China Discovers William McDonough?
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 06. 3.05
Things are going pretty badly in Chinese urban areas; last year, more than half of 500 cities failed to meet national air quality standards and almost 1/3 of non-industrial sewage went untreated. Even worse, in 193 other cities, there was no sewage treatment at all. But there's hope on the horizon. The Chinese government has been trying a new way of doing things, what it calls a "circular economy". There are few details about what exactly it is that they are doing, and I could be reading too much into this, but there are reasons to believe that it is along the lines of what enviro-thinker William McDonough was describing in Cradle To Cradle (great book, highly recommended!). McDonough and Michael Braungart's book has a new title in its chinese translation: "Cradle to Cradle: Design for the Circular Economy". It looks like parts of China have taken this to heart...
Wang said the three cities - Guiyang in Southwest China's Guizhou Province, Rizhao in East China's Shandong Province and Zhangjiagang in East China's Jiangsu Province - are experimenting with a circular, or recycling, economy under the administration's instruction.
Guiyang's legislature even passed a regulation on developing the circular economies, which is the country's first of its kind, Wang said.
In addition, the administration is helping the National Development and Reform Commission to design policies that are expected to develop circular economies across the country, he added.
To encourage cities, the administration has so far labelled 47 as national models for environmental protection. This scheme started in 1997.
More than 100 cities are asking to take part in the programme.
China is probably the most polluted country I've ever been to. You choke on the air, and it makes you high, like smoking a whole pack of cigarettes at once. People piss anywhere and everywhere, and garbage is dumped all over the place.
I can't believe that people bitch and moan about the air quality here in the States. After my most recent trip to China I was amazed at how far I could see when I was back home in Brooklyn. The air here is infinitely better than in China.
Please note: China has actually discovered William McDonough, not Paul Hawken.
The book 'Cradle to Cradle - Remaking the Way We Make Things' by William McDonough and Michael Braungart has been translated into Chinese and is titled 'Cradle to Cradle - Design for the Circular Economy' - which is how Cradle to Cradle best translates in Chinese. As noted, President Hu refers to this concept as part of China's economic development plan. William McDonough, as US Co-chair of the China-US Center for Sustainable Development has been advancing Cradle to Cradle Design ideas and practice for several years now with Senior Chinese officials and US businesses. Mr. McDonough's architecture and community design firm is designing several new cities in China.
Ken Alston
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Chief of Staff
McDonough Consulting, LLC
This is a very exciting and humbling time for all of us. Rethinking the way we see the world has begun and is happening at the top levels of our world and I whole heartingly support the spreading of this Cradle to Cradle Design strategy.
Finally, a unified theory for profitable and productive change centered on the most important things in the world: the children of all species.
Click here and listen to the 33:54 minute presentation of January 2005: http://www.ceim.ie.edu/
Enjoy and share our transformation:)