Cradle to cradle

Notes

• "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world"
• being less bad =/= being good
• latex is one of the key provokers of asthma
• burning waste as a medieval technique, cradle to cradle sees waste as a tool for what's to come
• we are learning that materials have far longer use periods than people expect
• Holland being a pioneer of C2C due to naturual gas-based projects funding
• movie "Waste is food"
• DRIFT institute - a world center for C2C transition management
• "greenification"/replacement of some materials can be just a distraction e.g. tin instead of cadmium when soldering
  • it is less bad, but still toxic
• Titanic, as the ultimate antitC2C example
• Henry Ford's assembly line was inspired by Chicago's beef industry
• Ford also reduced workday 9->8 hours in 1914
• studies reveal that ecosystems are more vulnerable than thought before, business still operate according to paradigms from industrial times
• cradle to grave - linear, one-way industrial model
  • usually ends with a landfill or incinerator
• problem of universal design e.g. when making soap
  • regions with soft water need less detergant than regions with hard water
  • usually universal design aims to the worst case thus causing more damage than needed
• joke of fictional industrial fashion motto: "If brut force doesn't work, you're not using enough of it"
• brute force leads to uniformity
• 1991 Exxon Valdez actually increased Alaska's GDP
  • GDP was created in times when we thought natural resources are unlimited
  • having only GDP as a metric, any (even harmful) activity increases is
• "product plus" concept
  • something you did not ask for but received with / inside your product (e.g. toxins)
• most industrial methods & materials are unintentionally depletive
  • consequence of unintelligent & outdated design
• intergenerational remote tyranny
  • tyranny over future generations through the effects of our actions today
• recycling being an aspirin to the overconsumering headache
• some trees' leaves in Hamburg contain so heavy concentrations of heavy metals from incinerator fallout that those leaves have to be burned and not composted
• downcycling - reducing the quality of recycled material
• downcycled materials often need additives to make up for its lack of quality
• downcycling can be also more expensive for bgusiness as it pushes the lifecycle of a material further than it was originally designed for
• Jane Jacobs: "Regulation forces companies to comply under the threat of punishment but they seldom reward for taking initiatives"
  • thus creative problem is rarely encouraged
• the ultimate flaw of "the less bad mindset" is the lack of imagination of better futures
• dioxines are often results of burning polymer materials
• Grimshaw architects bulding a factory for Herman Miller factory as a good C2C example
• eco-efficient X eco-effective
  • first tries to save/optimize energy
  • the second is using it wisely
  • analogy can be making things less bad X working on the right things
• __ants and cherry trees make the world a better place :) __
• building roofs are under constant temperature shock
• controlling nature is not only the reigning trend, it has even become an aesthetic preference
  • instead of trying to use nature's abundance (fallen leaves), we try to get it out of the way
• a note to Elon Musk: "If you want a Mars experience, go to live to Chile in a typical copper mine"
• material flows
  • biological - nature can safely decompose and then can be useful for biosphere
  • trechnical - can't be returned to soil and can be useful for technosphere
• (Roman, or every other in general) imperialism emerged in part in response to nutrient loss - timber, food, ...
  • basically trying to look for resources elsewhere
• humans are the only species that take from the soil vast amounts of nutrients but rarely but them back in a usable form
• right now (2002) we're losing 5000x more soil than it's being developed
• after post-WWII throwaway products became a norm
• "What if we could design a system that safely captured the phosphate already in circulation (excrements) rather than discarding it as a sludge?"
• with materials it makes sense to celebrate the sameness and commonality rather than trying/needing to have the unique one
• if people are to thrive they need to imitate nature's nutrient flow and metabolism, in which the very concept of waste does not exist
• a concept of "product of service" similar to X as a service
  • e.g. returning a TV after 10 000 viewing hours would allow the provider to upcycle the item after its expected lifespan
  • e.g. rent a solvent - degreasing service for companies would allow for higher quality degreasing instead of buying abundant cheap solvents
• designing products as products of service means designing them to be disassemblable
• a good example of natural diversity is 8000 ant species around the planet where each kind firts well into its local conditions
• Hannover principles
  • a set of principles for more sustainable design practice
• the idea of local sustainability is not limited to materials but it begins with them
• sewage + ponds + diverse algae + fish -> C2C system for water purification
• fossiel fuels as a brute force energy supply
• industrial revolution gave people amazing power over nature
• decentralized smaller power supplies (e.g. small shared solars) are more resilient compared to largescale (e.g. nuclear)
• packaging can be enriched with seeds of plants that once thrown away can sproot in nature creating some sort of seed bomb to enrich local ecosystem
• __Question: "What kind of world do we intend, and how might we design things in keeping with that vision?"
• "lotus effect" - nothing sticks to a lotus leaf, is that something to inspire from when making clothes?
• design challenge: What kind of soap does the river want?
• 16% of former USSR uninhabitable due to ecocide
• tripple bottom line - "Ecology, equity and economy"
  • usually focuses on economy and the rest is more of an afterthought
  • tripple top line is when we praise all of them equally
• instead of using nature only as a tool, we can strive to become tools of nature who serve its agenda too
• ants are effective, not only efficient
• brownfield - abandoned industrial land
• Ford's Rouge factory as a good example of living in harmony with surrounding ecosystem
• Einstein: If we're to solve problems that plague us, our thiking must evolve beyond the level, we were using when we caused those problems in the first place
• 5 steps to eco-effectiveness - useful mindset for industrial designers when thking about what to work on next and how to do it well