GP Video: Designing the Future
William McDonough, the author of the book, Cradle to Cradle, challenges us to create the sustainable economy. These two clips from the video ‘The Next Industrial Revolution’ hold the keys to our future: positive, hopeful, creative and challenging.
This first video is a taste of the the thesis of the the longer video, which is 45 minutes long. The thesis of this video is the fundamental thesis of creating a sustainable society: how do we love all the children of all species for all time,
03:59
July 13th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
I don’t have access to a video stream here.
Still, the author is a well-recognized name in the world of writing and thinking about cradle-to cradle recycling and generally about the environment. I am sure he has an interesting message this time, as well.
July 13th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Fixed it.
It’ll blow you away, man.
July 13th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
The Hannover Principles
Insist on rights of humanity and nature to co-exist in a healthy, supportive, diverse and sustainable condition.
Recognize interdependence. The elements of human design interact with and depend upon the natural world, with broad and diverse implications at every scale. Expand design considerations to recognizing even distant effects.
Respect relationships between spirit and matter. Consider all aspects of human settlement including community, dwelling, industry and trade in terms of existing and evolving connections between spiritual and material consciousness.
Accept responsibility for the consequences of design decisions upon human well-being, the viability of natural systems, and their right to co-exist.
Create safe objects of long-term value. Do not burden future generations with requirements for maintenance of vigilant administration of potential danger due to the careless creation of products, processes or standards.
Eliminate the concept of waste. Evaluate and optimize the full life-cycle of products and processes, to approach the state of natural systems, in which there is no waste.
Rely on natural energy flows. Human designs should, like the living world, derive their creative forces from perpetual solar income. Incorporate the energy efficiently and safely for responsible use.
Understand the limitations of design. No human creation lasts forever and design does not solve all problems. Those who create and plan should practice humility in the face of nature. Treat nature as a model and mentor, not and inconvenience to be evaded or controlled.
Seek constant improvement by the sharing of knowledge. Encourage direct and open communication between colleagues, patrons, manufacturers and users to link long term sustainable considerations with ethical responsibility, and re-establish the integral relationship between natural processes and human activity.
July 16th, 2007 at 7:13 am
I think the key is here..
Understand the limitations of design. No human creation lasts forever and design does not solve all problems. Those who create and plan should practice humility in the face of nature. Treat nature as a model and mentor, not and inconvenience to be evaded or controlled.
It’s relatively simple yet so difficult in the face of tremendous human egos. Nothing will last forever or will be safe or convenient forever (thinking nuclear power here, big bridges, tall buildings and other creations of modern science and design)
July 16th, 2007 at 7:59 am
But I think that we have the maturity as a species to be able to work within the framework of the environment. This is not a technical question: we have sufficient understanding at this stage of the game to know what works and what doesn’t work in terms of design.
What is needed is the maturity to accept and follow these guidelines. Which is more the province of politics than engineering or planning.
BTW: Since we’re talking about redesign, can we extend the principles of McDonough to the redesign of the practice and structures of politics? I am in the process of rereading The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki, which may indicate a direction in this regard.