Be Like the Ant

I mentioned in the last few posts that I have been reading Cradle to Cradle, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. One of the authors is an architect and the other a chemist. They are exploring ways to retool manufacturing in order to eliminate waste and create products that can be returned to the earth.

One of the models they look at is the ant. Ants have a greater total biomass than humans, but instead of destroying their habitat they nourish the environment in which they exist. The authors’ premise is that humans should be able to do the same thing. They don’t address population as an issue because their goal is that humans live in a non-destructive manner. As long as all human action supports the biosphere than population should not be an issue.

It is exciting to read about some of the projects in which they are involved. One of the things they do when looking at the creation of a project is to pare away any toxic substance that might normally be used. By doing so up front they are able to simplify the ingredients and do not need to add chemicals to balance the toxins.

One of the products they retooled was a bath and body wash product. They started by asking (pg 146), “What kind of soap does the river (the Rhine) want?” They winnowed the list of ingredients down from an average of 22, many of which were toxic, to nine. The product ended up being cheaper to manufacture. They switched the packaging (pg 147), “…now in pure polypropylene packaging after Michael and the researchers found that antimony from the original PET bottles was leaching into the soap."

I wonder if antimony is leaching into our sodas and bottled water? Antimony being (pg 37), “…a toxic heavy metal known to cause cancer under certain circumstances."

Packaging is one of the issues that really interests me as the only solid waste I currently produce is food packaging. The authors offer a number of solutions in regards to packaging, but I don’t know that they touch on biodegradable packaging for liquids.

Biodegradable packaging also necessitates that we handle our garbage differently. We would need to compost or allow the packaging to biodegrade rather than throw it in landfills.

When one reads the book one begins to realize the scope of the manufacturing paradigm. To truly reach the authors’ goal one would need to backtrack. If we are creating soap we need to look at the processes that make the soap. Then the processes (machines) that make the machines to make the soap etc. We need to look at the methods of harvesting resources, shipping etc. In order to live like ants we need to retool the gathering of resources, production, and shipping for every manufacturing process. It’s a tall order, but I am glad that people have already gotten started on the project.

Cradle to Cradle is an interesting read and a step in the right direction. We are not yet ants, however, and therefore I believe that we do need to address our population. Until humans across the board are living in a restorative manner I believe that we should reduce our overall footprint.

---

It think it is interesting that the authors of Cradle to Cradle, like many of the authors I have been reading, take a moral stand as one of their angles. They discuss intergenerational tyranny among other things. Ethics is a fascinating area that I have only just begun to study.