Going green, Eco-friendly, sustainable, these are terms that are often thrown around in the design world. Essentially the idea behind "going green" is to lessen our impact on the environment. There are many products out there that advocate being "green" but in actuality do very little for the environment. These companies are riding the "gone green train" all the way to the bank. Sometimes determining what is fake and what is legitimate can be an arduous task. To be a well informed consumer you must go to the source of the product and analysis their motives for being "green"
William Mcdonough is a world renowned advocator of sustainable design. He coined the term "cradle to cradle" which means designing products that can be used over and over again essentially with out producing waste. Mcdonough suggests that industries innovate the way their products are made so that the product can be broken down an used somewhere else. The concept behind "cradle to cradle" design has been widely excepted in the green community, which has made Mcdonough a powerful and wealthy man.
Since his popularity has taken off Mcdonough has promoted his green campaign to big industries, government organizations, and others all over the design field. According to Danielle Sacks, author of "Green Guru Gone Wrong", Mcdonough is turning green design into a lucrative business. Sacks states, "Every time he certifies a product, whether as simple as a diaper or as complex as a new office cubicle, he records each of its ingredients' "cradle to cradleness" in a master database. Ultimately, his plan is for the data to become a sort of Human Genome Project for chemicals." In this articular Sacks exposes how Mcdonough doesn't always fallow his own teachings and his validity maybe questionable. I believe that Mcdonough is ultimately trying to change the wasteful nature products are made, but as Danielle Sacks is implying we must be careful to blindly fallow a green guru.
William Mcdonough: cradle to cradle design
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