rr07

ch4-6

Waste equals food:

Before industry, what was used or taken was typically re-entered into the life cycle so that things could continue. Since, we manage to create products that are unsafe to allow to return to the earth and we do not replenish the nutrients that we do use.

The authors suggest creating new purchasing structures to assist in creating sustainable life cycles for products so that we can continuously use the resources that we have today for similar uses tomorrow.

This reminds me of my internship at a hybrid repair shop ( www.lusciousgarage.com ) and part of my job was to separate components for recycling (rubber, electronic components, hard plastic, paper, etc).

respect diversity:

Diversity is necessary to be able to adapt to changes in the environment and to return back to homeostasis, which can be dynamic.

We as humans like to believe that there is only one way of doing things or one answer, but by boxing ourselves in we lose our ability to adapt and change. By introducing more diversity, we can create better solutions (like cross-pollination, one of the 10 facets of innovation according to IDEO's book The 10 faces of innovation). We need to use what is available to us because that is our natural advantage.

Although diversity is sometimes squelched, its what people really want as they want to differentiate themselves.

We often get caught up in looking at the initial costs that it may require to make products, but as told by the authors in several cases (shower gel, carpet, etc), putting more money and thought in onset, actually requires less money, effort, and materials later on in order to fix the cheaper materials that they were using. In the end 3 things need to be optimized, Economy, ecology and equity in order to create the best product in the most sustainable way. To retain the diversity in our world, we need to start giving nutrients back to the earth as opposed to merely taking.

putting eco-effectiveness into practice:

The authors give 5 main steps to becoming eco-effective:

1.) "get 'free' of known culprits": getting away from dangerous chemicals that we are used to finding in products that we use.

2.)"Follow informed personal preferences": we need to make decisions based on the information (however limited) we have now. We cannot wait for perfection, and we can't make something completely ugly just because we think its eco-friendly. Essentially choose the option that is less bad.

3.)"Creating a passive positive list": dividing and deciding whether materials belong in the 'x-list' (toxic, carcinogenic, etc), 'gray list' (still not good for you or environment) or the 'p-list'(a healthier/better alternative, the positive list).

4.)"Activate the positive list": "Stop trying to figure out how to be less bad, and start figuring out how to be good" (178).

5.)"Re-invent" Essentially reinventing solutions that we had been using to create a new type of solution to the more general problem, like gas-guzzling cars to cars that produce energy, or even inventing a new way of human transport.

Rather than trying to use old infrastructure and retro-fit what was used with your new goals, build something new. Start fresh, Tabula Rasa.

Make intentions known so that everyone can support it rather than only the executives.

Innovation and eco-effectiveness have ever evolving definitions. In order to stay relevant, and eco-effective, solutions must be revisited and they must evolve when needed.

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