[E&E seminars] April 22 - William McDonough - Cradle to Cradle: A Strategy of Hope

[Jameson Twomey]

Cradle to Cradle: A Strategy of Hope

William McDonough

An Earth Day Colloquium co-hosted by MITEI and the United Technologies  
Corporation

4:00 PM

Wong Auditorium, 70 Memorial Drive



Abstract

The current design of human industry and the products and systems that  
result from its “cradle to grave” characteristics puts humans on a  
collision course with nature.

If all the detrimental defects of our current system were actually  
planned; climate destabilization, acidified oceans, toxic landscapes  
and rivers, etc. – one might say the human species has become  
strategically tragic as it creates a world of limited resources and  
destitution for billions of people.
Mr. McDonough will present an alternative design which he calls a  
strategy of hope based on the concept of cradle to cradle, co- 
developed with chemist Dr. Michael Braungart from Germany.

He will examine a positive agenda which can manifest the opportunity  
to provide for a population of nine billion souls expected to inhabit  
the planet this century in a celebration of human innovation and  
creativity aligned with the laws of nature.

He will articulate strategies which will help lead us to a simply  
stated goal; a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy and just world,  
with clean air, soil, water and power – ecologically, economically,  
equitably and elegantly enjoyed.
About the Speaker

William McDonough is an internationally renowned designer and one of  
the primary proponents and shapers of what he and his partners call  
'The Next Industrial Revolution.' Time magazine recognized him in 1999  
as a 'Hero for the Planet', stating that "his utopianism is grounded  
in a unified philosophy that-in demonstrable and practical ways-is  
changing the design of the world." Time Magazine again recognized Mr.  
McDonough and Michael Braungart as "Heroes of the Environment" in  
October 2007. In 1996, Mr. McDonough received the Presidential Award  
for Sustainable Development, the nation's highest environmental honor;  
and in 2003 earned the U.S. EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge  
Award. In 2004 he received the National Design Award for exemplary  
achievement in the field of environmental design. In October 2007, Mr.  
McDonough was elected an International Fellow of the Royal Institute  
of British Architects.

Mr. McDonough is the founding principal of William McDonough +  
Partners, an internationally recognized design firm practicing  
ecologically, socially, and economically intelligent architecture and  
planning in the U.S. and abroad. He is also principal of MBDC, a  
product and systems development firm assisting prominent client  
companies in designing profitable and environmentally intelligent  
solutions. Mr. McDonough is a Venture Partner at VantagePoint Venture  
Partners in San Bruno, California. Mr. McDonough is Consulting  
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford  
University. As of January 2010 Mr. McDonough transitioned from U.S.  
Chairman and member of the Board of Councilors of the China-U.S.  
Center for Sustainable Development, a position he has held since 2001,  
to Chairman Emeritus of the U.S. Board of Councilors. He is on the  
Advisory Board of the University of Cambridge Programme for  
Sustainability Leadership. From 1994-1999, Mr. McDonough was the  
Edward E. Elson Professor of Architecture and Dean of the School of  
Architecture at the University of Virginia.

Mr. McDonough's leadership in sustainable development is recognized  
widely, both in the U.S. and internationally, and he has written and  
lectured extensively on his design philosophy and practice. He was  
commissioned in 1991 to write The Hannover Principles: Design for  
Sustainability as guidelines for the City of Hannover's EXPO 2000, and  
in 1993 to give the Centennial Sermon at the Cathedral of St. John the  
Divine in New York City. More recently, Mr. McDonough and Michael  
Braungart co-authored Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make  
Things, published in 2002 by North Point Press. 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/environmental-seminars/attachments/20100414/bf6e90ec/attachment.htm
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: EarthDay2010.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 539251 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/environmental-seminars/attachments/20100414/bf6e90ec/attachment.pdf
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/environmental-seminars/attachments/20100414/bf6e90ec/attachment-0001.htm