Favorite Quotes

One quote that surprised me was from the Watson and Caldwell reading, "Cultural Politics of Food and Eating":

"Some of the best tuna from New England may make it to New York or Los Angeles, but by way of Tokyo -- validated as top quality (and top price) by the decision to ship it to Japan by air..."

You would think it would be kind of silly to air freight a huge fish from New England to Japan just to sell it in New York a few days later. This quote kind of epitomizes the excesses of our times.

I was also really struck by William McDonough said about how the use and disposal of our products have unintended consequences that are bad for the environment. As we discussed throughout the class, the most obvious environmentalist actions revolve around our role as consumers. How much can I recycle? Which disposable cutlery is better for the environment? Paper or plastic?

Less obvious, but perhaps more effective actions relate to our role in society. Organize and petition for change. Open up new and better choices for consumers and make them enticing to everyone.

To me, Cradle to Cradle struck at the core of that, and even went a step further. Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart are using design to create new and appealing choices with the goal that they be completely harmless to the environment.

I am concerned that some problems we will not be able to design our way out of, but that design could be such a powerful agent of change was very new and exciting to me.