The Concept of Sustainability in Design

Sustainability--a word that all of us have become well-acquainted with these past few years--was a major topic of discussion and review in my materials class this past semester. Entering into the class, I knew very little about the terms related with sustainability and even recycling practices in general. My only past recycling endeavor was when I helped my best friend's dad collect and crush cans when I was a little girl. Sustainability is just not something you hear much about in southern societies for some reason.

Now, I think that the concept of sustainability is great in terms of the amount of energy it saves, and even families can benefit when they switch over to sustainable ways of life. For instance, an article in USA today from February 2008 http://www.usatoday.com/weather/environment/2008-02-14-green-house_N.htm highlights 5 ways to make your house more energy efficient and money-saving. Whatever your stance on the impact of global warming on the world may be, simple things such as changing all of your light bulbs from incandescent to fluorescent saves you money in the long run because of the increasing amount of durability.

One of our assignments for our Materials class was to read the newly popular book in the world of sustainability called Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. The most interesting aspect of the book is that it is not, in fact, created from paper or plastic. It is printed on a synthetic paper-like material that is made from plastic resins and inorganic fillers. Despite the heaviness of the book when equated with other "paperbacks," the book itself is very durable and even waterproof. Architect William McDonough and German chemist Michael Braungart wrote this book to encourage environmentally intelligent design by presenting the concept of "upcycling," which is essentially taking something that is disposable and turning it into something of greater use.

While I think that ultimately their "cradle to cradle" concept does much to encourage a new thought process in terms of creating products to have an infinite lifetime--a very lofty, yet beneficial goal--the book is filled mainly with metaphors (i.e. how a cherry tree is indeed "wasteful" by producing more blossoms than it needs to survive in the world, yet it nourishes the environment with the "waste") but that is all I got out of the read; I was hoping for more examples of practical and successful cradle to cradle applications. Nevertheless, take a look at the impressive Ford River Rouge Factory in Dearborn, Michigan http://www.hfmgv.org/rouge/reinventing.aspx which is a project by McDonough and Braungart. By taking a factory built by Henry Ford himself, the designers have reinvented it to hold a higher environmental, social, and economical value by installing a "living" roof planted with sedum--a hardy, edible, and attractive plant. This type of roof lowers energy costs by protecting the interior from thermal shock of UV-rays, provides for a cleaner and healthier work environment, and can even help to improve water quality. Honestly, it is just plain cool.

What I found to be one of the most intriguing aspects of the book was the authors' take on the Industrial Revolution. The book opens to reveal the flaws created by the Industrial Revolution (i.e. pollution, depletion of valuable materials, productions of waste) and justifies the criticism by saying, "of course the industrialists, engineers, inventors, and other minds behind the Industrial Revolution never intended such consequences." But, we would all do different things in retrospect, now wouldn't we? I commend all of the industrialists, engineers, inventors, and MASTERminds behind the Industrial Revolution by taking advantage of an opportunity to economically and technologically stimulate the entire world. Yes, the Industrial Revolution created unhealthy environments and a mentality for cheap efficiency (McDonough goes to great lengths to point out the disadvantages of efficiency), but where would we be without it? We would not have found out the benefits of sanitary environments or what it takes to create equitable living environments as quickly. We wouldn't be able to have the Next Industrial Revolution the authors are proposing without having had the first one.

You can't make the fluorescent light bulb before you see the mistakes of the incandescent light bulb design.

On a final note, I completely agree with the authors when they discuss how regulations are the product of design flaw. However, I do not believe that we will ever live in a world without regulations because, being human, we possess free wills with an infinite amount of differing belief systems. We are created to constantly question and very rarely conclude the same answer. I am anxious to see if the cradle to cradle concept remains just that--a concept--or if it truly becomes our way of life.