Cradle To Cradle
I just want to live on a small plot of land in a simple house, grow most of my own food, generate solar/wind/geothermal energy, make art, watch movies, and...a few other things. (Not necessarily in that order.) Ultimately I just want to leave the planet a little better then when I came into it.
I just read an interesting book called Cradle To Cradle: Remaking The Way We Make Things. An architect and a chemical enginee wrote a book about redesigning much of what we make (cars, buildings, carpets, plastic bottles, etc) so that instead of just making them "less bad", we could actually make them so that they are actually beneficial to the planet. Buildings can be designed that create a SURPLUS of energy that can go back to grid, sewage can filter through designed marshes that leave the water cleaner than when it came in. "to go" boxes and drink cups that are made out of a biodegradable material that is actually beneficial to the soil when it gets tossed out. There is so much we can do to help this planet. Many chemicals in products are toxic and unnecessary, yet regulations, or lack of them, allow manufacturers to make all kinds of crap that is knowingly toxic to humans and the planet and can't be recycled. Who pays for this? We all do eventually.
There is no "away" to throw things since we all share the same planet and it's getting smaller all the time. Most "recycled" is actually "downcycled": The raw materials can't be reused for the same purpose, but must be used in some downscale way. For example,the metal from cars can't be made into new cars - because the material is weakened by impurities due to the way modern cars are constructed and painted. So why don't we make cars where all of the materials can be separated and reused? Perhaps because manufacturers don't have to think about what happens after the customer buys the car. Things need to be designed for reuse, however most things are not. Why? If all cars were simply "leased" for the life of the car, 10, 20, 30 years or whatever, and then returned to the manufacturer for recycling, we could save so much of our raw materials & energy. Actually, we could do this for almost everything we make: computers, phones, televisions... it could all be "loaned" out for the duration of it's life, and then returned to the manufacturer for recycling of all of it's parts and materials. All this can be done so that it's cheaper to manufacture, requiring less energy and raw materials, and be truly recyclable: making things so much better for the planet and more profitable. but we are humans who want to "own" things forever, or at least until they break or we want something new. it's a strange idea to shift our thinking from "owning" things to buying the rights to use it. How much better the things in our world could be designed! I love to read about these ideas because it gives me hope that we may, if we can get our act together, have a planet that isn't going to be totally f*cked because we couldn't figure it out. Reading this book makes me want to be an industrial designer or an architect.... is it too late to go back to college?
I just read an interesting book called Cradle To Cradle: Remaking The Way We Make Things. An architect and a chemical enginee wrote a book about redesigning much of what we make (cars, buildings, carpets, plastic bottles, etc) so that instead of just making them "less bad", we could actually make them so that they are actually beneficial to the planet. Buildings can be designed that create a SURPLUS of energy that can go back to grid, sewage can filter through designed marshes that leave the water cleaner than when it came in. "to go" boxes and drink cups that are made out of a biodegradable material that is actually beneficial to the soil when it gets tossed out. There is so much we can do to help this planet. Many chemicals in products are toxic and unnecessary, yet regulations, or lack of them, allow manufacturers to make all kinds of crap that is knowingly toxic to humans and the planet and can't be recycled. Who pays for this? We all do eventually.
There is no "away" to throw things since we all share the same planet and it's getting smaller all the time. Most "recycled" is actually "downcycled": The raw materials can't be reused for the same purpose, but must be used in some downscale way. For example,the metal from cars can't be made into new cars - because the material is weakened by impurities due to the way modern cars are constructed and painted. So why don't we make cars where all of the materials can be separated and reused? Perhaps because manufacturers don't have to think about what happens after the customer buys the car. Things need to be designed for reuse, however most things are not. Why? If all cars were simply "leased" for the life of the car, 10, 20, 30 years or whatever, and then returned to the manufacturer for recycling, we could save so much of our raw materials & energy. Actually, we could do this for almost everything we make: computers, phones, televisions... it could all be "loaned" out for the duration of it's life, and then returned to the manufacturer for recycling of all of it's parts and materials. All this can be done so that it's cheaper to manufacture, requiring less energy and raw materials, and be truly recyclable: making things so much better for the planet and more profitable. but we are humans who want to "own" things forever, or at least until they break or we want something new. it's a strange idea to shift our thinking from "owning" things to buying the rights to use it. How much better the things in our world could be designed! I love to read about these ideas because it gives me hope that we may, if we can get our act together, have a planet that isn't going to be totally f*cked because we couldn't figure it out. Reading this book makes me want to be an industrial designer or an architect.... is it too late to go back to college?
posted by Greg at 12:05 AM
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