Task 4 : Waste = Food

Waste = Food, a documentary by Braungart and McDonough.

This documentary has enlighten me the dangers of waste if our human population was to continue to live our lifestyles like we still did 50 years ago. Ideals of endless landfills and natural resources to feed our human's desires of consumerism and wealth, but the fact is that we are not able to do so. Even if we are not reacting to this sickening problem that is happening to us, nature has and is responding back with increasing water levels, natural disasters and rise in global temperature. The global waste issue is a real problem and we have to respond back fast if not the extinction of the human race is inevitable. Michael Braungart and William McDonough propose the concept of the cradle to cradle protocol that is to be applied in our design process and business models. I feel that it is time to start rethinking about each step in our design process and analyze its social, ecological and economical problems, and update them according to our constant evolving world.

The idea of waste has always been masked out as it was not a primary concern compared to the product's function and form. However, the cradle to cradle protocol has flipped the design process and invited us to begin thinking from the end of the product's life-cycle. Designing for dis-assembly as a part of the initial thought in the design process allows the designers to think how the product can be reused, recycled and reincarnate as after it reaches its end. Currently used products are just disposed of in landfills or recycled and the life of the product just ends there. Even if we were to recycle them, like what McDonough said, “we do not really recycle products, we down-cycle products,” which basically means that the product is reduced in quality when they are recycled to create products of even lower quality. The ideal of the recycling in the future will to be recycle the product to be of similar quality or up-cycle them to be of higher quality, thus eliminating the idea of waste. Braungart supports by stating the in the future “we (can) celebrate abundance, we can throw things away, we can litter, we can enjoy littering and we can use material back into cycles.” I believe that if the future of waste was to be as how Braungart and McDonough had describe in the documentary, the idea of producing waste in the future will be pleasant and guiltless. The more we throw, the more we save.

However for change to happen realistically in the modern world, it will only happen if the economy allows it. As McDonough asserts, “ the fundamental transformation will actually occur because of economical forces, it will not because of some moral issues or some technical revelation,” which I find to be true. It is because the main shareholders in the modern world are the economists and it is our job to influence them to adopt a more ecological approach with economical mindset. At the end of the day, we all count the profits earned for any business and if it does not add up, it will be out. However showing that being ecological can helps save money and creates profits, it offers economists an option to invest money into the green idea. It is generally what we all want, to earn money and save the planet. Timothy O'Brien supports by saying that “ if you think about it (cradle to cradle protocol) in the design stage, you can come out with environmental programs that actually saves you (the company) money, they do not cost you money.” Take the case of the green roof of Ford Motor Company.

The challenge now for designers is to translate the green designs intentions with a business mentality that allow economists to adopt the ideas to save our planet while earning profits. We can start by evaluating all the material used in a product, designing it for easy and fast dis-assembly, making sure that the materials used are safe for man and animal and the ability to be reuse in the biosphere and techno-sphere. I will like to end by quoting from McDonough that “ the goal is a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy and just world, with clean air, water, soil and power – economically, equitably, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed. Period.”