Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

WlWam lloDonoqb • lllobael BraUDpl"t

Nor1h Point Press A division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux 19 Union Square West, New York 10003 Copyright © 2002 by William Mc Donough and Michad llraungart AII rights reserved DistributPd in Ca nada by Douglas & Mc intyre l.td. Prin~t>d in China First edition, 2002 DuraBookTM, patent no. G,77:3,0:l4. is a trademark of Mdchcr Media, Inc., 124 West 13th Street, Nt·w York, Y I 001 1, www.nwlc·h!'r.com. The DuraBook1 "' fomrat utilizes revolutionary tPdmology and is complf' t ~> l y waterproof and highly durable.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Pu blication Data McDonough, Will iam. Crad le to crad le: remaki ng tl w way we make things I William Mc Donough and Michael Braungar1. p.

('Ill.

ISB -13: 978-0-86.517-5H7-H ISB - 10: 0-86.547-.587-3 (lrt-.: alk. ))a per) I. Hecycling (Waste. etc.) 2. Industrial managenwnt-l•:nvirnnnwntal aspects. I. Bra uugar1, Mif'hac·l, ) d th e now of production on a massive sca le: huge qua nt ities of iron, coal, sand , and othe r raw mate rials e nle rf'd one s ide of the facility and, once inside, were transformed into new ears. Industri es fallE>ned as they transformed resourees into produc·ts. The prairies wt>re overtaken for agriculture, a nd the great forests we re cut down for wood and fue l. Factori es situated the mselves near natural resources for easy access (today a promine nt window company is located in a place that wa · originall y surrounded by giant pines, u eel for the window frames) and beside bodi es of water, whic h they used both for ma nufac turing processes and to d ispose of wastes. In the nineteenth century, when these practices began, the subtle qualities of the environme nt were not a widespread roncern. Resou rees seemed immeasurab ly vast. Nat ure itself was pe rceived as a "mothe r ea rth" who, pe rpE>lua ll y regene ra ti ve, would absorb all thi ngs and conti nue to grow. Even Halph Wa ldo Emerson, a prescie nt ph ilosophe r and poet with a !'art'ful eye for nature, reflt'eted a eom111011 belief whe n, in the early 1830s, he described nature as "esse nces unc ha nged by ma n; space, the air, the river, the leaf." Many pt>op le bel ieved there would always be an expanst' that remai ned unspoilt'd and innocent. The popu lar ficti on of Hud yard Kipling a nd others evoked wild JJarls of the world that still existed and, it seemed, always wou ld. At the sa me time, the Weste rn view aw nature as a dangerou s, brutish force to be civilized and subdued. Humans JJerceived natural forces as hostil e, so they atlacked uaek to exert control. In the Uni tt>d tales, la ming the frontier took on the 25

CHAO I.E TO CHAI)J. t;

power of a definin g myth , and "conque ring" wild , natura l places was recognized as a cultural- eve n s piritual- imperative. Today our understanding of nature has d ra matically changed.

ew studi es indi cate tha t the ocea ns, the a ir, the

mountains, and the pl ants a nd animals th at inhabit them are more vulne rabl e than ea rl y innovators ever imagined. But modern industri es still opera te according to paradigms that developed when humans had a very differe nt sense of the world . Neither the health of natural s ystems, nor a n aware ness of their deli cacy, complexity, and interconnectedness, have been part of the indus tri al design agenda. At its deepest found ation, the industria l infrastru cture we have today is linear: it is focused on making a product and gelling it to a custome r qui ckl y and cheaply without cons id ering much else. To be sure, the Industri a l Revolution brought a number of pos itive social changes. With higher standa rd s of li ving, life expectancy greatly increased. Med ica l care a nd education greatl y improved and became more widely ava il able. Electric it y, te lecommunications, and other ad va nces raised comfort and conveni ence to a new level. Technological ad vances brought the s o-ca ll ed developing na tions enormous benefits, incl ud ing increased productivit y uf agri cultural land and vastly increased harvests a nd food storage for growing popul ations. But the re were fund a menta l Aaws in the Industri al Revolution's de ign. They result ed in some c rucial omi ssions, a nd devas ta ting consequences have been handed down to us, a long with the dominant assumptions of the era in whi ch th e transformation took shape. 26

A QUE S T I OX Of DE S I GN

From Cradle to Grave

Imagine what you would come upon today at a typi cal landfill: old fumiture, uphols tery, carpets, televisions, clothing, shoes, telephones, computers, complex products, and plas tic packaging, as well as organic materials like diapers, paper, wood, and food wastes. Most of these products were made from valuable ma teri als that required e!Jort and expense to extract and make, billions of dollars' wo rth of ma te rial assets. The biodegradable materials suc h as food maller and paper ac tuall y have value too-they could decompose and return biological nutri ents to the soil. Unfortunately, all of these things are heaped in a landfill, whe re their value is wasted. They are the ultimate products of an industrial system th at is designed on a linear, one -way

cradle-to-grave model. Resources a re extracted, sha ped into products, sold, and eventua lly dis posed of in a "grave" of some kind, usually a landfill or incinerator. You are probably familiar with the end of this process because you, the customer, are res ponsible for dea ling with its detritus. Think about it you may be re fe rred to as a consumer, but the re is ve ry liule that you actually consume-some food, some li qui ds. Everything else is designed for you to throw away when you are finished with it. But where is "away"? Of course, "away" docs not really exist. "Away" has gone away. Cradle-to-grave des igns dominate modern manufacturing. According to some accounts more th an 90 percent of materi als extrac ted to make durable goods in the United States be come waste almost immediately. Some times the product itself scarcely lasts longer. It is ofte n cheaper to bu y a new version of 27

C ll Ill I 1: TO srence." to last on ly for a certain period of li mss of maki ng and de livering it.

One Size Fits All

Because the cradh')-lo-grave model underl ying th r df'sign assumpti ons of the Industri al Revolution was nol call t"d into quest ion, even movement · thai were formt>d oslen. ibly in opposition lo tha t

C I'CI

manifested its naws. One example has been

the push to achieve uu iversal design solut io ns, whic h emergPd as a leading design straiPgy in the lasl century. In the fie ld of a re hitedu re, th is strategy look the form of the In ternationa l Stylt' movemt>nt, adva nced du ring the ea rl y dt'cades of the IWPnli t>lh c·enlu ry by figun's such as Ludwig Mi es van dcr Rohc. Walte r Cropiu,;. and I.e Corbusinse Counf!il, the Worlcl Wildl ifP Federa ti on, a nd BUND (the Ge rma n Fede rati on for Environme nta l a nd Nat ure Conservation) . Environme nta lis ts we re no longe r inte res ted s imply in preservation but in monit oring and reducing toxi ns . Dec lining wi lderness a nd d imini hing resources merged with pollution and toxic waste as the major realms of concern. Malthus's legacy coni inued to hold strong. Shortly aft e r

Silent Spring, in 1968, Pau l Ehrli c h, a pioneer of mode rn environme nt alis m a nd an e minen t biologist working a t Stanford, publis hed a n a larm of Ma lthus ian proportions, 'l'lw Population

Bomb, in wh ich he dec la red tha t the 1970s a nd 1980 s would be a dark e ra of resource s hortages a nd famine , during whic h " hundreds of milli ons of people wi ll sta rve to dea th ." He also po int ed out huma ns' habit of " us ing the a tmosphere as a garbage dump. " "Do we wa nt to keep it up a nd find out what will ha ppe n?" he asked. " What do we ga in by playing 'e nvironmental roule tte'?" In 1984 Ehrli c h a nd hi s wife , Anne, fo ll owed up the firs t book with anothe1·, The Population Explosion. In th is second warning to huma nity, they asse1ted, "The n the fu se was burning; now th e popu lati on bomb has detonated. " Prima ry a mong " the unde rlying causes of our plane t's unease ," the two pos ited , " is the overgrowth of th e huma n popula tion a nd its impacts on both ecosyste ms a nd huma n communities ." T he ir first c hapte r i. e ntitl ed " Why Isn't Eve ryone as Scared as We Are?" and 48

W il Y 13E I .'s in a caft" that opens onto a sun-filled courtyard. In th e office space, eac h of thPrn co ntrols tlte flow of fresh ai r and the tcrnpPrature of thei r personal breathing zonrs. The windows oprn. Tlw cooli ng system maximi zes natural airflows, as in a haciend a: at night, the system flushes th e buildi ng with cool evening air, bringing the temperature down and clearing the rooms of stale air and toxi ns. A layer of nat ive grasses covers the building's roof, making it more attractive to songbirds and absorbing wate r runoff, whilf' at the same time protf'rting the roof from the rmal hoc k and ultraviolet degradation. lrr fact, thi s building is just as e nergy-efficie nt as th e firs t, bu t that is a side effect of a broader a nd more comp lex design goal: to c reate a bui lding th at c-ele brates a range of c-u ltural and natural pleasures-sun, light , air, na ture, even food- in order to enhance the lives of the people who work the rf'. During construe! ion, certa in r lernents of the second building did cost a li ttle mo re. For rxarnple, wi ndows th at open are morr ex pensive ths the need for fluort>scent li ght. F're, h air mak es th e indoor spaces more plcasurah le. u pPrk for current e mployees and a lure to potent ial ones-and thus arr effect with economic as well as aestheti r consequcrrccs. (Securing a nd supporting a tale nted and proclucti ve workforeP is one of a CFO's primary goals, bt>causf' thP earrying eost or pt>oplerecruiting, e mploying, and retai ning thcrrr-is a hundred times as grPat as the ca rrying cost of the average buildin g.) In its 74

every e le men t, the building expresses the clie nt's and arc hitects' vis ion of a life-ce nte red community and e nvironment. We know, because Bill's firm led th e team that des igned it. We brought the same sens ibility to designing a factory for He rman Mille r, the office-furniture manufacturer. We wa nted to give workers the feeling tha t they'd s pe nt the day outdoors, unlik e wo rkers in the conve nti onal factory of the Industria l Revolution , who might not see dayli ght until the weeke nd . The oiiices a nd manufac turing space tha t we des igned for He rma n Mille r were built for only 10 percent more money th an it would have cost to erec t a s ta nda rd prefabricated me tal fac tory building. We des igned the fac tory a round a tree- lined inte1ior conce ived as a brightly day lit "s treet" that ra n th e e ntire length of the building. There a re rooftop s kyli ghts everywhe re the worke rs are stationed , and the ma nufacturing s pace offers vi e ws of both the inte rnal s treet and the outdoors, so that even as they wo rk indoors, e mployees get to participate in the cycles of the day and th e seasons. (Even th e truc k doc ks ha ve windows.) The fac tory was des igned to cele brate the local la ndscape and to invite indigenous s pec ies bac k to the s ite ins tead of scaring the m a way. Storm wate r a nd waste water are c hanneled through a series of connec ted we tla nds tha t c lean the m, in the process lighte ning the luad urr tire lucal riv e r, wlridr aln::ady ~uffen; ~e­ rious floodi ng because of runoff from roofs, pa rking lots, and othe r impervious smfaces. An analys is of the fac tory's dra ma ti c produc ti vity ga ins has s hown that one fac tor was "biophilia"-people's love of the outdoors. Re te ntion rates have been im press ive. A number of worke rs who left for highe r wages a t a eompe t itor's fa c tory re75

C HADI.f. TO CI1AI)I.E

turned in a few weeks. Wh en as ked why, th ey told the management they couldn' t work " in th e dark." Th ey were young people who had entered th e workforce only recently a nd had never worked iu a " uunual " factory before.

These buildings re present onl y the beginnings of eco-effecti ve des ign; they do not yet exe mplify, in eve ry way, the principl es we espouse. But you might start to envis ion the difference be tween eco-efficiency and eco-effective ness as the dilfe rence between an airless, flu oresce nt-lit gray cubicl e a nd a s unlit area full of fresh air, natural views, and pleasa nt places to work, eat, a nd con verse. Peter Druc ke r has point ed out that it is a manager's job to "do things ri ght." l.t is an executive's job to ma ke sure " th e ri ght things" get done. Even the most ri go rous eco-eflicient bus iness paradigm does not cha ll enge bas ic practices and methods: a s hoe, building, factory, ca r, or sha mpoo can rema in fund ame nta ll y ill -designed even as the materials and processes in volved m its man ufacture become more "effi cient." Our concept of eco-effecti veness means working on the right things-on the right products and se rvi ces and syste ms- in s tead of making the wrong things less bad. Once you are doing th e ri ght things, th en doing the m " ri ght," with the help of efficiency among oth er tools, makes pe1fect sense. If nature adh ered to the human model of effic ie ncy, th ere would be fewer cherry blossoms, and fewer nutri ent s. Fewe r trees, less oxygen, and less c lean wate r. Fewe r songbirds. Less di versity, less c reati vity and deli ght. Th e id ea of na ture being 76

ECU-fFF[CTIVENE SS

more efftc ie nt, demateri ali zing, or even not "liLtering" (imagine zero waste or zero emi ssions for nature !) is pre pos terou s. Th e marve lou s thing about effective systems is that one wants more of the m, not less.

What Is Growth?

As k a child about growth, and s he wi ll probably tell you it is a good thing, a natural thing- it means getting bigger, healthier, and s tronge r. The growth of nature (and of childre n) is us ually perceived as beautiful and healthy. Indus tri al growth, on th e other hand , has bee n call ed into question by e nvironmentalis ts and others concerned a bout the rapacious use of resources and th e dis integration of c ulture and environm ent. Urban and in du stri al growt h is often referred to as a cancer, a thing that grows for its own sake and not for the sake of the organism it in habits. (A s Edward Abbey wrote, "Growth for growth's sake is a cancerous madness.") Co nfli cting views of growth we re a recurrent s ource of tens ion on Pres id ent Clinton's origin al Counc il on S us tainabl e Development, a group of twenty-five representatives of business, government, dive rse soc ia l groups, and environmental organizati ons that met from 1993 to 1999. Th e comme rc ia l membe rs' belief th at commerce is inherentl y required to perpetu ate itself, that it must seek growth in orde r to fu el its continued existence, brought the m to loggerheads with the e nvironme ntalists, to whom comme rcial growth meant more sprawl, more loss of ancient fores ts, wi ld places, and s pecies, and more polluti on, tox77

CH ,\IlLf. TO C ll ADLI:

ificati on, and global wa rming. The ir desire for a no-growth scena rio naturally frus trated the commerc ial players, for whom " no growth" could have only negative consequences. The pe rceived confli ct between nature and industry made it loo k as if the values of one system must be sacrificed to the other. But unques tionab ly th ere are things we a ll want to grow, and things we don' t want to grow. We wis h to grow educati on and not ignorance, health and not s ickness, prosperity and not des titution, clean water and not poisoned wate r. We wis h to improve the quality of life. The key is not to make huma n in dustries and sys te ms s ma lle r, as effic ie ncy advocates propound, but to des ign th em to get bigger and beuer in a way tha t replenishes, restores, and nouri shes the rest of the world. Thus the " right things" for ma nufacturers and indus trialis ts to do are those that lead to good growth-more niches, health, nouri s hment, diversity, intelligence, a nd abunda nce-for this generation of inhabitants on th e planet and fo r generati ons to come .

Let's take a closer look at th at cherry tree. As it grows, it seeks its own rege nerati ve abundance . But thi s process is not s ingle-purpose. In fact, the tree's growth sets in moti on a number of positive effects. It provides food for ani mals, insects, a nd microorganis ms. Jt enriches the ecosystem, sequestering carbon, p roducing oxygen, cleaning air and water, and creating and stabilizing soil. Among its roots a nd branches and on its leaves, it harbors a diverse array of fiora and fauna, all of whi ch de pe nd on it and on one another for th e functions 78

KCO- EFFE CT I VE NE SS

a nd fl ows that support life. Anfl whe n th e tree di es, it re turns to the soil, releasing, as it decomposes, min erals tha t will fu el hea lthy new growth in the same place. The tree is not a n isolated e ntity c ut o(f from the systems around it: it is in ex tricably and produc tive ly e ngaged with the m. Thi s is a key differe nce be tween th e growt h of indu stri al syste ms as they now stand a nd th e growth of nature. Cons id e r a community of ants . As pa rt of the ir daily ac tivity, th ey:

• safely a nd effec ti vely ha ndle their own mate riul wastes a nd those of other s pec ies • grow and harvest the ir own food whil e nurturin g the ecosyste m of whi ch th ey are a part • cons truc t houses, fa rms, du mps, ceme te ries, li ving quru·Le rs, a nd food -s torage faciliti es from mate ri a ls that can be trul y recycled • c reate disinfectants a nd medici nes th at are health y, safe, a nd biodegradabl e • ma inta in soil health for the e ntire p la ne t.

Indi vidually we are muc h la rge r th a n a nts, but coll ecti vely the ir biurnuss exl:eeds ours. Ju st as there is almost no corner of the globe untou ched by huma n presence, there is ulmost no land hab itut, from ha rs h desert to inne r c ity, untouc hed by some s pec ies of a nl. They a re a good example of a popul a tion whose de ns ity and produc ti ve ness a re not a probl e m for the rest of the world , because e ve rything they make and use re turns to the cradle-to-cradle cycles of na ture. All their ma terials, even 79

C II AOL "-

1'0 C IIA D U .

their most deadl y chemi cal weapons, are biodegradable, and when they return to the soil, they supply nutri ents, restoring in the process some of those thai were taken to support the colony. Ant::; abu recycle the wa:stes of olhe•· species; leaf-culler ants, for example, collect clecomposing matter from the Earth's surface, carry it down into their colonies, and usc it lo feed the fungus gardens that th ey grow underground for food. During their movements a nd ac ti vities, they transport min erals to upper layers of soil, where plan t life and fungi can use them as nutrients. They turn and aerate the soil a nd make passageways for wate r drainage, play ing a vital role in ma in ta ining soil fecundity and health. They trul y are, as biologist E. 0. Wil son has pointed out, the lit.tle things tha t run th e world. But all hough they may run the world , they do not overmn it. Like the cherry tree, they mak e the world a better place. ome people use th e term rwture's services to refe r to the processes by whic h, without human help, water a nd air are purified ; erosion, floocls, and drought are miti gated; mate ri als are detoxified and deco mposed; soil is c reated a nd its fe rtili ty renewed; ecological equi librium and di versit y a re maintained; climate is stabilized; a nd, nol least, aestheti c and spiritual satisfaction is provided lo us. We don' t li ke this focus on services, since nature does not do a ny of these things just to serve peopl e. But it is useful to thin k of these processes as part of a dynam ic interdependence, in whi ch many diffe rent organisms and systems support one a nothe r in multiple ways. The eonsequences of growth- inereases in insects, mic roorgani sms, birds, wate r cycl ing, a nd nutrient Aows-lend towa rd the positi ve kind that e nri ch the vitality of the whole ecosystem. The 80

~ CO -EVFECTIV~\~ SS

conseque nces of a new strip mall, on the other hand , while they may have some immedi a te local be nefits ( jobs, more money c irc ula ting throu gh the local economy) a nd may e ve n boost the country's overall C OP, are gain ed a t th e expe nse of a dec line in ove ra ll quality of life -in creased traffic, asphalt, pollution, a nd waste -that ultima tely undermines even some of the ma ll's oste ns ible benefits. Typi caJi y, conventiona l ma nufacturing operations have predomina ntl y negative s ide effects . In a tex til e factory, for exa mple, water may come in clean, bu t it goes out contam ina ted with fab ri c dyes, whic h usua lly contain toxins s uc h as cobalt, zirconium, other heavy me tals, and fini shing c he micals . Solid wastes from fa bric trimmin gs and loom clippings present a nothe r proble m, as mu c h of the ma te ri a l used for tex til es is pe troc he mica l-based. Efflu e nts a nd s ludge from produc ti on processes cannot be safe ly de pos ited into ecosys tems, so they a re ofte n buri ed or burned as hazardous waste . The fabric itself is sold all over the world, used , the n thrown "away"-whic h us ua ll y means it is eith er inc inera ted, releasing toxins, or placed in a la ndfill. Eve n in the ra the r s hort life span of the fa bri c, its partic les have abrad ed into th e a ir a nd been ta ken into people's lungs . Al l this in th e nam e of effic ie nt produ ction. Just about every process has s id e effects . But they can be deli be rate a nd sustaining ins tead of uninte nded a nd pernic ious. We ca n be humbl ed by th e compl ex it y a nd inte lli gence of nature's acti vity, a nd we can a lso be ins pired by it to design some posi ti ve s id e effects to our own e nte rprises ins tead of foc using exclus ively on a s ingle end . E co-effecti ve designers ex pand the ir vis ion from the pri81

C ll

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T0

C II A D L E

mary purpose of a produc t or sys te m and cons ider the whole. What are its goals and pote ntial effects, both immediate and wide-ranging, with respect to both time a nd place? What is the e ntire syste m- cultural , commerc ia l, ecologica l-of which this made thing, and way of making things, will be a part?

Once upon a Roof

Once you begin to co ns ider the la rge r picture, th e most familiar fea tures of huma n fa brication begin to s hape-shift. An ordina ry roof is a good example. Conventional roofing s urfaces are infamously among th e mos t ex pe ns ive parts of a building to ma inta in: bak ing unde r th e sun al l day, they a re exposed to rele ntl ess ul trav iole t degradation, a nd dramati c variations between daytime a nd ni ghttime te mperatures s ubjec t the m to consta nt the rma l s hoc k. But in the larger context, they re veal themselves as part of the growing landscape of im pervious surfaces (along with paved roads, parking lots, s idewalk s, a nd buildin gs the mselves) th at con tribute to Aood in g, heat up citi es in the s ummertime (dark s urfaces absorb a nd re -erni t solar e ne rgy), and de pl e te habitat for ma ny species. If we vie wed the:;e dfed ;;

pi e~,;e m e al,

we rni g;l1t all e rupt tu

address th e flooding proble m by calling for regul a ti ons requirin g bi g re te ntion ponds for s torm water. We'd "sol ve" the heat proble m by providing additional air-conditioning units to buildings in the area, doi ng our best to ignore the fact that the ne w units would contribut e Lo th e highe r a mbi ent te mpe ratures tha t

82

made the m necessary in the firs t place. As for shrinking habita t, we ll , we'd lik e ly th row up our ha nd s. Is n' t wi ldlife a n ine vi tab le casua lty of urba n growth '? We have been working with a kind of roofing that responds to a ll of th ese issues, inc lud ing the economi c ones. It is a li ght layer of soil, a growing matrix, covered with plants. It ma intains th e roof at a stable te mpera ture, provid ing free evapora ti ve coo ling in hot weathe r a nd in sul ati on in cold weathe r, a nd s hi elds it from the s un's des tru c ti ve rays, mak ing it las t longe r. ln add ition, it makes oxygen, sequ este rs carbon, captures partic ulates like soot, and absorbs storm wate r. And that's not a ll : it looks far more a ttractive tha n naked asphalt a nd , with the storm -wate r managemen t, saves money tha t wou ld be lost to regula tory fees a nd flood dam age. l n approp ria te loca les, it can even be engin eered to produce solar-gene rated elect ri c ity. If th is sound s like a novel idea, it 's not. It is based on ce nturies-old bu ild ing techniques. (ln Icela nd , for examp le, ma ny old farms were bui lt with s tones, wood, and sod, and grass for roofs.) And it is wide ly used in F"urope, where lens of mil lions of square feel of suc h roofin g a lready exis t. E nha nced by today's sophi sti cated tec hnology a nd e ngin eering, th is approac h to roofing is effective on multiple levels, not leas t of whi c h is its ability to capture the public imagina tion. We helped Mayor Ric ha rd Da ley p ut a gard e n on the roof of Chicago's city hall, a nd he f()resees a whole c ity cove re d with green roofs th a t will not on ly keep it coo l bu t produ ce sola r e ne rgy a nd grow food a nd flowers, as well as provid ing sooth ing green sanc tu a ry from bus y urban s treets lo birds a nd peop le a like.

83

C R ,IOI.F. T O C RADLE

Beyond Control

Ta king a n eco-effec ti ve approach to des ign mi ght result in a n inno vr~tion

so PxtrPmP th>t t it rPsP mhi P-s nothing we know, or

it might me rel y s how us how to optimi ze a syste m already in place. It's not the solution itself that is necessa ril y radi ca l but th e s hift in pe rs pecti ve with whi c h we begin, from the old view of nature as some thing to be controlle d to a sta nce of e ngagement. For thousa nds of years, peopl e s truggled to mainta in the bounda ries between huma n a nd na tur·a l forces; to do s o was oflen necessary to th e ir surv ival. Weste rn c ivili zati on in pa rti cula r has been s ha ped by the be lief tha t it is the ri ght a nd dut y of huma n be ings to s ha pe na ture to be lle r ends; as Fra nc is Bacon put it, "Nature be ing known, it may be mas te r'd , managed, a nd used in the se rvices of human life." Today fe w na tura l disaste rs can reall y thre a te n those of us rn the indus tri a l i1.ed na tions. On a day-to-day basis, we a re fa irl y safe from a ll but the most seriou s epi demi cs a nd clima ti c eve nt.s: earthquakes, hurri ca nes, volcanoes, floods, plagues, pe rha ps a meteor. Yet we s till cl ing to a menta l mode l of c ivilization based on the prac tices of our ances tors, who hac ked and plowed the ir way th rough a diffic u lt wilde rness. Overwhelming a nd cont ro lling na ture is not onl y the re igning tre nd, it has even become a n aes the tic prefere nce. The hedges or borde rs of the mode rn lawn sha rpl y dis tinguis h wha t is " natural" from wha t is "civilized." In a c ity la ndscape of aspha lt, concrete, steel, a nd glass, nature's excess may be cons id e red messy, eve n Lrseless, som ethi ng to be limit ed to a few ca re ful ly 84

ECO-EFFECT I V~N~SS

sculpted garde ns a nd lrees. What autumn lea ves !he re are mus l be qui ckl y gath ered from the ground, placed in plasti c bags, and landfilled or burned rath er than com posted. Ins lead of trying lo optimize na ture's abunda nce, we a utomati call y try lo gel it ou l of the way. For many of us used Loa c ulture of control , nature in its unta med stale is nei the r a familiar nor a welcoming pl ace. To e mphasize this po int, Mic hae l lik es to !e ll lhe s tory of the forbi dde n cherry tree. In L986 seve ral peo ple in a ne ighborh ood in Hannover, Germa ny, dec ided they wanted to plant a c herry tree on their s treet. They thought s uc h a n add ition would prov id e habita t fo r songbirds a nd pleasure for p eop le who mi ght want to eat th e c he rri es, plu c k a blossom or two, or s im ply admire the tree's beauty. lL seemed a n easy e nough decision, with onl y pos itive effects . But the tree was not so eas il y lra ns posed from the ir imagina tions to real life. Accocd in g to zoning laws in thai neighborhood, a new c he rry-lree pla ntin g would nol be legal. What th e reside nls vie wed as de lighlfu l, 1he legis la ture viewed as a ris k. People might sli p on falle n c he rries a nd che rry bl ossom . Fruil lrees with da ngling fruit mighl lure c hildre n lo c limb th e m- a liabilil y if a child fe ll a nd gol hurl. The che rry tree was s impl y not ef~ci ent e nough for th e leg isla tors: il was messy, c reati ve, unpredic tabl e. It could nol be controlled or anti cipated. The syste m was not set up to ha ndl e some thing of tha i kind. Th e ne ighbors pressed on, however, a nd eventually lh ey we re granted spec ia l p e rmission lo plan! the tree. The forbidden fruit tree is a useful me tap hor for a c ui lure of control, for the harri ers erected a nd mainta in ed85

C 11 A 0 L E 'J' 0

C H A ll U :

whether phys ical or ideologicaJ- belwce n natu re a nd human industry. Sweeping away, shulling out, a nd controlling nature's impe rfect abundance are implicit fea tures of mode rn de ign, ones rarely if ever qu es ti oned . lfbmte forre doesn't work. you 're not using enough of it.

As we know from our own work, paradigms 80ntetimcs shi ft not only beca use of new ideas but because of evolving tastes and tre nds. Contemporary prefe rence. a re already tend ing towa rd greate r d ive rsit y. Michaf! l te lls anot her story: in 1982 his moth er's garde n, whi ch was fu ll of vegetables, he rbs, wildflowers, a nd many othe r strange and wonderful pla nts, was determined by town legislators to be too messy, too "wild." She was as ked to pay a fine. Rathe r than bow down to th is " minimization demand," as Mi chael tails it, she dec ided to continue grow ing the kind of ga rden she loved and lo pay a yea rl y f111e for th e ti ght to do so. '1(:-n year later thi s very sa me ga rden won a local awa rd for c reating habitat for songbirds. Wha t had changed? The public taste, th e prevailing aesthe tic. It is now fashi onable lo grow a ga rden th ai looks " wild." lmaginc the fru its of such a shift on a large sea le.

Becoming a Native

The re is some talk in scie nce and popular c ulture about colonizing othe r pla nets, suc h as Ma rs or the moon. Part of thi s is ju:;l huma n nature: we a rP curious, ex ploring c realures. The idC'a of taming a new fronti er has a compelling, even romanti c, pull, li ke that of the 11100n itself. But th e idea also provides ra86

EGO -EFFE CTIVENESS

tionalization for destJUction , a n expresswn of our hope that we'll find a way to save ourselves if we trash our pla net. To this s pecul ati on, we would respond: If you want the Mars experience, go to Chile and li ve in a typi cal copper mi ne. There are no animals, the landscape is hos tile to huma ns, a nd it would be a tremendous c ha llenge. Or, for a moonli ke effect, go to th e nickel mines of Ontari o. Seriously, hu mans evolved on the Earth , and we are mea nt to be here. Its atmosphere, its nutrients, its natural cycles, and our own b iological systems e volved together and suppm1 us here, now. Huma ns were simply not designed by evolution for lunar cond iti ons. So while we recogn ize the great scienti fic value of space exploration and the exciting potential of new discovery there, and while we applaud technological innovations that enable humans to " bo ld ly go where no man has gone before," we caution: Let's not make a b ig mess here and go somewhere less hospitable even if we figure out how. Let's use our ingenuity to stay here; to become, once again , native to thi s planet. Th is affi rmation does not mean tha t we advocate ret.urni ng to a pretechnological s tate. We believe that humans can incorporate th e best of technology a nd cu lture s o that our civ ili zed places reflect a new view. Buildi ngs, systems, ne ighborhoods, and even whole cit ies can be entwined with surround ing ecosystems in ways that are mutuall y enri chi ng. We agree that it is importa nt to leave some natural places to thrive on their own, withou t und ue hu man interference or habitation. But we also belie ve th at ind us try can be so safe, effecti ve, enrichi ng, and intelli gent th at it need not. be fe nced ofT from other human acti vity. (Thi s could stand the concept of zoning on its head; 87

CllAil l E

ro

C R A DLI:.

whe n manufacturing is no longer dangerous, comme rc ial a nd residenti al s ites can ex ist a longs ide fac tories, to th eir mutual be nefit and de light.) The Me nominee tribe of Wiscons in, wood harveste rs for many gene rations, use a logging me thod that le ts the m profit from na ture while a ll ow ing it to thrive. Conventiona l logging operati ons are focused on produc ing a certa in a mount of ca rbohydrat e (wood pulp) for use. Th is age nda is s ingle-pu rpose and utilita ri an: it does not count how ma ny

pecies of birds the

forest may ha rbor, or how its s lopes s tay stable, or what occas ions for rec reati on and res pite-as well as resources- it provides and cou ld cont inue to provide to future ge ne ra ti ons. The Me nominee ofte n c ut onl y the weake r trees, leavi ng the strong mothe r trees a nd enough of th e uppe r canopy for squ irrels and othe r arboreal a nimals to continuous ly inhabit. T his s trategy has bee n e normous ly produc ti ve; it has a llowed the forest to thrive while suppl ying the tribe with comme rc ia l resources. In 1870 the Menominee counted 1.3 bi llion standing bom·d feel of tim ber- wha t in the ti mbe r indus try is Le llingly known as "sturnpage" -on a 235,000-acre reserva tion. Ove r the yea rs they have harvested 2.25 bi ll ion feet, yet today they ha ve ] .7 bi llion standing feet- a s light increase. One mi ght say the y have figured ou t wl1 rc nlly- one middl e-li f' r wrc: n giP-ans lhe IPavcs fur insed s, a nolhcr lhe !wi gs and brunc hes. a nd so fo rllt, leaving food in the olhc•r nidws. The vita lily of ecosyste ms J epeud s on rt> lali ons hips: wha t got>s o n

beLW{'f'll sp ('(' il ·s, I he ir uses and cxcl to Jorda n with his professor in 1973 to work on a long- te rm plan for the future of the East Ba nk of the J ord a n River Va ll ey, the team's des ign a:,:, ignme nt ww; to ide nti fy stra tegies for buil d ing towns of the futu re in whic h the Beclouin could se ttl e, now th a t political borde rs had put a stop to the ir trad iti ona l nomadi c mi grati ons. A compe ting team proposed Sov ie t-style prefabri ca ted hous ing bl oc ks of a sort that lwea me ubiqu itou · in tht' former Easte rn Bloc a nd USSR, "a nywhe r!>

I'prodne tiVd in a uui fit·d ph ilo~o ph ) thul- i n demon, 1ruhl1· and praelin1l ll a)"-i" d wnging the de~ i gn of lht• 11orld." In 191X>. he rt'el'i\l·d tlw l'~t ·,i dl'ul iu l \ 11unl for Sn,luinable De1dopmenl. 1l11·

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