Final Question

One of the important quotes/ideas of the semester was when Michael Maniatas exclaimed that, environmentalists don't ask people to do enough because they don't want to offend. What we need are bigger actions and for these people to stop selling us short. I think that this is a very fair point that Maniatas makes because I believe that a huge reason why people are not doing enough is the simple fact that they already think they are. TV commercials tell us that if we buy a certain brand of bottled water or shirts made of recycled Coca-Cola bottles then are are caring for the environment when really we are continuously doing much harm. Environmentalists need to understand that people want to be educated as long as it is done in a respectful way.

I believe that the underlying idea behind Cradle to Cradle is also important. McDonough and Braungart are basically saying that, it is important to change the approach to design, not just to change technology with regulations, etc. They claim that the change need to occur in the brains of the designers. We approach, (or at least should approach,) life's problems by looking at the source of them. The problems facing the environment are no different in the sense that the best way to help lessen our adverse effects on the environment is to get at the sources of these impacts and fix them there rather than trying to clean up our never-ending messes.