Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, lays out the framework for designing a “New Industrial Revolution,” which shifts industrial design to intentional design. The cradle to cradle design philosophy was born out of a collaboration between architect, William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart, each working on solving sustainability and health challenges in their respective fields. Built on the philosophy that we must take care of ourselves by taking care of the Earth, their work focuses on unifying industry and environmentalism, historically opposed to one another, to create a world that leaves an “ecological footprint to delight in, not lament.” As leaders in their fields since the 1970’s, they have experience working on these issues since they arose, and each have lived and worked in densely-populated countries such as Japan and Germany that have more elegant and ecologically responsible solutions than the US for how to design buildings, housing, and products.

The unintended effects of the Industrial Revolution have had devastating effects on human and environmental health. With this knowledge, they argue that we are at a turning point in history where designers and businesses must make sustainability a priority. They suggest that designers can use the wisdom of nature as a template for creating products, industrial systems, and regional plans that provide an alternative to the wasteful and damaging items that currently exist. They explain that key components of a truly sustainable design are diversity, locality, using natural energy flows such as solar, wind, and water power, explain how to transition to diverse and renewable energy flows, and a willingness to work with every sector of the economy and avoid “isms” or extreme and narrow lenses to see the world through. They call the last point “eco-effectiveness” which sees commerce, committed to environmental, social, and cultural concerns, as the vehicle for change. They explain that ecology, equity, and economy, three abstract components, must be in place for this to work and consider different aspects of each fractal when designing products, buildings, and factories. When analyzing clients from each perspective, suggestions for how the other two fractals can be considered in the business plan to round out the process into a more sustainable design model. For example, if a company is solely interested in making a profit, a suggestion to balance that out by looking at the social and environmental factors such as employee wages.

They describe an “Industrial Re-Evolution” as design that is diverse and most resembles the living world. It is foundational to use natural mechanisms that work on the premise of taking but also giving back, which creates a cycle of regrowth and redistribution of resources. For example: building factories whose products nourish the ecosystem with biodegradable material and recirculate technical materials instead of dumping, burning, or burying them and creating self-regulating systems and strive to serve nature as well as our own needs.

This holistic design framework is highly adaptable and works with people and businesses where they are. There are five steps that reflect five principles guiding the process. Step 1 is to Get “free of” known culprits or harmful substances. Step 2 is to Follow informed personal preferences, such as respect, celebration, “ecological intelligence”, etc. to allow for integration between design and culture. Step 3: Creating a “passive positive” list where they take inventory of the contents of a given product and the substances it “gives off” in the course of its manufacture and use. This is the most ecologically comprehensive step as it takes into consideration not only what the end state of the product is, but what effects it has on the local and global communities. Step 4 is to activate the “positive list” of substances to be used in the design. Step 5 is to reinvent the product. Even huge, established companies like Nike and Ford were able to integrate the framework into their traditional buildings. In Ford’s case, they redesigned their manufacturing facility to not only collect storm water, clean the air, beautify the landscape, but the plan actually saved the company $35 million in what would have been costs to upgrade the pipes to satisfy the Clean Water Act.

McDonough and Braungart’s focus on tangible solutions for design that strike at the root of our sustainability problems, rather than merely treating the symptoms, is impressive. They are answering the question of how to support and perpetuate a world that both promotes human health and is full of abundance, which hopefully more designers and business leaders will be doing in years to come.

– Natalie