Cradle to Cradle Design: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

William McDonough, co-author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, gives a humourous presentation about the need for, and very real capabilities of, designing the products we consume to be fully sustainable and ecologically-friendly — without ending up in a landfill or a "slow motion waste" recycling stream in which the material recycled cannot be used to re-create a product of the same quality as the original.

McDonough also presents plans for an entire sustainable city to be built in China (yes — China!). It's an amazing concept, and should it be pulled off, will give the rest of the world a great template to build on or use as inspiration.

This presentation offers some reasons to remain optimistic about the possibilities for our future. Wouldn't it be great if the Okanagan's new economy could be built with companies and practices with these ideas at their core?

I must give credit to Ethan Andrews, my good friend from Denver, Colorado for passing McDonough's book on to me as a gift. Ethan does some amazing work in the way of environmental art and design with his company Leap Year.