The December 2005 "America's Best & Brightest" issue of Esquire (the one with Bill Clinton on the cover) declares William McDonough the 'Big Thinker of the Year - Designer of the Better World' for his achievements in "reinventing almost everything" for the better. They write: "There was a time when architect William McDonough was best known for his buildings. Then he decided to move on to bigger and better things. Like re-designing the whole world." Talk about a nice compliment for the man, and one more step toward the mainstream recognition of green ideas. "His guiding tenet: Like nature, industrial design should be self-renewing; every product should not only be manufactured using nontoxic ingredients and green energy sources but also be capable of being broken down into its basic biological and technical elements so it can be reborn and reused at the end of its life span, whether in factories or compost heaps... It's a world in which no material is ever wasted." Congratulations to Mr. McDonough for his new title of Big Thinker of the Year! ::Esquire Magazine, via ::EWire, ::McDonough Braungart Product Certification, ::China Discovers William McDonough?, ::Musings from Verdopolis: Bill McDonough, ::William McDonough + Partners, Architecture and Community Design, ::Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough & Michael Braungart

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