Imagine buildings that generate more energy than they consume and factories whose waste water is clean enough to drink.
Renowned ecological architect Willian McDonough has actually built these things and made them work. This week’s Newsweek has an interview with McDonough, who is bext known for his Cradle-to-cradle philosophy – a vision to to overhaul the Industrial Revolution and the current Cradle-to-Grave model of design and production.
McDonough’ utopianism is finally starting to be taken seriously, as companies start to realize that his philosophy makes good economic sense. McDonough has been hired by numerous Fortune 500 companies, the government of China, and has received three U.S. presidential honors. In 1999, Time magazine recognized him 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”.
I first heard of William on npr’s The Connection and I’ve listened to it a couple of times since. McDonough seems a bit odd but his ideas are fascinating.
Hear The Connection interview here http://www.theconnection.org/shows/2000/10/20001031_b_main.asp