cradle" vision spelled out by William McDonough and Michael Braungart? Are they on the right track? Or is their optimism misplaced?
Looking forward to your responses.
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Cradle to Cradle calls for the change of human industry and thought through ecologically intelligent design. The vision spelled out by McDonough essentially allows for readers to expand on the idea of the human capacity to assess our situation and predict where we can be or how far we can go with our potential.
I love McDonough's opinion on the way things can be. The first time I understood Waste=Food as a concept, I hadn't heard of McDonough yet, but I knew it was a reliable concept and a good first step in altering the way humans perform within our own capacity.
Their main point is that we waste if our products go completely back into nature or are completely reborn as new products. I think they are on the right track. I feel it is wrong to depend too heavily on technology as it may not be able to keep up with our global population, but in another perspective, technology can become more efficient and therefore so can the human race if we are willing to harness the capacity to simplify the way we work. If we could maintain the simple perspective that we can get out of our planet what we are willing to put into it, we can go far. Ditching the notion of waste might be the most profound challenge to our generation, but hey, I'm game.
I think the the ideas presented in "Cradle to Cradle" are something new and different from what we have seen in the past. Like Mackenzie said, the authors force us to expand our knowledge of human capacity to address many of the current issues plaguing the global community right now.
I believe their ideas are correct because it takes what we already have and addresses the problem. So much of what i have read on climate change and global warming either evades the real question or is way too idealistic. I think McDonough and Braungart, through their work with big industries such as Nike and Ford, are starting a new way of addressing the problem; their philosophy is one that can be globally applied to more nations and multi-nationals, as well as to peoples everyday lives.
The book “Cradle to Cradle’ is nothing short of a breath of fresh air. William McDonough and Michael Braungart are finally what we have been looking for in the science of the environment and self sufficiency. For such a long time, through all of the readings provided in and out of the classroom by scientists, industrialists, politicians, and a wide variety of other individuals, we as a society have been pummeled with doom and gloom. That Pepsi bottle sitting on my desk is going to cause the destruction of the entire world. The shoes I’m wearing and the cell phone I’m currently texting on will cause the obliteration of thousands of species of animals and cause my grandchildren to live in a world not worth living in. If I had a dollar for every time I heard this idiotic dribble regarding everything as doom and gloom, well, let’s just say that I could’ve paid off my tuition a long time ago. All that existed was talk about what the problem was but very little was done in way of finding a solution.
What these two men offer through their book “Cradle to Cradle” as well as their ambitions and undertakings is what some might consider a new era of environmental action, a realist sense of environmentalism. These men seem to understand that standing on a street corner is not the way to bring about effective change. It isn’t enough to simply try and reach the people themselves, asking them to start using wash clothes, energy efficient light bulbs, or shopping at farmer’s markets. These approaches seemed to ignore the fact that beyond these simple methods, there is much more that comprises the lives we lead. Tackling one or two minor issues doesn’t solve everything. Moving beyond this, “Cradle to Cradle” as well as the documentary seen during class, shows us that taking the initiative to light the candle at both ends is the way towards our goals. We must be willing to invest and work with everything available, from the corporations like Nike and Ford who provide substantially to the lives of everyday people to the technologies and methods by which we create what we use and finally to the general consumer. By instilling the ideals of self-sufficient and effective living on both the people and the producers of the goods we all use daily, you are making a substantial movement towards true and lasting change at a minimal, if any, cost to the environment. On a much broader scale, by taking the time to address the whole picture, we as a society might find a way to solve the problems here at home, as well as be able to implement a cost effective and achievable path of development for the nations of the third world who seek the improvement of their lives as well. The optimism of these two men is something not many have seen before, but hopefully will become a staple of the international vision towards a brighter future for all.
I agree with Will in that this book is very reassuring with its lack of alarmist rhetoric. Alarm is necessary to an extent as a counter to indifference and complacency, but it too often breeds fear and pessimism. I'm sick and tired of hearing about how I, personally, am contributing to the destruction of the planet, and that the only way I can help is to dramatically change my lifestyle to one prescribed by the market-driven "Green Revolution." For one, most of the time I can't afford to. But most importantly, as this book points out, there is no point in trying to scare me or anyone else into taking an impractical approach to environmentalism. I won't respond positively to an opaque negative vision of the future, because if someone tells me (let's just assume for a minute that I decide to take their word for it) that the world is coming to an end, and the only way to save it is if every single person on the planet, including myself, changes their lifestyle dramatically....right this instant - I'd say, well, thank you for telling me sir/madam, I am now utterly convinced that we are completely fucked. Maybe you were trying to save the planet, but after all that scary, over the top bullshit, you've convinced me that there is no way that will ever happen.
I want to hear optimism. I don't care if its slightly misguided or exaggerated. Its way safer than misguided negativity and fear-mongering. These authors have every right to be optimistic, and they certainly need to be. And the fact that they can be optimistic and realistic at the same time speaks volumes to me. By presenting pragmatic solutions and discrediting the alarmist views of others, this book is definitely, as Will said, a breath of fresh air.
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