Speaker.
Michael Braungart
Co-author of the ‘Cradle to Cradle’
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Michael created the concept of “Cradle to Cradle” as a young chemist, and in 2002, with his American friend Bill McDonough, the bestseller Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things was published.
He founded the chemistry division of Greenpeace. He created his own not-for-profit company EPEA in Hamburg and with his second company Braungart Consulting he has accepted clients in China, Wales, Minneapolis, New Zealand – just about everywhere. His first-class science mind leaves him sceptical about many popular environmental solutions.
He holds a professorial chair at a Dutch university and hopes to gradually turn the whole of the Netherlands to C2C protocols. Braungart is constantly explaining how much we need to know if we are to make the world a better place. And how much detail we already do know but which we sometimes stubbornly ignore.
What I'm talking about:
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle...
When we focus on the 'efficient' use of materials and resources, we are burying our heads in the sand. I argue that we need a conscientious approach to design, so that everything we take from nature either goes back to nature (in a biological cycle) or is up-cycled into further products (the technical cycle).
There is no such thing as "waste" in this picture - only resources which we can redeploy forever. Then human consumption becomes good for the planet.
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My Brainfood
Websites
- Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart
- Professor Dr Michael Braungarts personal website
- EPEA Internationale Umweltforschung GmbH
- EPEA Internationale Umweltforschung GmbH in Hamburg is a scientific consultancy that focusses on improving product design, quality, utility, and environmental performance via eco-effectiveness.
- MaterialConnexion
- Material ConneXion is the leading global platform for material solutions and innovations
- C2C Community Forum
- MBDC is a product and process design firm dedicated to revolutionizing the design of products and services worldwide
Books
- Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
- This book explains how products can be designed from the outset so that, after their useful lives, they will provide nourishment for something newISBN: 10865475873
- Silent Spring
- First published in 1962, this book draws a tragic picture of what the effects of pesticides & insecticides can have on human life.ISBN: 0141184949
- Material ConneXion
- A resource of new and innovative materials for designersISBN: 10500512442
- Surviving the Century: Facing Climate Chaos & Other Global Challenges
- A combined analysis presents why our current arrangements are failing and what can offer us hope.ISBN: 1844076121
- Design for the Real World
- An early edition to discussing socially responsible designISBN: 0500273588
Organisations
- Greenpeace
- Greenpeace stands for positive change through action. We defend the natural world and promote peace.
- Sciencewise-ERC
- Contains resources and support services to help policy makers commission and use public dialogue to inform policy decisions
Hmm, I had seen Walter Stahel as the creator of the phrase 'Cradle to Cradle' in terms of production in the 1970s. At least the classic book "Natural Capitalism" and Wikipedia say so.