The latest news from MBDC for August 2002:

 

The important concept of the 'triple bottom line,' introduced by John Elkington, has given corporations a useful tool for balancing economic goals with a desire to "do better by the environment." Many companies' application of the concept has yielded strategies to improve the triple bottom line only by minimizing environmental or social liabilities...a negative approach we're sure Elikington didn't intend. In MBDC's August 2002 feature story, Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart discuss how designers and businesses can pursue intelligent innovation to grow their triple top line. Using the fractal triangle as a conceptual tool, this positive approach moves beyond balancing economy, ecology, and social equity, to maximize value in all of these interconnected concerns.

http://www.mbdc.com

A new study by a University of Wisconsin-Madison zoologist, Colleen Flaherty, is exploring the effects of pharmaceuticals on daphnia, a fundamental link in the food web of aquatic ecosystems. While the media occasionally reports findings of large numbers of pharmaceuticals in freshwater systems, there has been little research into their effects on organisms. Flaherty's research tested the effects of several common drugs on daphnia, finding some significant effects, including lethal effects from combining otherwise harmless pharmaceuticals—up to 90% mortality rates in the case of one case. "I never expected that two drugs that had virtually no individual effects could be so lethal when combined," Flaherty said.

This research highlights the kinds of effects MBDC believes need to be studied and understood for the chemicals and materials used in the design of not just pharmaceuticals, but all of industry. According to Environmental Defense, more than 70% of the chemicals most widely used in industry have not been studied for even the most basic health effects. MBDC has been using its Cradle to Cradle Design Protocol with client companies to pursue the full definition of the human and ecological health effects of chemicals and materials used in the design of products and systems, and we see this thorough approach as a positive, active way to approach truly intelligent design—a new standard of quality industry is beginning to embrace.

Read the University of Wisconsin-Madison press release announcing the resulsts of the study. (http://www.news.wisc.edu/view.html?get=7702)

The August 5th edition of US News & World Report featured a profile of Bill McDonough and the growing recognition of Cradle to Cradle Design in business and industry.
Read the article online (before it's archived). (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/020805/misc/5architect.htm)

An article by Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart in the June/July issue of The Green Money Journal, "Beyond the Triple Bottom Line: A New Standard for 21st Century Commerce," explores the issues described in MBDC's web feature story this month.
Read the article online. (http://www.greenmoneyjournal.com/article.mpl?newsletterid=19&articleid=159)

BetterBricks.com, the web publication of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, includes an interview with Bill McDonough, discussing the concept of Energy Effectiveness.
Read the interview at http://www.BetterBricks.com.

Thanks for staying in touch with us, and interested in the progress of Cradle to Cradle Design. We'd love to hear exciting developments in the direction of eco-effectiveness you may come across, too. And please share this with your friends by inviting them to subscribe to the newsletter, too. (http://www.mbdc.com/Opt-In-Form.htm)

Phil

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Phil Storey
MBDC, Manager of Communications
phil.storey@mbdc.com

Also:

Purchase the book, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, from your local bookstore, order locally through Booksense, or order from Amazon.com.

Buy the video, The Next Industrial Revolution, from Earthome Productions.