Cradle to Cradle: "Be good, not less bad" the closed loop economy

jamesingram

Probably not a new idea to those interested in environmentalism , but seems to have been jazzed up for the corporate world.
from wiki,
Cradle to Cradle "Simply, it is a holistic economic, industrial and social framework that seeks to create systems that are not just efficient but essentially waste free. The model in its broadest sense is not limited to industrial design and manufacturing; it can be applied to many different aspects of human civilization such as urban environments, buildings, economics and social systems."

http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/
"The circular economy is a generic term for an industrial economy that is, by design or intention, restorative and in which materials flows are of two types, biological nutrients, designed to reenter the biosphere safely, and technical nutrients, which are designed to circulate at high quality without entering the biosphere. "

Michael Braungart one of the authors of Cradle to cradle
"Holisticially good products "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPgjHqp9tTM&feature=related

"Wear a tie to save the energy produced by 21 EU powerstations"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1ga4lZNjrc&feature=related

William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle and "Eco cities"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoRjz8iTVoo&feature=related

Interesting stuff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_to_Cradle_Design
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_to_Cradle:_Remaking_the_Way_We_Make_Things

jamesingram

Venlo: First cradle-to-cradle region in the world

"The Venlo-region in the south-east of the Netherlands, bordering Germany, is developing initiatives at different scales which can test the concepts of Cradle-to-cradle at a regional scale. The intention is to boost social, economic and environmental welfare internally in the region whilst at the same time creating a knowledge base which can be exported across Europe and internationally."

http://www.dac.dk/en/dac-cities/sustainable-cities-2/all-cases/master-plan/venlo-first-cradle-to-cradle-region-in-the-world/?bbredirect=true

davebrik

Great theory! It seems such eco efficient and waste free systems already exist as this example from Wiki- Ford River Rouge Complex.
The problem that our planet population is rapidly growing and we need more and more food. We cannot rely on organic food (many of us want it, but...) because this food was produced without human, organically and this process takes too much time. For such rapid population growing we need the fastest producing of the food.

Ken68

I wouldn't want to rely on the government or business to make this happen. They will twist it to suit.
Should be done by the consumer himself, stop buying. grow it yourself or make it yourself or LETS style exchange type economy.

jamesingram

Business requires resources , materials and people to make profit and after all business is just a collection of people. Business will naturally
move towards cradle to cradle, circular economy when the cost to do so become benificial , eg. recycled resources become cheaper than virigin resources. That's where the government come in. It can manipulate the economy via tax to make the circular economy fiancially attractive to business sooner rather than later. Hopefully acting before our eco-system reaches a tipping point . If there's a will, there will be a way.
But the real solutions of system design and technicial inivation will have to come from business