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EnvironDesign ®7: Sustainability in
Action
by Penny S. Bonda, FASID
Photography by Jim Robinette
One might think
that by its seventh year EnvironDesign would become more or less predictable,
but mirroring perhaps the environmental movement itself, change is proving
to be constant. Some things about the conference happily remain the same:
passionate attendees eager to share and learn; an eclectic assemblage
of keynote and workshop speakers delivering in-depth knowledge and valuable
wisdom; a resource-laden Product Learning Center plus provocative pre-
and post-conference seminars and tours.
However, each year both current events and the conference venue stamp
EnvironDesign with its own signature. Recent global circumstances coupled
with the Washington, DC location, both contributed to a thoughtful and
serious—but ultimately hopeful—tone as demonstrated by the
sustainable mobility sector. The big-five auto makers—General Motors,
Ford, Daimler-Chrysler, Honda and Toyota—were there, some with
their environmentally friendly vehicles on display in the Product Learning
Center. GM’s HyWire created the biggest buzz with its space-age
like aesthetic. First introduced at the Paris Auto Show, the HyWire is
the world’s first drivable vehicle that combines a hydrogen fuel
cell with by-wire technology. Hybrid and electric vehicles, which are
gaining popularity as they become more accessible, were available to
attendees for a Friday afternoon Ride-and-Drive to experience first-hand
these eco-advanced vehicles. Attendees’ consensus about this enhancement
to the event: it definitely added an eye-opening perspective and a new
layer of fun!
Automobiles are becoming an increasingly larger presence at EnvironDesign
as the conference seeks to explore the transformation of the design of
everything toward sustainable principles. Two men, an architect and a
chemist, each presented keynote speeches addressing their progress and
the challenges ahead in generating a closed-loop materials model—not
just for the buildings industry, but in all things. Both have become
closely identified with EnvironDesign as each year they present new concepts
and strategies for emulating nature and eliminating the concept of waste—true
cradle-to-cradle thinking.
Michael Braungart, the chemist and a co-founder of McDonough Braungart
Design Chemistry introduced Intelligent Materials Pooling, a nutrient
management method and a strategy for businesses, or simply put: how to
make things differently. It’s not enough, Braungart said, to say
something is “free-of”—products are to be analyzed
for what they contain. Calling children’s toys examples of “weapons
of mass destruction,” he warned parents that in some products off-gassing
is worse than that found at a gasoline station and further labeled them
dangerous endocrine disrupters by virtue of the chemicals they contain.
Another example of pervasive chemical contamination can be found by testing
mother’s milk, anywhere in the world, and finding that none is
safe to be sold as drinking milk.
These conditions have been caused by the old linear system of cradle
to grave thinking where efficiency—being less bad—is the
goal. Cleverly using fast food as a model of efficiency and Van Gogh
and Beethoven as examples of inefficiency, Braungart made clear that
reducing an environmental footprint through efficiency is not as desirable
as creating a large footprint through effectiveness—doing the right
things. His firm has been working in partnership with its clients to
design positive systems. Unilever, for example, has come up with ice-cream
packaging that not only is biodegradable but, because it contains plant
seeds, actually becomes a nutrient. Users are encouraged to “please
litter!”
Intelligent materials pooling involves generating lists of preferred
substances, eliminating waste and enabling companies to become material
banks. It also forms the basis of the McDonough Braungart design philosophy
and has given rise to their non-profit enterprise, the Green Blue Institute.
Braungart’s partner, architect Bill McDonough, discussed in his
presentation how this new venture will explore the social, economic and
environmental changes in the design of buildings, materials, products
such as hearing aids, communities, energy, transportation and communication
systems—in short, the design of everything.
The questions become, McDonough poses, “What do we do and what
is our legacy?” He suggests strategies for designing systems that
are self-healing, where no regulations are needed because no harm is
being done. Using real-world examples of extraordinary solutions from
the not-for-profits, he believes that we can produce a new take on economics:
a model that measures legacy rather than activity, where industry sees
a world not of limits but of possibilities. “We need,” he
says, “intelligent synthetic materials that are designed to be
in an open system of chemicals powered by a free form of energy in continuous
use. Our desire and goal is simple: a healthy, delightful world shared
in abundance with everyone fairly in a place where our children’s,
children’s, children’s, children’s, children’s,
children’s, children can celebrate our creativity and our new form
of capitalism, where the question is not how much can I get for all I
give, but rather how much can I give for all that I get?”
McDonough and Braungart’s work is arguably the most forward-thinking
in the environmental world today and their keynote presentations are
always provocative. One attendee told us, “Michael and Bill's speaking
was among the most powerful I've ever witnessed. Their ideas, while courageous
and mind-expanding, were explained and discussed in understandable pieces.
That's genius. That's mankind's foundation of evolution.”
The conference began on a worrisome note. The scheduled opening keynote
speaker, Janine Benyus became seriously ill and was under doctor’s
orders not to travel. (Happily her condition is no longer considered
acute and EnvironDesign looks forward to welcoming her back to the podium
next year—and beyond!). Renowned environmentalist and Benyus’ good
friend Hunter Lovins stepped in to jump start EnvironDesign7 with her
well-known straightforwardness.
As a co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute and co-author of nine
books as well as being named a Hero of the Planet by Time magazine, Lovins
spoke with a profound authority when she opened by saying that we—humans—must
re-design our relationship with the whole world because there is no longer
any doubt that every major eco-system is endangered. Recounting many
of the features of the natural capitalism movement, with which she’s
been closely affiliated, Lovins reminded us of our economy’s failure
to place the proper value on ecosystem services—things such as
climate regulation, habitat diversity, air and water purification and
temperature modulation—calculated by some to be worth $30 trillion
per year to our economy.
In a talk rich with examples of how the planet is in decline as a result
of the first industrial revolution, Lovins offered remedies through a
design challenge that embraces the core principles of natural capitalism:
efficiency, biomimicry and restoration. The answers are to be found in
a design strategy that integrates energy, economics and community, such
as the hydrogen-powered cars currently being developed and likely to
become commonplace within a decade. However, in order to be successful
the transition to a hydrogen economy must be designed, using different
mind-sets and metrics. Successful businesses will take their values from
their customers, their designs from nature and their discipline from
the marketplace. Lovins cautioned that one-half of the 1985 Fortune 500
companies are now out of business—a warning to those who are reluctant
to change. Ultimately, she concluded, it is up to use to find solutions
that insure no net loss of human or natural capital.
Convening an environmental conference in Washington, DC, dictated the
presence of a nationally recognized eco-activist. Senator John Kerry
(D-MA), identified by the Sierra Club as the Senate’s strongest
environmental advocate, was an obvious choice. He has consistently recognized
that a healthy environment is fundamental to our nation’s quality
of life and economic security. While applauding the visionary pioneers
in the audience, he labeled the current U.S. Senate as “nearly
dysfunctional” for its inability to move the nation forward in
solving our environmental problems such as oil dependence, down-stream
pollution, air quality, waste and global warming. Politics, he said,
should be the “art of the possible,” rather than constantly
trying to fix the things we’ve done wrong in the past.
A true tax cut, one that would ultimately save the country billions of
dollars and rejuvenate our economy, would put policies in place that
don’t require us to repair decades of damage, but would offer America
different choices. Kerry suggested two fundamental changes: government’s
methods of addressing these choices and the way in which citizens approach
government. It is the job of leaders, he said, to provide the marketplace
incentives that will transition the country to energy sources that are
clean, abundant and reliable—things such as subsidies, tax credits,
partnerships with industry and joint ventures with universities—that
will move us rapidly toward true national security.
Citizens, Kerry reminded the audience, have created a “felt need” in
the past on issues such as civil rights, voting rights, the clean air
and clean water acts and the formation of the EPA, and can do so again
by becoming vested in holding politicians accountable. One hundred million
dollars or more is spent in Washington each month by special interest
lobbyists to influence government decisions, but it is the citizens who
must re-engage and reclaim our own democracy by making cleaner air, better
fuel economy and other environmental concerns a voting issue. Reconnecting
to the possibilities, to dare and reach, be tough and courageous, thoughtful
and compassionate is the responsibility of voters and politicians alike.
This, said Kerry, will enable us to avoid becoming the first generation
in history to leave the country in worse shape than we found it.
Another group of speakers, Bill Browning of the Rocky Mountain Institute,
Winona LaDuke, an internationally renowned Native American Indian activist
and advocate for environmental, women’s and children’s rights,
and Bob Massie, the former executive director of the Coalition for Environmentally
Responsible Economies (CERES) examined global environmental challenges
from three very different perspectives. LaDuke spoke of such things as
biodiversity, colonialism and its effects on communities, deforestation
and excess energy consumption as they have affected indigenous peoples.
Like Michael Braungart, she spoke of the contamination of mother’s
breast milk from persistent organic compounds by quoting from a Native
American teaching which says, “In each deliberation, one should
consider the impact upon the seventh generation from now.” That
is perhaps a teaching we could all learn from.
Browning spoke of the work he’s doing in China, a country with
extraordinary environmental problems, and how the Chinese government
is using the opportunity of hosting the Olympics to do something about
it. He also joined the others in recognizing the Internet as a place
for the empowerment of people from some of the poorer countries who haven’t
had a voice before.
Massie spoke of the Global Reporting Initiative, a program begun by CERES
almost 15 years ago to try to urge companies and other organizations
to disclose their environmental impacts. There is an implicit theory
that if you could get an organization, a company, to set a goal and measure
and disclose its progress against that goal, you could create both an
internal and external pressure dynamic for change. He also announced
an upcoming CERES-sponsored state comptroller/treasurer and investor
summit on climate risk and its impact on shareholder value, which should
also trigger enormous changes in the investment world.
EnvironDesign7 ended with a presentation from a different point of view.
Edward O. Wilson, considered by some to be the world’s greatest
living scientist, is a biologist and entomologist and spoke to the audience
from his unique perspective. He has made enormous contributions to the
field of conservation, starting with his discovery of a new species at
the age of 13! Protecting our planet’s biodiversity has become
the life’s work of this two-time Pulitzer prize-winner. The biosphere,
he stated, is far richer in diversity than we can imagine and much of
his presentation took the audience on a journey through the vast and
complex unknown parts of this planet where the vast majority of species,
many of them yet to be discovered, exist. They are being eroded by human
activity at an accelerated rate. This loss will exact a heavy price in
health, security and spirit. Future generations will ask why, by needlessly
extinguishing the lives of other species, did we diminish theirs. This
is the folly, Wilson warns, for which our descendants will least likely
forgive us.
Wilson believes the 21st century will be the century of the environment
in which we will turn things around. However we are currently stuck in
a bottleneck caused, in part, by the income differential between the
rich and the poor and by the acceleration of the destruction of the natural
environment and the mass extinction of the world’s eco-systems
and species. Especially poignant were the images that he presented in
his slide show of species that are already gone and those which are in
his Hundred Heartbeat Club – with less than 100 individuals remaining.
Today’s new technologies and the work of the not-for-profits, Wilson
thinks, will be the means by which we will find the solutions. He ended
with well-founded hope that the global conservation movement will form
the spearheads that governments will follow “to save the integrity
of this magnificent planet and the life it harbors because, darn it,
it’s the right thing to do!”
While the keynote speakers offered up the larger issues, the 34 workshops
zeroed in on the specifics of how to achieve a greener environment. Many
focused on products, how to identify and specify them with examples provided
by case studies from private industry and the federal sector. Others
focused on energy, green mobility, technology solutions, organizational
sustainability—in short, the gamut of thinking in this growing
and ever more complicated subject area. As one attendee put it, “What
an extremely wonderful, human and inspiring group of folks, very inspirational.”
A unique and special edition to EnvironDesign 7, Trash to Treasure, was
a resounding success and is likely to become a standing feature of future
conferences. Twenty-three entrants pulled stuff out of the waste stream
and turned it into something of value. These “works of art” were
on display in the Product Learning Center and then auctioned off. The
proceeds, more than $1,000, were donated to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation
to help its mission to “Save the Bay.” In addition, EnvironDesign7
was further enhanced by the generous contributions of scholarships from
some of our most loyal supporters. Twenty-five students, those individuals
who will be the stewards of our future, were able to attend and fully
participate in the conference. Look for photographs and more information
on both of these programs in the July/August issue of IS.
EnvironDesign7 will be a tough act to follow, but the planning is underway
for EnvironDesign8, to be held April 21 to 23, 2004, in Minneapolis,
MN. The Twin Cities community has already begun engaging influential
leaders from the private and public sector to assist in providing the
provocative, stimulating and knowledge-based program that has become
the hallmark of each EnvironDesign conference.
EnvironDesign is co-sponsored by IS (www.isdesignet.com)
and green@work (www.greenatworkmag.com)
magazines. Additional information on EnvironDesign7 and an order form
for tapes of all the keynote speeches and workshop sessions are available
at www.environdesign.com.
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