Response - Define "Sustainability." Please. | The Greenwash Brigade

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Response - Define "Sustainability." Please.

Two chocolate chip cookies are yummy. Eighteen chocolate chip cookies will make you sick. There's a similar challenge with defining sustainability. Adobe is considered by many to be a sustainable building material, so is rammed earth. But would these materials be sustainable at the scale and density of Manhattan? That's a lot of dirt. Sustainability is complex. Natural is generally good, toxicity is always bad, renewable is good, carrying capacity / quantity is important, socially equitable is critical, and on and on. How can you assure something can be repeated in perpetuity?

But, like LEED, having a rating system can certainly nudge things in the right direction, allowing consumers to make the best (or less bad) choice. Architect William McDonough and Chemist Michael Braungart introduced the concept of "Cradle to Cradle" certification in their 2002 book by the same title. They have since developed a Cradle to Cradle Certification System:

"Cradle to Cradle Certification provides a company with a means to tangibly, credibly measure achievement in environmentally-intelligent design and helps customers purchase and specify products that are pursuing a broader definition of quality.
"This means using environmentally safe and healthy materials; design for material reutilization, such as recycling or composting; the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency; efficient use of water, and maximum water quality associated with production; and instituting strategies for social responsibility."

The system has yet to rate many consumer products, but it seems to be moving toward the 'sustainability index' Janne is looking for. It will probably never be possible to give a pass/fail grade to a product stating definitively that it is sustainable (it can be produced/used/reused forever, at any rate/scale). Maybe that's the problem. The concept "product", and our consumer-driven society itself, are not sustainable. We're stuck within our culture's non-sustainable mindset, trying to make it less non-sustainable. As McDonough would say, we're trying to drive more slowly over the cliff rather than turning the car...

January 10, 2008 by Jim Nicolow
2 comments

tags: definitions LEED sustainability

Comments (2)

dave | January 10, 2008 1:08 PM PT

actually Cradle to Cradle is not the concept of B McDonough & M Braungart. They just figured out how to market it & turn it into a profit center. "Cradle-to-cradle" & zero-waste strategies were coined in 1985 by Walter Stahel of the Product Life Institute in Switzerland. More info.

Jim | January 11, 2008 6:21 AM PT

Thanks, Dave. I didn't realize that. I should have stated that cradle-to-cradle was first popularized via the McDonough/Braungart book.
-Jim

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Our hand-picked environmental professionals, each part of the Public Insight Network, are on the hunt for "greenwash" as they examine eco-friendly claims by companies, governments and other groups. They ask tough questions about the mainstreaming of green, from the perspectives of people in the trenches who are focused on these issues 24/7.

Jim Nicolow is a nationally recognized expert on sustainable design and leads the sustainability initiative for Lord, Aeck & Sargent, overseeing the incorporation of sustainable design strategies and features into the firm’s design projects. He is a LEED® Accredited Professional with extensive knowledge of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED rating system.

Janne K. Flisrand has worked as an affordable housing and urban planning research consultant for five years, primarily supporting local non-profits. Her focus is on transit, transit-oriented design, affordable housing, and sustainability. Currently, she’s the program coordinator for Minnesota Green Communities, a program promoting affordable, healthy, sustainably built housing throughout Minnesota.

Dennis Markatos-Soriano recently completed a Master's in Public Affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. He is now launching Sustainable Energy Transition (SET) to help individuals and institutions move from dependence on oil and gas to an efficient use of renewables. Previously, he co-founded SURGE (Students United for a Responsible Global Environment), which aims to bring young progressives together across issues of environmental and social justice throughout North Carolina and beyond. In the summer of 2006, he helped to start a small green company, Greenway Pedicabs, to provide a greenhouse gas-free transportation option for people in the Triangle of North Carolina.

Heidi Siegelbaum is president of Siegelbaum & Associates, which specializes in science translation, cross-border indicators with Canada, cross-disciplinary planning and environmental technical assistance to businesses. Increasingly, her focus is on sustainable tourism and green hotels. Previously, she was in-house legal counsel for EPA for industrial chemicals and biotechnology and the senior performance measure analyst for the Washington State Department of Ecology. She is on the executive committee of the Northwest Natural Resource Group, which brokers FSC forest certification and landowner business services.

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