The Cottonwood Institute recently hosted its first "Change the World Movie Night" at the Fluid Coffee Bar in Denver, Colorado. We watched a movie called The Next Industrial Revolution, with William McDonough and Matthew Braungart, and had a rich discussion about environmental sustainability.
The movie looked at how businesses like Nike, the Ford Motor Company, Herman Miller Furniture, Designtex, Inc., and Oberlin College were redesigning the way they made things and building new buildings in a more sustainable way. Using nature as a model, McDonough and Braungart work with companies to rethink the design and manufacturing process to eliminate the concept of waste. Not only have these changes helped companies reduce their environmental footprint, they have been good business decisions that have helped increase productivity and increase the bottom line.
Guiding Question: What will it take for individuals and businesses to make sustainable choices on a daily basis to reduce their environmental footprint?
Ford Church
I think awareness is key. People aren’t aware of their environmental impact because we live in an out of sight out of mind culture. For example, we put out trash out on the street, it goes away to a magical land, and we never see or deal with it again. How would we think about trash if we had to store it our backyards? I would bet we would have a lot less waste from the products we consume and I bet we would get pretty creative about what we do with our trash and how we reuse things.
I think individuals and businesses need good role models. They need to see other people and businesses walking the talk. We need eco-role models that are not only reducing their environmental footprint, but that are making sound business and financial decisions.
So here is a call for stories…if you see articles about individuals and businesses walking their talk in terms of reducing their environmental footprint, send them my way!