00:00:09.260 --> 00:00:14.560
Sustainable economy, an economic
system that meets the

00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:17.950
needs of its current members
without compromising the

00:00:17.950 --> 00:00:19.730
prospects of future
generations.

00:00:24.060 --> 00:00:27.450
A troubling picture is emerging
of the impact of the

00:00:27.450 --> 00:00:32.200
human footprint on the Earth's
living systems.

00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:35.770
Right now, with every
step we take, we are

00:00:35.770 --> 00:00:38.030
destroying the world.

00:00:38.030 --> 00:00:42.340
The rubber in the soles of our
shoes contains neurotoxins and

00:00:42.340 --> 00:00:47.480
carcinogens that are left
behind in tiny amounts.

00:00:47.480 --> 00:00:51.030
But even a small harmful act,
when repeated on a global

00:00:51.030 --> 00:00:53.130
scale, can become a tragedy.

00:01:20.350 --> 00:01:22.660
If you see a tragedy and you
don't do anything about it and

00:01:22.660 --> 00:01:24.970
your design is signaling your
intentions, then you might as

00:01:24.970 --> 00:01:27.470
well have intended for
the tragedy to occur.

00:01:27.470 --> 00:01:30.650
Because if you say, it's not
part of my plan, then it's

00:01:30.650 --> 00:01:32.030
part of your de facto plan.

00:01:32.030 --> 00:01:33.200
It's the thing that's happening

00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:35.260
because you have no plan.

00:01:35.260 --> 00:01:38.140
And once you realize that you're
strategically tragic,

00:01:38.140 --> 00:01:40.235
you realize that it's time to
have a strategy of change.

00:01:43.710 --> 00:01:46.650
These architects, product
designers, and corporate

00:01:46.650 --> 00:01:50.020
executives are looking for a way
out of the environmental

00:01:50.020 --> 00:01:52.530
dilemmas facing their
industries.

00:01:52.530 --> 00:01:56.240
They've come to a workshop led
by chemist Michael Braungart

00:01:56.240 --> 00:01:59.980
and architect Bill McDonough,
two pioneers in the movement

00:01:59.980 --> 00:02:02.210
to redesign the world.

00:02:02.210 --> 00:02:04.000
I like to think that
design is the first

00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:05.840
signal of human intention.

00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:08.550
And I think we're all here
because we have intentions.

00:02:08.550 --> 00:02:11.950
And I'd like to look at what
they are and look at how I

00:02:11.950 --> 00:02:15.580
found myself in this position
to work with Michael and to

00:02:15.580 --> 00:02:19.340
help develop this new, what's
being called a paradigm.

00:02:19.340 --> 00:02:22.920
I think from a personal
perspective, when my mother

00:02:22.920 --> 00:02:26.740
called me after the magazine
article in Time, the magazine

00:02:26.740 --> 00:02:29.275
came out and it said we had
developed a unified theory

00:02:29.275 --> 00:02:32.260
that in demonstrable and
practical ways was changing

00:02:32.260 --> 00:02:35.590
the design of the world.

00:02:35.590 --> 00:02:40.225
And she called up and said,
what have you been doing?

00:02:40.225 --> 00:02:42.670
And I've been working with
Michael and a whole bunch of

00:02:42.670 --> 00:02:43.250
other people.

00:02:43.250 --> 00:02:44.880
That's what I've been doing.

00:02:44.880 --> 00:02:49.030
Their clients include major
corporations with over half a

00:02:49.030 --> 00:02:51.437
trillion dollars in
annual sales.

00:02:51.437 --> 00:02:59.516
Companies like Herman Miller
Furniture, Nike, Designtex,

00:02:59.516 --> 00:03:02.590
and the Ford Motor Company,
where they have been

00:03:02.590 --> 00:03:05.300
commissioned to help lead the
company's transformation to

00:03:05.300 --> 00:03:06.550
sustainability.

00:03:09.270 --> 00:03:11.650
Humankind is facing
a deadline.

00:03:11.650 --> 00:03:14.070
Can change our industrial
world?

00:03:14.070 --> 00:03:17.210
Can we move fast enough
to avoid catastrophe?

00:03:17.210 --> 00:03:21.390
Will our creativity be
equal to the task?

00:03:21.390 --> 00:03:25.355
This is the story of a
revolution, how Bill McDonough

00:03:25.355 --> 00:03:28.270
and Michael Braungart, and the
people and companies they work

00:03:28.270 --> 00:03:33.000
with are building a sustainable
economy.

00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:35.860
If we look at Peter Senge at the
Sloan School of Management

00:03:35.860 --> 00:03:38.080
where he asked leaders, who
is the leader on a ship

00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:39.140
crossing the ocean?

00:03:39.140 --> 00:03:41.710
The answers he gets, as you can
imagine, are captain and

00:03:41.710 --> 00:03:43.510
navigator and helmsman
and so on.

00:03:43.510 --> 00:03:46.410
But his response is, no, it's
the designer of the ship.

00:03:46.410 --> 00:03:49.280
Because you could be the best
captain in the world, but if

00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:51.430
the ship isn't designed to
be seaworthy and you find

00:03:51.430 --> 00:03:54.480
yourself in a storm,
you're going down.

00:03:54.480 --> 00:03:57.100
Then designers must become
leaders, and leaders must

00:03:57.100 --> 00:03:59.480
become designers.

00:03:59.480 --> 00:04:02.760
Bill McDonough is a professor
and former dean of the School

00:04:02.760 --> 00:04:05.460
of Architecture at the
University of Virginia in

00:04:05.460 --> 00:04:07.370
Charlottesville.

00:04:07.370 --> 00:04:11.070
To engage his students in the
leadership of design, he asks

00:04:11.070 --> 00:04:14.540
them to consider our modern
industrial world as a

00:04:14.540 --> 00:04:17.240
retroactive design assignment.

00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:19.440
Imagine the first Industrial
Revolution as a design

00:04:19.440 --> 00:04:20.899
assignment.

00:04:20.899 --> 00:04:23.320
I'd be asking you to create a
system that puts billions of

00:04:23.320 --> 00:04:26.250
pounds of highly hazardous toxic
material into your soil,

00:04:26.250 --> 00:04:26.960
air, and water.

00:04:26.960 --> 00:04:29.890
It measures prosperity by how
much natural capital you can

00:04:29.890 --> 00:04:33.360
cut down, dig up, bury, burn,
or otherwise destroy.

00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:36.060
It measures progress by your
number of smokestacks.

00:04:36.060 --> 00:04:37.875
And if your specially proud,
put your names on them.

00:04:37.875 --> 00:04:41.400
It measure productivity by how
few people are working.

00:04:41.400 --> 00:04:44.060
It requires thousands of complex
regulations to keep

00:04:44.060 --> 00:04:45.760
you from killing each
other too quickly.

00:04:45.760 --> 00:04:47.740
Destroys biological
and cultural

00:04:47.740 --> 00:04:49.550
diversity at every turn.

00:04:49.550 --> 00:04:51.790
And while you're at it, do a few
things that are so highly

00:04:51.790 --> 00:04:55.180
toxic, like nuclear isotopes,
that require thousands of

00:04:55.180 --> 00:04:57.600
generations to maintain constant
vigilance while

00:04:57.600 --> 00:04:58.785
living in terror.

00:04:58.785 --> 00:05:02.230
Can you do this for me?

00:05:02.230 --> 00:05:04.800
Like all architects and
designers since the Industrial

00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:08.260
Revolution, Bill McDonough
worked for the most part in

00:05:08.260 --> 00:05:11.300
alienation from the
natural world.

00:05:11.300 --> 00:05:14.780
The operative design principle
was if brute force isn't

00:05:14.780 --> 00:05:19.340
working, you aren't using
enough of it.

00:05:19.340 --> 00:05:22.450
Confronted by the flawed design
of modern industrial

00:05:22.450 --> 00:05:26.570
civilization, Bill McDonough
realized that a revolutionary

00:05:26.570 --> 00:05:29.390
new direction was needed.

00:05:29.390 --> 00:05:32.720
He took his inspiration from
the Revolutionary he lived

00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:35.790
with every day, Thomas
Jefferson, the founder of the

00:05:35.790 --> 00:05:37.680
University of Virginia.

00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:39.550
Clearly, he saw himself
as a designer.

00:05:39.550 --> 00:05:43.250
All you need to do is go to his
home, which he designed,

00:05:43.250 --> 00:05:45.060
Monticello, a solar-powered
home.

00:05:45.060 --> 00:05:46.340
It's quite astonishing.

00:05:46.340 --> 00:05:48.980
It's also interesting to go
look at his tombstone.

00:05:48.980 --> 00:05:50.040
He designed it.

00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:52.650
And on it, he only recorded
the things he designed.

00:05:52.650 --> 00:05:54.960
Thomas Jefferson, author of the
Declaration of American

00:05:54.960 --> 00:05:57.320
Independence, Statute of
Virginia for Religious

00:05:57.320 --> 00:06:00.070
Freedom, and Father of the
University of Virginia.

00:06:00.070 --> 00:06:03.490
It only records his legacies,
not his activities.

00:06:03.490 --> 00:06:05.575
There's absolutely no mention
of having been President of

00:06:05.575 --> 00:06:06.800
the United States.

00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:09.230
He's recording the things that
he designed and left behind

00:06:09.230 --> 00:06:11.180
for future generations.

00:06:11.180 --> 00:06:14.440
What would the design assignment
for a sustainable

00:06:14.440 --> 00:06:16.470
economy look like?

00:06:16.470 --> 00:06:18.490
For answers, Bill McDonough
turned to

00:06:18.490 --> 00:06:19.740
nature's operating system.

00:06:27.075 --> 00:06:30.880
What we need to do is change our
entire relationship to the

00:06:30.880 --> 00:06:34.880
design and to the machine to
understand that we need to

00:06:34.880 --> 00:06:36.650
obey nature's laws.

00:06:36.650 --> 00:06:38.580
What are nature's laws?

00:06:38.580 --> 00:06:39.650
Waste equals food.

00:06:39.650 --> 00:06:41.570
We have to eliminate the
concept of waste.

00:06:41.570 --> 00:06:43.610
This is not minimize waste, its

00:06:43.610 --> 00:06:45.530
eliminate the entire concept.

00:06:45.530 --> 00:06:47.700
Put things to closed cycles.

00:06:47.700 --> 00:06:49.090
Respect diversity.

00:06:49.090 --> 00:06:51.140
Nature grows niches.

00:06:51.140 --> 00:06:52.390
Use current solar income.

00:06:58.186 --> 00:07:01.850
The idea of using current solar
income is very simply

00:07:01.850 --> 00:07:04.840
our economy, the flows
that are engaged

00:07:04.840 --> 00:07:05.990
on a planetary surface.

00:07:05.990 --> 00:07:10.310
The additive thing that makes
our system grow is the sun.

00:07:10.310 --> 00:07:12.780
It's the one thing that's added
to the system that makes

00:07:12.780 --> 00:07:13.920
things grow.

00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:16.280
Nature does it with sunlight.

00:07:16.280 --> 00:07:17.575
Humans can too.

00:07:22.910 --> 00:07:25.820
At Oberlin College in
Northeastern Ohio, the

00:07:25.820 --> 00:07:29.220
buildings, like most other
modern structures, were

00:07:29.220 --> 00:07:31.030
designed without
much connection

00:07:31.030 --> 00:07:32.485
to the natural world.

00:07:32.485 --> 00:07:36.030
The way you designed buildings
in the industrial era was to

00:07:36.030 --> 00:07:37.420
make them very machine-like.

00:07:37.420 --> 00:07:39.575
So you didn't pay much attention
to how the building

00:07:39.575 --> 00:07:40.900
was oriented.

00:07:40.900 --> 00:07:42.930
When energy was cheap, you
could design like that.

00:07:42.930 --> 00:07:44.010
We can't do that anymore.

00:07:44.010 --> 00:07:47.130
Climate change, oil spills, acid
rain, we now live in a

00:07:47.130 --> 00:07:48.530
very different kind of world.

00:07:48.530 --> 00:07:53.130
Oberlin students had a lot of
questions, particularly in

00:07:53.130 --> 00:07:56.900
David Orr's Environmental
Studies classes.

00:07:56.900 --> 00:07:58.760
What was the future their
education was

00:07:58.760 --> 00:08:00.790
preparing them for?

00:08:00.790 --> 00:08:03.120
We've been headed down a road
which has been very

00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:07.095
destructive, which is focused on
consumerism and consumption

00:08:07.095 --> 00:08:10.570
and commodifying our
environment, and has put us in

00:08:10.570 --> 00:08:13.520
a situation that's pretty
desperate and it's time that

00:08:13.520 --> 00:08:16.830
we need to really change how
things have been going so far.

00:08:16.830 --> 00:08:19.880
The student's concerns reflected
a fundamental

00:08:19.880 --> 00:08:23.540
contradiction at the heart of
their educational experience,

00:08:23.540 --> 00:08:26.080
one that troubled Bill
McDonough as well.

00:08:26.080 --> 00:08:28.970
If we look at Emerson again in
1831, after his wife dies, he

00:08:28.970 --> 00:08:30.710
goes to Europe on a
sailboat and he

00:08:30.710 --> 00:08:31.650
returns in a steam ship.

00:08:31.650 --> 00:08:33.809
Now if abstract this for effect,
he went over on a

00:08:33.809 --> 00:08:36.690
solar-powered recyclable craft
operated by crafts people

00:08:36.690 --> 00:08:39.710
practicing ancient arts in the
open air, and returned in a

00:08:39.710 --> 00:08:42.460
steel rust bucket putting smoke
in the sky, oil on the

00:08:42.460 --> 00:08:44.750
water, operated by people
working in the darkness

00:08:44.750 --> 00:08:48.320
shoveling fossil fuel in
the mouths of boilers.

00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:51.260
Now, this is design.

00:08:51.260 --> 00:08:54.180
The terrifying thing is we're
still designing steam ships.

00:08:54.180 --> 00:08:55.710
We're in one right now.

00:08:55.710 --> 00:08:58.170
We are in the dark shoving
fossil fuels in the mouths of

00:08:58.170 --> 00:09:00.310
boilers while we talk
to each other.

00:09:00.310 --> 00:09:02.820
It's time for a new design.

00:09:02.820 --> 00:09:06.680
For David Orr, the challenge
was to not only teach his

00:09:06.680 --> 00:09:10.370
students environmental theory,
but to give them a way to

00:09:10.370 --> 00:09:13.250
experience sustainable design.

00:09:13.250 --> 00:09:16.590
Can you design a building in
such a way that it becomes in

00:09:16.590 --> 00:09:20.730
its design and maintenance and
operation pedagogical.

00:09:20.730 --> 00:09:22.912
It's where the edge occurs
that most of the

00:09:22.912 --> 00:09:24.130
life is going on.

00:09:24.130 --> 00:09:27.220
It has your water and--

00:09:27.220 --> 00:09:30.190
At their Charlottesville office,
Bill McDonough and his

00:09:30.190 --> 00:09:33.690
partners were struggling to
rethink the whole concept of a

00:09:33.690 --> 00:09:37.630
buildings relationship
to nature.

00:09:37.630 --> 00:09:39.850
How sophisticated
is human design?

00:09:39.850 --> 00:09:41.990
Imagine a building
like a tree.

00:09:41.990 --> 00:09:43.990
Imagine being able to go out
into a meadow and building

00:09:43.990 --> 00:09:47.330
something that starts to make
oxygen, sequester carbon, fix

00:09:47.330 --> 00:09:49.800
nitrogen, create microclimates,
provide

00:09:49.800 --> 00:09:53.040
habitats for hundreds of
species, accrues solar energy

00:09:53.040 --> 00:09:56.440
as fuel, makes complex sugars
and food, change color with

00:09:56.440 --> 00:10:00.010
the seasons, build soil,
and self-replicate.

00:10:00.010 --> 00:10:03.950
Oberlin's Adam Lewis Center for
Environmental Studies is a

00:10:03.950 --> 00:10:07.260
model for an emerging new
relationship between the built

00:10:07.260 --> 00:10:10.990
environment and the
natural world.

00:10:10.990 --> 00:10:13.790
It provides a place where the
surroundings in which a class

00:10:13.790 --> 00:10:16.905
is taught are as important
as the course content.

00:10:19.980 --> 00:10:22.210
Like the tree that
is its model, it

00:10:22.210 --> 00:10:24.200
is powered by sunlight.

00:10:24.200 --> 00:10:28.500
Energy efficient design,
geothermal wells, raised

00:10:28.500 --> 00:10:33.540
floors, building orientation,
day lighting, and rooftop

00:10:33.540 --> 00:10:37.100
photovoltaic panels allow the
building to produce more

00:10:37.100 --> 00:10:39.940
energy than it consumes.

00:10:39.940 --> 00:10:43.710
The building uses sustainably
harvested wood and non-toxic

00:10:43.710 --> 00:10:46.400
furnishings.

00:10:46.400 --> 00:10:48.930
The landscape will be a
microcosm of the hardwood

00:10:48.930 --> 00:10:53.655
forests and woodland ponds
of Northern Ohio.

00:10:53.655 --> 00:10:56.960
The building cleans its own
waste water by means of the

00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:01.340
Living Machine designed
by John Todd.

00:11:01.340 --> 00:11:04.970
Maintained and operated by
students, the Living Machine

00:11:04.970 --> 00:11:09.210
replicates and accelerates the
natural purification processes

00:11:09.210 --> 00:11:12.450
of ponds and marshes.

00:11:12.450 --> 00:11:15.600
One of the students who monitor
the Living Machine is

00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:17.510
James McConaghie.

00:11:17.510 --> 00:11:21.080
After exposure to pesticides
while in elementary school,

00:11:21.080 --> 00:11:23.430
James developed chronic
multiple chemical

00:11:23.430 --> 00:11:24.440
sensitivities.

00:11:24.440 --> 00:11:26.570
When I found this building, when
I heard about this being

00:11:26.570 --> 00:11:30.100
built, this is safer for me
than my dorm room is.

00:11:30.100 --> 00:11:31.920
I'm really at home there and I
really feel comfortable there.

00:11:31.920 --> 00:11:35.100
And I think that if this becomes
the norm rather than

00:11:35.100 --> 00:11:36.965
some kind of a gimmick, I
think that's wonderful.

00:11:39.875 --> 00:11:42.015
The building has become
a magnet for the

00:11:42.015 --> 00:11:43.350
Oberlin College community.

00:11:48.160 --> 00:11:51.320
In September 2000, the
Adam Lewis Center

00:11:51.320 --> 00:11:53.970
was formally dedicated.

00:11:53.970 --> 00:11:57.900
A revolution in materials,
products of service, certified

00:11:57.900 --> 00:12:00.120
wood, non-toxic materials.

00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:02.380
This is about starting
a revolution.

00:12:02.380 --> 00:12:05.450
Hearing the speakers during
the dedication of this

00:12:05.450 --> 00:12:06.980
building gave me
a lot of hope.

00:12:06.980 --> 00:12:08.750
Everything we thought
to be true will be

00:12:08.750 --> 00:12:10.160
turned on its head.

00:12:10.160 --> 00:12:13.010
These are people who have the
money and have the resources,

00:12:13.010 --> 00:12:16.600
but they also have a lot of
knowledge and the desire to

00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:20.000
use those resources
to make a change.

00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:22.230
What we're looking for
is fecundity here.

00:12:22.230 --> 00:12:23.800
We're looking for children.

00:12:23.800 --> 00:12:25.230
Were looking for excitement.

00:12:25.230 --> 00:12:28.890
We're looking to be generative,
not just less bad.

00:12:28.890 --> 00:12:31.450
Being less bad is not
being good, it's

00:12:31.450 --> 00:12:33.220
just being less bad.

00:12:33.220 --> 00:12:35.450
So the question I think we'd
have to ask here is that if

00:12:35.450 --> 00:12:39.840
5,000 years from now an
extraterrestrial came to

00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:45.150
Oberlin and said, could you
show me a sign of extreme

00:12:45.150 --> 00:12:49.220
human hopefulness, and all the
people here will be able to

00:12:49.220 --> 00:12:51.600
say, we can show you
where it is.

00:13:01.911 --> 00:13:05.348
In western Michigan, a new
relationship between business

00:13:05.348 --> 00:13:10.280
and the natural world
is emerging.

00:13:10.280 --> 00:13:13.660
If our designs went from being
brute force designs that

00:13:13.660 --> 00:13:17.680
simply added fossil fuels for
example, to obviate some

00:13:17.680 --> 00:13:20.470
natural system, that we actually
went and engaged in

00:13:20.470 --> 00:13:23.280
these natural systems in fecund
ways the way nature

00:13:23.280 --> 00:13:25.340
does, wouldn't that be a
delightful prospect.

00:13:33.008 --> 00:13:37.330
On a reclaimed prairie wetland
in Holland, Michigan, a unique

00:13:37.330 --> 00:13:40.530
building reflects a unique
company with a history of

00:13:40.530 --> 00:13:41.780
innovation.

00:13:44.190 --> 00:13:45.480
Herman Miller is a leading

00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:47.870
manufacturer of office furniture.

00:13:47.870 --> 00:13:50.490
When they planned a new factory
and office complex,

00:13:50.490 --> 00:13:53.780
they asked Bill McDonough to
design a building that would

00:13:53.780 --> 00:13:57.780
both capture the spirit of their
company, and improve

00:13:57.780 --> 00:13:59.810
their bottom line.

00:13:59.810 --> 00:14:02.830
The Aeron chair from
Herman Miller.

00:14:02.830 --> 00:14:08.830
Business Week's design of the
decade and the official chair

00:14:08.830 --> 00:14:12.100
of office hockey.

00:14:12.100 --> 00:14:15.480
Completed in 1995, the building
is known as the

00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:18.530
GreenHouse, an image far
different from that of the

00:14:18.530 --> 00:14:21.010
traditional factory.

00:14:21.010 --> 00:14:24.330
The dark, satanic mills of the
Industrial Revolution were

00:14:24.330 --> 00:14:28.530
machines for working in, where
people's needs were secondary

00:14:28.530 --> 00:14:30.230
to the demands of the
assembly line.

00:14:33.500 --> 00:14:34.930
Herman Miller and
Bill McDonough

00:14:34.930 --> 00:14:36.960
had a different vision.

00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:40.480
Could a factory be designed to
allow workers to connect with

00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:44.770
nature, and would this make a
difference in performance?

00:14:44.770 --> 00:14:47.950
William McDonough and partners
designed the building to

00:14:47.950 --> 00:14:52.300
maximize operational flexibility
with 26 loading

00:14:52.300 --> 00:14:55.920
docks on three sides.

00:14:55.920 --> 00:15:00.100
Oriented to the daily path of
the sun, 47,000 square feet of

00:15:00.100 --> 00:15:05.450
glass, including 66 skylights,
provide abundant natural light

00:15:05.450 --> 00:15:08.300
to work spaces.

00:15:08.300 --> 00:15:12.870
In the nearly 300,000 square
foot plant, the air is

00:15:12.870 --> 00:15:16.460
entirely replenished
every 30 minutes.

00:15:16.460 --> 00:15:20.030
Across the full arc of the
building, a sunlit hallway

00:15:20.030 --> 00:15:23.770
connects the outdoors with the
interior and factory workers

00:15:23.770 --> 00:15:25.490
with office staff.

00:15:25.490 --> 00:15:27.800
They call it Main Street.

00:15:27.800 --> 00:15:28.640
It is a street.

00:15:28.640 --> 00:15:29.740
It has street lights.

00:15:29.740 --> 00:15:31.630
It has plant life.

00:15:31.630 --> 00:15:35.740
We would have our folk art, the
animals that are colorful,

00:15:35.740 --> 00:15:38.190
whimsical, fun.

00:15:38.190 --> 00:15:42.620
Regardless of where your
workplace or office is, if you

00:15:42.620 --> 00:15:47.330
want to go to one of our cafes,
the coffee pot, the

00:15:47.330 --> 00:15:52.760
copy machine, a meeting room,
you will go to the street.

00:15:52.760 --> 00:15:56.670
The street is a wonderful place
for that spontaneous

00:15:56.670 --> 00:16:00.330
meeting that happens when you
bump into someone and have

00:16:00.330 --> 00:16:03.460
that conversation that otherwise
might not happen.

00:16:03.460 --> 00:16:06.750
That's the one thing that hits
you all the time is your

00:16:06.750 --> 00:16:08.260
connection to the outdoors.

00:16:08.260 --> 00:16:10.780
You can always see the
out of doors, even

00:16:10.780 --> 00:16:12.100
when there are storms.

00:16:12.100 --> 00:16:12.980
You can see the lightning.

00:16:12.980 --> 00:16:15.430
And you're just sort
of connected.

00:16:15.430 --> 00:16:19.362
That whole refreshing idea of
integrating the office worker

00:16:19.362 --> 00:16:22.050
with the factory worker, of
engaging the indoors with the

00:16:22.050 --> 00:16:24.456
outdoors, and just connecting,
connecting, connecting,

00:16:24.456 --> 00:16:28.310
connecting, connecting is a
hugely magnifying event and it

00:16:28.310 --> 00:16:30.722
adds all these multipliers.

00:16:30.722 --> 00:16:35.592
To be able to see the
sky it gives you--

00:16:35.592 --> 00:16:39.140
you don't feel boxed in and
you really don't feel like

00:16:39.140 --> 00:16:40.390
you're at work.

00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:52.760
When the building was being
designed, Herman Miller

00:16:52.760 --> 00:16:57.200
executive Bix Norman told Bill
McDonough, if this building

00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:00.880
were a suite of clothes, it
would be an Aloha shirt.

00:17:00.880 --> 00:17:04.856
And if it were a car, it would
be a 1965 Ford Mustang

00:17:04.856 --> 00:17:06.106
convertible.

00:17:15.293 --> 00:17:18.700
Business Week magazine gave the
GreenHouse facility the

00:17:18.700 --> 00:17:22.950
first ever Good Design is
Good Business award.

00:17:22.950 --> 00:17:27.624
The GreenHouse cost $52 a square
foot, about 15% more

00:17:27.624 --> 00:17:29.670
than a comparable building.

00:17:29.670 --> 00:17:34.190
But energy costs decreased by
30% and performance rose so

00:17:34.190 --> 00:17:37.140
dramatically that one executive
said the building is

00:17:37.140 --> 00:17:40.840
paying for itself every
three months.

00:17:40.840 --> 00:17:43.480
We have doubled our productivity
in this space in

00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:47.000
the last five years, which means
that we're producing

00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:50.450
twice as much with essentially
the same number of people.

00:17:50.450 --> 00:17:53.560
One measure of increased worker
satisfaction is that

00:17:53.560 --> 00:17:58.100
over half of the plants 700
employees maintain 100%

00:17:58.100 --> 00:18:00.110
percent attendance records.

00:18:00.110 --> 00:18:03.800
We've had people drive up to
the building and ask for

00:18:03.800 --> 00:18:06.550
applications to fill out because
they want to work here

00:18:06.550 --> 00:18:08.370
just because of the building.

00:18:08.370 --> 00:18:12.440
They sent me over here to train
and it was such a nice

00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:14.300
environment I didn't
want to leave.

00:18:14.300 --> 00:18:16.815
So I kind of waited until there
was a posting open and

00:18:16.815 --> 00:18:22.260
then I put in for that posting
and I got accepted.

00:18:22.260 --> 00:18:26.420
I never dreamed of working in
a beautiful place like this.

00:18:26.420 --> 00:18:29.010
It wasn't only workers who
were attracted to the

00:18:29.010 --> 00:18:30.360
GreenHouse.

00:18:30.360 --> 00:18:33.140
Every year, thousands of
customers and others come to

00:18:33.140 --> 00:18:35.210
tour the building.

00:18:35.210 --> 00:18:38.540
The word that I hear customers
say most often when they come

00:18:38.540 --> 00:18:42.875
to the GreenHouse is a very
simple word, wow.

00:18:42.875 --> 00:18:47.130
The building just speaks a whole
environmental story, and

00:18:47.130 --> 00:18:50.030
you really have to stop and
listen to that story.

00:18:50.030 --> 00:18:52.767
The GreenHouse facility has
become part of the Herman

00:18:52.767 --> 00:18:53.930
Miller brand.

00:18:53.930 --> 00:18:56.190
But the new consciousness
didn't stop with

00:18:56.190 --> 00:18:57.850
sunlight and fresh air.

00:18:57.850 --> 00:19:01.445
Increasingly, customers had
questions about what was in

00:19:01.445 --> 00:19:04.130
the products and their effect
on human health and the

00:19:04.130 --> 00:19:05.180
environment.

00:19:05.180 --> 00:19:08.400
We're now up to, and in some
weeks we've had as many as 12,

00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:10.050
questionnaires from
our customers.

00:19:10.050 --> 00:19:12.850
It really shows that our
customers are becoming very

00:19:12.850 --> 00:19:16.650
aware and very concerned about
what manufacturers are doing

00:19:16.650 --> 00:19:18.610
for the environment and their
questions are not easy.

00:19:30.140 --> 00:19:33.990
There are over 116,000 different
chemicals used in

00:19:33.990 --> 00:19:37.980
the manufacture of our
furniture, our clothing, and

00:19:37.980 --> 00:19:40.010
all the objects that
surround us.

00:19:40.010 --> 00:19:44.420
Of these, less than 3% have
been tested for safety.

00:19:44.420 --> 00:19:46.880
A fact that became a particular
concern to Bill

00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:50.620
McDonough when he was asked to
design a daycare center.

00:19:50.620 --> 00:19:53.110
And we all of a sudden realizing
we're designing a

00:19:53.110 --> 00:19:54.960
building for children and that
the children are going to be

00:19:54.960 --> 00:19:56.780
touching and feeling
and putting

00:19:56.780 --> 00:19:58.390
everything in their mouths.

00:19:58.390 --> 00:20:00.080
And all of a sudden, we realized
that we didn't really

00:20:00.080 --> 00:20:01.720
have a good sense of
what we are doing.

00:20:01.720 --> 00:20:04.010
And we started calling
manufacturers, carpet

00:20:04.010 --> 00:20:06.660
companies and saying, what's
in your products?

00:20:06.660 --> 00:20:08.970
And essentially the answer we
got back in the early '80s was

00:20:08.970 --> 00:20:13.870
it's proprietary, it's
legal, go away.

00:20:13.870 --> 00:20:15.530
I think if we look at the idea
of the Bill of Rights we

00:20:15.530 --> 00:20:17.940
realize that the founding
fathers, despite their

00:20:17.940 --> 00:20:20.890
foresight and wisdom as Rachel
Carson pointed out, would

00:20:20.890 --> 00:20:23.850
never have given an individual,
a company, or a

00:20:23.850 --> 00:20:27.425
community the right to pollute
a river or to poison the air,

00:20:27.425 --> 00:20:32.080
or to destroy children's
hormonal systems or provide

00:20:32.080 --> 00:20:34.750
them with neurotoxins.

00:20:34.750 --> 00:20:36.590
They would never have allowed
us to do this, because they

00:20:36.590 --> 00:20:39.480
never thought we would
do such a thing.

00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:42.300
We've reached a crazy point
history when I can walk up to

00:20:42.300 --> 00:20:45.545
a corporate executive and say,
you have 16 known carcinogens

00:20:45.545 --> 00:20:48.820
in your product, and their
response will be, its

00:20:48.820 --> 00:20:50.710
proprietary, it's legal.

00:20:50.710 --> 00:20:52.940
In other words, it's not
against the law.

00:20:52.940 --> 00:20:55.180
When did we start measuring our
intentions by what's not

00:20:55.180 --> 00:20:57.050
against the law?

00:20:57.050 --> 00:21:00.080
Even when they work, our current
environmental laws

00:21:00.080 --> 00:21:04.600
don't stop pollution, they
only slow it down.

00:21:04.600 --> 00:21:08.700
Over the last 25 years, this
failure of design has led to

00:21:08.700 --> 00:21:11.200
increasing public
disillusionment.

00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:13.180
A grassroots environmental
movement

00:21:13.180 --> 00:21:15.680
has arisen in response.

00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:19.010
You don't let them just get
away with their little

00:21:19.010 --> 00:21:22.000
speeches about how this is not
going to hurt us, because it's

00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:23.250
going to hurt everyone.

00:21:27.830 --> 00:21:30.540
Each day, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission and the

00:21:30.540 --> 00:21:33.935
nuclear power industry plays
the lottery with our lives.

00:21:38.030 --> 00:21:42.732
I have no respect for any
government agency, none.

00:21:42.732 --> 00:21:44.450
We've learned the lesson good.

00:21:50.586 --> 00:21:53.963
Today, the guardians of our
environment are government.

00:21:53.963 --> 00:21:59.560
What can we do to safeguard
ourselves from the guardians.

00:21:59.560 --> 00:22:03.740
In our book, a regulation is the
signal of design failure.

00:22:03.740 --> 00:22:06.580
It's the state stepping into
commerce and saying, wait a

00:22:06.580 --> 00:22:09.220
minute, we never gave you
the right to kill.

00:22:09.220 --> 00:22:12.070
What do we say about someone
who's beating a regulation and

00:22:12.070 --> 00:22:13.100
not being punished for it?

00:22:13.100 --> 00:22:14.920
What do we say?

00:22:14.920 --> 00:22:18.340
Our words betray this very fact,
we say, they're getting

00:22:18.340 --> 00:22:20.920
away with murder.

00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:23.670
Indeed.

00:22:23.670 --> 00:22:28.960
Perhaps solutions lay not with
government, but with business.

00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:31.820
To build a sustainable economy,
Bill McDonough and

00:22:31.820 --> 00:22:34.760
Michael Braungart are saying we
need to harness the energy

00:22:34.760 --> 00:22:37.526
and creativity of commerce.

00:22:37.526 --> 00:22:42.680
Commerce is quick, it's
inventive, and it's honest.

00:22:42.680 --> 00:22:43.940
You can't do business with
somebody for any length of

00:22:43.940 --> 00:22:46.020
time if you're not honest.

00:22:46.020 --> 00:22:49.165
So we work in the world of
commerce, and it's all around

00:22:49.165 --> 00:22:51.600
strategies have changed.

00:22:51.600 --> 00:22:54.450
In the debate over our
collective future,

00:22:54.450 --> 00:22:56.340
environmentalists contend
that there must

00:22:56.340 --> 00:22:58.350
be limits on growth.

00:22:58.350 --> 00:23:01.840
Business counters that growth
is necessary for economic

00:23:01.840 --> 00:23:04.440
well-being.

00:23:04.440 --> 00:23:08.210
As Albert Einstein said, "The
significant problems we face

00:23:08.210 --> 00:23:11.600
cannot be solved at the same
level of thinking we were at

00:23:11.600 --> 00:23:14.530
when we created them."
Sometimes, a

00:23:14.530 --> 00:23:17.300
new question is required.

00:23:17.300 --> 00:23:19.660
The question I don't think
really is growth, no growth.

00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:22.470
The question is, can we
follow nature's laws?

00:23:22.470 --> 00:23:24.800
If we do, then growth is good.

00:23:24.800 --> 00:23:27.570
Well then the question is,
what do you want to grow?

00:23:27.570 --> 00:23:31.120
Because in nature if a tree
grows, that's good.

00:23:31.120 --> 00:23:33.730
If a child grows, that's good.

00:23:33.730 --> 00:23:36.660
So the question would be, what
would good growth look like,

00:23:36.660 --> 00:23:39.780
not growth, no growth, but
what do you want to grow?

00:23:39.780 --> 00:23:41.760
How about we grow health
instead of sickness.

00:23:41.760 --> 00:23:43.970
How about we grow home

00:23:43.970 --> 00:23:45.480
ownership instead of indigence.

00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:49.160
How about we grow intelligence
instead of stupidity.

00:23:49.160 --> 00:23:51.740
The real question is, what
do you want to grow?

00:23:51.740 --> 00:23:54.390
Humans have run into trouble
because we have failed to

00:23:54.390 --> 00:23:56.230
follow nature's rules.

00:23:56.230 --> 00:24:01.110
In nature, grow is good because
nothing is wasted.

00:24:01.110 --> 00:24:04.860
What is waste for one is always
food for another.

00:24:04.860 --> 00:24:07.740
We're not talking here about
eliminating waste.

00:24:07.740 --> 00:24:09.150
We're talking about
eliminating the

00:24:09.150 --> 00:24:11.720
entire concept of waste.

00:24:11.720 --> 00:24:13.650
And when you eliminate the
concept of waste, everything

00:24:13.650 --> 00:24:14.900
is nutrition.

00:24:14.900 --> 00:24:17.850
Waste equals food.

00:24:17.850 --> 00:24:20.690
Bill McDonough and Michael
Braungart are proposing that

00:24:20.690 --> 00:24:24.780
all human-made products belong
to either the biological cycle

00:24:24.780 --> 00:24:27.430
or the technical cycle.

00:24:27.430 --> 00:24:30.350
In the biological cycle,
everything must be safe for

00:24:30.350 --> 00:24:32.330
consumption by living things.

00:24:32.330 --> 00:24:35.950
Products must be designed so
they can return safely to air,

00:24:35.950 --> 00:24:38.530
water, and soil.

00:24:38.530 --> 00:24:41.640
These are called products
of consumption.

00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:44.040
Well, within the biological
metabolism, a product can

00:24:44.040 --> 00:24:45.030
actually be consumed.

00:24:45.030 --> 00:24:47.580
It can go back to
natural systems.

00:24:47.580 --> 00:24:50.340
So we call that a product of
consumption because you can

00:24:50.340 --> 00:24:51.600
actually consume it.

00:24:51.600 --> 00:24:56.460
So something that could either
abrade or dissolve or wear out

00:24:56.460 --> 00:24:58.420
is something we would call
a product of consumption,

00:24:58.420 --> 00:25:00.960
something that goes back to the
natural world as a result

00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:02.520
of its use.

00:25:02.520 --> 00:25:05.710
Humans also depend on products
that contain materials that

00:25:05.710 --> 00:25:08.930
cannot return safely to
air, water, and soil.

00:25:08.930 --> 00:25:11.550
These products are made from
materials that McDonough and

00:25:11.550 --> 00:25:13.940
Braungart called technical
nutrients.

00:25:13.940 --> 00:25:17.070
Such products must be designed
so that their technical

00:25:17.070 --> 00:25:21.110
nutrients are recaptured in
their own closed cycle and do

00:25:21.110 --> 00:25:23.820
not contaminate the
biological cycle.

00:25:23.820 --> 00:25:26.410
These are termed products
of service.

00:25:26.410 --> 00:25:28.830
Within the technical metabolism,
we have what we

00:25:28.830 --> 00:25:29.980
call products of service.

00:25:29.980 --> 00:25:31.750
What you want is the service
of the product, not

00:25:31.750 --> 00:25:34.550
necessarily the ownership of
the molecules themselves.

00:25:34.550 --> 00:25:37.070
Let's say you're a business
and you need computers.

00:25:37.070 --> 00:25:39.535
If you get a computer, what
are you really getting?

00:25:39.535 --> 00:25:44.790
You're getting toxic heavy
metals, you're getting lots of

00:25:44.790 --> 00:25:46.480
chemicals, you are getting
potentially an

00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:48.460
explosive glass tube.

00:25:48.460 --> 00:25:50.200
Do you really want to buy
all those things?

00:25:50.200 --> 00:25:52.090
What you really want is the
service of the computer.

00:25:52.090 --> 00:25:53.820
When you finish with it,
wouldn't it be marvelous if

00:25:53.820 --> 00:25:56.400
you call up Michael Dell and
say, thank you so much.

00:25:56.400 --> 00:25:57.480
I've finished with
the service.

00:25:57.480 --> 00:25:59.450
I'd like a new one, please.

00:25:59.450 --> 00:26:01.030
That's what we call the product
of service concept.

00:26:01.030 --> 00:26:03.772
And you can apply it to cars,
you can apply it to shoes, you

00:26:03.772 --> 00:26:06.080
can apply it to television
sets, anything you want.

00:26:18.220 --> 00:26:22.950
In the early 1990s, Rohner
Textil, a small Swiss mill

00:26:22.950 --> 00:26:25.440
specializing in upholstery
fabric, was

00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:26.690
struggling to survive.

00:26:29.340 --> 00:26:32.760
Squeezed between competition
from low-cost, high-quality

00:26:32.760 --> 00:26:37.910
imports and the increasing
demands of government

00:26:37.910 --> 00:26:39.900
regulation, the future
for Rohner's

00:26:39.900 --> 00:26:41.720
employees was uncertain.

00:26:41.720 --> 00:26:44.830
The textile industry, it's a
mature industry, it's very

00:26:44.830 --> 00:26:46.040
difficult to survive.

00:26:46.040 --> 00:26:51.210
Switzerland you have high wages,
environmental issues

00:26:51.210 --> 00:26:55.510
are we have the Alps, we have
rivers, we have lakes.

00:26:55.510 --> 00:26:58.000
Rohner's situation was further
complicated by

00:26:58.000 --> 00:26:59.820
a regulatory problem.

00:26:59.820 --> 00:27:03.760
[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

00:27:03.760 --> 00:27:06.090
Swiss inspectors had pronounced
the trimmings from

00:27:06.090 --> 00:27:09.920
the edges of their looms
to be hazardous waste.

00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:12.430
We saw that we were running
into conflict with the law

00:27:12.430 --> 00:27:16.300
because we wanted to burn the
waste here at the mill to save

00:27:16.300 --> 00:27:22.600
oil, because we wanted to heat
up the water we use for dying.

00:27:22.600 --> 00:27:25.650
So it didn't work, so we were
in a kind of a dilemma.

00:27:25.650 --> 00:27:27.650
They couldn't bury or burn it
in Switzerland anymore, they

00:27:27.650 --> 00:27:28.590
had to ship it to Spain.

00:27:28.590 --> 00:27:30.490
Now, you realize you've hit
the wall of the first

00:27:30.490 --> 00:27:32.870
Industrial Revolution when
you're trimmings are declared

00:27:32.870 --> 00:27:36.260
hazardous waste, but you can
sell what's in the middle.

00:27:36.260 --> 00:27:39.240
In New York City, a customer
of Rohner was seeking to

00:27:39.240 --> 00:27:43.110
create a new kind of product.

00:27:43.110 --> 00:27:47.390
A subsidiary of the Steelcase
Corporation, Designtex is a

00:27:47.390 --> 00:27:50.140
leading designer and
manufacturer of textiles for

00:27:50.140 --> 00:27:52.520
commercial interiors.

00:27:52.520 --> 00:27:56.550
Susan Lyons, Executive Vice
President, wanted to create a

00:27:56.550 --> 00:27:59.730
fabric that was both
environmentally friendly and

00:27:59.730 --> 00:28:01.430
profitable.

00:28:01.430 --> 00:28:03.110
Our goal was always to--

00:28:03.110 --> 00:28:05.350
I mean I was always talking
about we have to have a normal

00:28:05.350 --> 00:28:09.840
product, so it needed to have
all of the characteristics

00:28:09.840 --> 00:28:11.310
that all of our other
products have.

00:28:11.310 --> 00:28:14.020
It needed to have all the
performance characteristics

00:28:14.020 --> 00:28:15.180
that our products have.

00:28:15.180 --> 00:28:17.110
It need to have all the
aesthetic characteristics that

00:28:17.110 --> 00:28:18.400
our products have.

00:28:18.400 --> 00:28:21.170
It needed to be at
the right price.

00:28:21.170 --> 00:28:24.700
And I guess after a couple of
years of doing this, certainly

00:28:24.700 --> 00:28:27.770
not full time but trying to
gather as much data as we

00:28:27.770 --> 00:28:33.240
could, we ended up with huge,
huge stacks of paper and

00:28:33.240 --> 00:28:37.350
research and information that
ultimately was completely

00:28:37.350 --> 00:28:38.680
contradictory.

00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:42.400
And there really wasn't
any clear path.

00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:46.030
Susan Lyons first became aware
of Bill McDonough's ideas from

00:28:46.030 --> 00:28:48.150
an article in the Wall
Street Journal.

00:28:48.150 --> 00:28:51.320
Design is the first signal
of human intention.

00:28:51.320 --> 00:28:54.460
In forums like this one in
Detroit, Bill McDonough was

00:28:54.460 --> 00:28:59.630
proposing a revolutionary
approach to product design.

00:28:59.630 --> 00:29:01.170
Eliminate the concept
of waste.

00:29:01.170 --> 00:29:02.760
This is not minimize waste.

00:29:02.760 --> 00:29:05.230
And what you need to understand
at the time, the

00:29:05.230 --> 00:29:07.720
thing that was just coming out
is this idea of factor 4,

00:29:07.720 --> 00:29:10.270
factor 10 reductions of material
flows that we can

00:29:10.270 --> 00:29:11.600
become more and more
efficient.

00:29:11.600 --> 00:29:14.300
But If you're doing the wrong
thing, it doesn't help us to

00:29:14.300 --> 00:29:14.710
be efficient.

00:29:14.710 --> 00:29:16.850
In fact, it might
be pernicious.

00:29:16.850 --> 00:29:25.500
So we called and basically that
first meeting, the clear

00:29:25.500 --> 00:29:30.660
path became obvious and it was
just this incredible epiphany

00:29:30.660 --> 00:29:34.830
where you just thought, oh my
god, I mean, this is waste

00:29:34.830 --> 00:29:35.770
equals food.

00:29:35.770 --> 00:29:39.240
It's just, it's so smart,
it's so sensible.

00:29:39.240 --> 00:29:41.650
It seems so logical.

00:29:41.650 --> 00:29:46.240
And we shook hands and we said,
we're going to do this,

00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:48.260
we don't know how, we don't
know how it will take, but

00:29:48.260 --> 00:29:49.860
we're going to do it.

00:29:49.860 --> 00:29:53.110
Two weeks later, Susan Lyons
arranged for Bill McDonough to

00:29:53.110 --> 00:29:54.960
fly to Switzerland
to meet with one

00:29:54.960 --> 00:29:57.500
of Designtex' suppliers.

00:29:57.500 --> 00:30:02.850
So suddenly I meet this person
in the car and he says, waste

00:30:02.850 --> 00:30:04.360
equals food.

00:30:04.360 --> 00:30:10.080
So, well, if we get that,
we have no problems.

00:30:10.080 --> 00:30:18.720
Because if the products are OK,
they can be food, so what

00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:21.980
do you have to regulate.

00:30:21.980 --> 00:30:24.250
In order to make this
change, Rohner

00:30:24.250 --> 00:30:26.730
faced enormous obstacles.

00:30:26.730 --> 00:30:30.590
Its directors, customers, and
especially its suppliers all

00:30:30.590 --> 00:30:34.000
had to be on board.

00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:36.740
Could a small mill in
Switzerland transform an

00:30:36.740 --> 00:30:38.540
entire industry?

00:30:38.540 --> 00:30:40.360
What really struck me about
the whole thing is you're

00:30:40.360 --> 00:30:42.810
really going into a
manufacturing situation,

00:30:42.810 --> 00:30:46.040
whether it's a spinner, or a
mill or a dyer or whatever,

00:30:46.040 --> 00:30:49.300
and saying, we really
want you to rethink

00:30:49.300 --> 00:30:51.350
how you do your business.

00:30:51.350 --> 00:30:57.450
And that's not always popular
with everyone.

00:30:57.450 --> 00:30:59.970
One supplier was critical.

00:30:59.970 --> 00:31:03.200
The global chemical industry
with over 1 and 1/2 trillion

00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:06.410
dollars in annual sales, supply
the dyes and other

00:31:06.410 --> 00:31:09.860
chemicals that made modern
textiles possible.

00:31:09.860 --> 00:31:12.180
The change Rohner was proposing
required the

00:31:12.180 --> 00:31:15.970
cooperation of this
powerful industry.

00:31:15.970 --> 00:31:20.810
It was an industry under siege
from environmentalists.

00:31:20.810 --> 00:31:24.460
In Europe, Greenpeace led the
opposition to pollution by the

00:31:24.460 --> 00:31:26.890
big chemical companies.

00:31:26.890 --> 00:31:30.340
In the 1980s, Greenpeace's
campaign against the industry

00:31:30.340 --> 00:31:33.450
had been initiated by Bill
McDonough's partner, the

00:31:33.450 --> 00:31:36.560
German chemist, Dr.
Michael Braungart.

00:31:36.560 --> 00:31:42.610
I was organizing Greenpeace
chemistry campaigns mostly

00:31:42.610 --> 00:31:47.590
against the chemical industry
because the chemical industry

00:31:47.590 --> 00:31:49.840
decides about the materials.

00:31:49.840 --> 00:31:51.890
They decide what the other

00:31:51.890 --> 00:31:54.420
industries can use as materials.

00:31:54.420 --> 00:31:57.620
And they're only decided a
linear system from cradle to

00:31:57.620 --> 00:32:01.100
grave, which means that at the
end, you end up with all these

00:32:01.100 --> 00:32:03.590
graveyards and you lose
all the materials.

00:32:03.590 --> 00:32:08.560
And if you really want to make a
change, you need to use this

00:32:08.560 --> 00:32:12.340
environmental information
to put it into products.

00:32:12.340 --> 00:32:14.960
To make the change, they needed
to know which of the

00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:18.360
thousands of chemicals used to
dye and prepare the yarns

00:32:18.360 --> 00:32:21.670
could safely return
to soil and water.

00:32:21.670 --> 00:32:24.350
But the chemical industry
consider this information

00:32:24.350 --> 00:32:26.460
proprietary.

00:32:26.460 --> 00:32:32.310
When we tried to call on all the
60 dye chemical companies

00:32:32.310 --> 00:32:35.930
and they all sent us actually
some information that they do

00:32:35.930 --> 00:32:41.610
not want to open the story
and their products.

00:32:41.610 --> 00:32:51.000
So we went into a meeting with
Michael Braungart and we said,

00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:55.790
so the project is probably
not going to work.

00:32:55.790 --> 00:33:00.880
From the Greenpeace times, we
still have quite close contact

00:33:00.880 --> 00:33:04.620
to people in the chemical
industry who, at that time,

00:33:04.620 --> 00:33:08.010
joined the chemical industry
and said, look, we only can

00:33:08.010 --> 00:33:11.680
join the chemical industry
if we really work towards

00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:12.832
sustainability.

00:33:12.832 --> 00:33:15.510
Of the 60 companies approached,
the most likely

00:33:15.510 --> 00:33:19.500
partner was the Swiss chemical
giant, Ciba-Geigy.

00:33:19.500 --> 00:33:22.510
Ciba-Geigy, finally the middle
management could only be

00:33:22.510 --> 00:33:27.930
convinced to open their books
after we got in touch with

00:33:27.930 --> 00:33:30.530
Sumitomo Chemicals in Japan.

00:33:30.530 --> 00:33:34.190
This Japanese company just said,
oh yes, we would like to

00:33:34.190 --> 00:33:39.360
open the books and give you the
information for that if

00:33:39.360 --> 00:33:41.290
you can make money with it.

00:33:41.290 --> 00:33:42.630
Quite pragmatic.

00:33:42.630 --> 00:33:48.230
They thought well, it's very
risky because we're disclosing

00:33:48.230 --> 00:33:50.170
our knowledge.

00:33:50.170 --> 00:33:54.250
So, can we trust these people.

00:33:54.250 --> 00:33:58.320
Then they said, well, but it's
this small little mill, it's

00:33:58.320 --> 00:34:01.270
as well in Switzerland, so
it's the same country.

00:34:01.270 --> 00:34:05.080
It's a small mill,
it's a customer.

00:34:05.080 --> 00:34:08.139
And then they opened.

00:34:08.139 --> 00:34:10.820
The McDonough Braungart protocol
tested the dye

00:34:10.820 --> 00:34:14.040
chemicals to determine if they
caused cancer or other

00:34:14.040 --> 00:34:18.429
illnesses, birth defects, immune
system disruption, soil

00:34:18.429 --> 00:34:20.470
and water toxicity.

00:34:20.470 --> 00:34:23.340
Were they safe for human
children and the offspring of

00:34:23.340 --> 00:34:24.849
other species?

00:34:24.849 --> 00:34:29.889
What they found was that of the
1,600 dyes sold by Ciba,

00:34:29.889 --> 00:34:34.036
only 16 met the protocol
standards,

00:34:34.036 --> 00:34:36.190
but that was enough.

00:34:36.190 --> 00:34:39.340
From the beginning of the
project, the goal was no

00:34:39.340 --> 00:34:42.670
compromise on aesthetics
or performance.

00:34:42.670 --> 00:34:46.989
With the 16 dyes, Rohner could
make virtually any color, and

00:34:46.989 --> 00:34:49.610
at a competitive price.

00:34:49.610 --> 00:34:52.260
And because the costs associated
with regulation

00:34:52.260 --> 00:34:56.070
have been eliminated,
profits increased.

00:34:56.070 --> 00:34:59.540
And there were other gains as
well, the health and safety of

00:34:59.540 --> 00:35:02.145
workers and the satisfaction
of customers.

00:35:05.280 --> 00:35:07.180
The water leaving
the plant was as

00:35:07.180 --> 00:35:10.370
clean as when it entered.

00:35:10.370 --> 00:35:13.132
We ended up with a protocol
which Albin put into play.

00:35:13.132 --> 00:35:17.450
And as a result, when the Swiss
inspectors came to test

00:35:17.450 --> 00:35:20.640
the waters that just came out of
the factory, now, we could

00:35:20.640 --> 00:35:22.450
turn the pipe around, because
the water coming out of the

00:35:22.450 --> 00:35:24.720
factory was as clean as the
water going in, which is Swiss

00:35:24.720 --> 00:35:25.440
drinking water.

00:35:25.440 --> 00:35:28.140
Factory trimmings once declared
hazardous waste were

00:35:28.140 --> 00:35:30.500
now a profitable byproduct,
sold as

00:35:30.500 --> 00:35:32.900
mulch to local gardeners.

00:35:32.900 --> 00:35:37.050
And you end up with this
beautiful piece of felt, which

00:35:37.050 --> 00:35:40.870
is essentially all waste
byproducts from all of the

00:35:40.870 --> 00:35:43.600
Climatex fabrics that
the mill is weaving.

00:35:43.600 --> 00:35:46.760
And after about six months
when you put it into the

00:35:46.760 --> 00:35:50.430
compost heap, it's gone.

00:35:50.430 --> 00:35:53.960
It's simple on one level in that
when you say waste equals

00:35:53.960 --> 00:35:56.770
food and you think about what
that means, in a way it's

00:35:56.770 --> 00:35:58.250
wonderfully clear.

00:35:58.250 --> 00:36:02.180
But making that happen
in your daily work

00:36:02.180 --> 00:36:04.400
is the bigger challenge.

00:36:04.400 --> 00:36:06.190
I think that's what's so
extraordinary about what

00:36:06.190 --> 00:36:09.000
Albin's done at Rohner
is that he really has

00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:12.740
reinvented his mill.

00:36:12.740 --> 00:36:14.040
I'm very hopeful.

00:36:14.040 --> 00:36:18.770
I think what this project has
really demonstrated is that

00:36:18.770 --> 00:36:20.260
you can do this.

00:36:20.260 --> 00:36:24.880
You can actually develop
products in a way that really

00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:27.730
adds that fourth
characteristic.

00:36:27.730 --> 00:36:30.680
We talked about quality,
performance, price, all of

00:36:30.680 --> 00:36:31.160
those things.

00:36:31.160 --> 00:36:34.360
And If you add this fourth
characteristic, as Bill calls

00:36:34.360 --> 00:36:40.710
it, environmental intelligence,
you can do it.

00:36:40.710 --> 00:36:43.800
Each year in London a
prestigious competition in

00:36:43.800 --> 00:36:48.440
sustainable design is hosted
by the Design Museum.

00:36:48.440 --> 00:36:52.230
The Design Sense 2000 finalists
included six

00:36:52.230 --> 00:36:55.700
products from corporations
like BMW and IBM.

00:36:58.540 --> 00:37:01.340
And six buildings, including
the environmentally

00:37:01.340 --> 00:37:02.985
transformed German Parliament.

00:37:06.920 --> 00:37:10.660
The next day, headlines in
German newspapers read, "The

00:37:10.660 --> 00:37:15.300
Fiber that Beat the Reichstag."
Rohner's Climatex

00:37:15.300 --> 00:37:19.640
Lifecycle fabric won
first prize.

00:37:19.640 --> 00:37:23.900
I think the judges picked this
company and this product

00:37:23.900 --> 00:37:27.015
because at every level,
whichever way you cut the

00:37:27.015 --> 00:37:29.910
cake, environmentalism,
sustainable thinking was

00:37:29.910 --> 00:37:31.280
running through the company.

00:37:31.280 --> 00:37:33.720
It wasn't just the
end product.

00:37:33.720 --> 00:37:36.580
They a small company, but they
are a great role model for the

00:37:36.580 --> 00:37:37.830
rest of us.

00:37:56.080 --> 00:37:59.120
A team of designers from Nike
visited their product at one

00:37:59.120 --> 00:38:01.840
of the graveyards of the first
Industrial Revolution.

00:38:04.770 --> 00:38:07.210
Well, you know, when I was just
kind of mulling over that

00:38:07.210 --> 00:38:10.350
statement waste equals
food, I think waste

00:38:10.350 --> 00:38:12.070
equals food for thought.

00:38:12.070 --> 00:38:15.430
I mean, it's just about being
conscientious and thinking

00:38:15.430 --> 00:38:19.390
about the impact that your
design intentions have.

00:38:19.390 --> 00:38:23.150
Located in Beaverton, Oregon,
the Nike World Campus is

00:38:23.150 --> 00:38:28.630
headquarters to a company with
$9 billion in annual sales.

00:38:28.630 --> 00:38:32.620
A company whose heroes are the
champion athletes who embody

00:38:32.620 --> 00:38:35.400
Nike's corporate image of
health and athletic

00:38:35.400 --> 00:38:37.080
performance.

00:38:37.080 --> 00:38:41.180
Yet, Nike's signature product,
like all sports footwear,

00:38:41.180 --> 00:38:44.771
contained materials that were
potentially harmful to human

00:38:44.771 --> 00:38:47.026
health and the environment.

00:38:47.026 --> 00:38:50.660
Could Nike's product be made
consistent with their stated

00:38:50.660 --> 00:38:52.040
corporate ideal?

00:38:52.040 --> 00:38:54.780
That was the design challenge
posed by Bill McDonough and

00:38:54.780 --> 00:38:55.800
Michael Braungart.

00:38:55.800 --> 00:38:59.370
They started from a point that
is so near and dear to Nike,

00:38:59.370 --> 00:39:00.910
which is design.

00:39:00.910 --> 00:39:06.030
Bill really, he essentially woke
up the sleeping giant.

00:39:06.030 --> 00:39:09.330
Prior to their association with
McDonough and Braungart,

00:39:09.330 --> 00:39:11.960
Nike had tried a more
traditional approach.

00:39:11.960 --> 00:39:16.010
Their Reuse A Shoe program
slices off the soles of old

00:39:16.010 --> 00:39:19.325
shoes and grinds up the rubber
to become running tracks and

00:39:19.325 --> 00:39:20.800
ball fields.

00:39:20.800 --> 00:39:22.270
We can actually process
anybody's shoes.

00:39:22.270 --> 00:39:24.030
We can take Asics, we
can take Adidas.

00:39:24.030 --> 00:39:27.490
They all are pretty much
made the same as Nikes.

00:39:27.490 --> 00:39:29.910
But it didn't address the
deeper problem of the

00:39:29.910 --> 00:39:32.850
chemicals in the rubber.

00:39:32.850 --> 00:39:34.770
As they began to look at some
of the materials we were

00:39:34.770 --> 00:39:37.440
using, particularly the very
bottom of our shoes, the

00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:40.220
things that provide durability
and traction, that those

00:39:40.220 --> 00:39:42.430
materials were actually the ones
that in some ways were

00:39:42.430 --> 00:39:45.010
the worse for the environment.

00:39:45.010 --> 00:39:47.860
And we thought that is probably
going to be the most

00:39:47.860 --> 00:39:51.150
difficult platform to begin
addressing because of all the

00:39:51.150 --> 00:39:54.190
chemicals that are
used in rubber.

00:39:54.190 --> 00:39:56.180
The new protocol proposed
by McDonough

00:39:56.180 --> 00:39:58.350
Braungart would cost money.

00:39:58.350 --> 00:40:02.990
It involved redesigning Nike's
entire materials pallet.

00:40:02.990 --> 00:40:06.520
Would this highly successful
company take the financial

00:40:06.520 --> 00:40:09.630
risk of going beyond what
was required by law?

00:40:09.630 --> 00:40:13.640
Even if they believe in it, I
don't really want to change

00:40:13.640 --> 00:40:17.470
the way we operate because we've
got it so fine tuned we

00:40:17.470 --> 00:40:19.620
know what it's going to cost to
do this and this and this

00:40:19.620 --> 00:40:21.670
and what the result
is going to be.

00:40:21.670 --> 00:40:24.340
And if we change that, I'm not
so sure it's going to cost the

00:40:24.340 --> 00:40:26.255
same and we're going to
get the same results.

00:40:29.650 --> 00:40:33.075
Nike's internal culture
valued taking risks.

00:40:33.075 --> 00:40:36.340
At special events, managers
were expected to go

00:40:36.340 --> 00:40:39.030
head-to-head against world class
athletes like Brazilian

00:40:39.030 --> 00:40:41.114
soccer star Ronaldo.

00:40:46.720 --> 00:40:48.628
But was Nike up to
this challenge?

00:40:55.102 --> 00:40:57.110
It took a lot of handholding,
a lot of thought around the

00:40:57.110 --> 00:41:00.280
company to say we
need to move.

00:41:00.280 --> 00:41:03.690
If you move an inch or if you
move a mile, you're moving.

00:41:03.690 --> 00:41:04.940
So just move.

00:41:07.930 --> 00:41:11.210
Based in both the US and
Germany, McDonough Braungart

00:41:11.210 --> 00:41:14.130
Design Chemistry worked with
Nike to analyze what was in

00:41:14.130 --> 00:41:16.045
its products.

00:41:16.045 --> 00:41:19.920
But what we do here at MBDC is
we track the chemicals at a

00:41:19.920 --> 00:41:23.050
basic level and we track the
characteristics of those

00:41:23.050 --> 00:41:25.990
chemicals with respect to their
impact on human health

00:41:25.990 --> 00:41:27.490
and the environment.

00:41:27.490 --> 00:41:29.760
First thing, again, we go back
to it and we said what's in

00:41:29.760 --> 00:41:30.555
our product?

00:41:30.555 --> 00:41:33.960
I mean down to the 10 parts
per million level.

00:41:33.960 --> 00:41:37.250
What actually is in there, what
are the solvents, where

00:41:37.250 --> 00:41:41.310
the pigments, what's the resin,
what are the additives,

00:41:41.310 --> 00:41:43.150
and have these things
been tested.

00:41:43.150 --> 00:41:45.620
Because unfortunately, a lot of
chemicals today that are in

00:41:45.620 --> 00:41:47.790
use, even high volume chemicals,
haven't completely

00:41:47.790 --> 00:41:49.980
been tested.

00:41:49.980 --> 00:41:52.910
Once again, the heart of
the solution lay with

00:41:52.910 --> 00:41:54.520
the chemical industry.

00:41:54.520 --> 00:41:56.860
Nike used some 5,000 different

00:41:56.860 --> 00:41:59.200
materials to make its products.

00:41:59.200 --> 00:42:01.800
They took their new protocol
to DuPont and

00:42:01.800 --> 00:42:03.530
other chemical suppliers.

00:42:03.530 --> 00:42:09.540
Now we're entering into a new
relationship, which requires

00:42:09.540 --> 00:42:15.410
DuPont and Nike to go deeper
into the information that they

00:42:15.410 --> 00:42:19.535
supply us, which enters into
their proprietary technology.

00:42:22.800 --> 00:42:27.000
We are finding a level of
anxiety because this is

00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:28.360
cutting edge.

00:42:28.360 --> 00:42:32.530
No one else is doing this level
of in-depth research and

00:42:32.530 --> 00:42:34.980
asking these types of questions

00:42:34.980 --> 00:42:36.520
that we've come across.

00:42:36.520 --> 00:42:37.980
It really is a partnership.

00:42:37.980 --> 00:42:40.560
We want you guys to design the
best chemicals and materials

00:42:40.560 --> 00:42:43.600
out there, and we'll put them
in everybody's product.

00:42:43.600 --> 00:42:45.440
So let's do this
thing together.

00:42:45.440 --> 00:42:48.840
Sustainability was only
one of many criteria.

00:42:48.840 --> 00:42:52.260
At Nike's sports lab, experts
tested new materials for

00:42:52.260 --> 00:42:55.110
performance, comfort,
and endurance.

00:42:55.110 --> 00:42:58.738
For Nike to retain leadership
in its industry, there could

00:42:58.738 --> 00:42:59.565
be no trade-offs.

00:42:59.565 --> 00:43:02.940
We don't accept that there has
to be a trade-off, because I

00:43:02.940 --> 00:43:06.700
really honestly believe that
all companies should not be

00:43:06.700 --> 00:43:08.202
about a business'
sustainability.

00:43:08.202 --> 00:43:10.350
It should be about the business
of whatever their

00:43:10.350 --> 00:43:11.150
core issue is.

00:43:11.150 --> 00:43:13.530
For us, it's athletic and
human performance.

00:43:13.530 --> 00:43:16.380
You know, we're kick-butt
performance.

00:43:16.380 --> 00:43:18.750
By the way, we're also
sustainable.

00:43:18.750 --> 00:43:22.160
Nike had asked the question,
can rubber be made safe for

00:43:22.160 --> 00:43:24.340
children and the earth?

00:43:24.340 --> 00:43:28.330
After two years of intense
work with MBDC, they were

00:43:28.330 --> 00:43:30.050
successful.

00:43:30.050 --> 00:43:34.650
In late 2001, Nike is
introducing a new rubber sole

00:43:34.650 --> 00:43:37.970
free of harmful ingredients.

00:43:37.970 --> 00:43:41.780
Now with every step, their
customers will be able to work

00:43:41.780 --> 00:43:45.770
with nature instead
of against it.

00:43:45.770 --> 00:43:51.410
It's a wonderful thing for us
to take this aggressive,

00:43:51.410 --> 00:43:57.120
ambitious, powerful group of
people, which we are, and just

00:43:57.120 --> 00:44:00.960
change that basic level of

00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:03.130
expectations to a better place.

00:44:03.130 --> 00:44:04.920
You've got to take the stake
and you've gotta put it

00:44:04.920 --> 00:44:07.370
somewhere big and you've got
to say that's what we're

00:44:07.370 --> 00:44:08.470
driving for.

00:44:08.470 --> 00:44:11.030
It's not just going more slowly,
it's not going to

00:44:11.030 --> 00:44:12.500
zero, it's actually
turning around and

00:44:12.500 --> 00:44:13.985
picking a new direction.

00:44:13.985 --> 00:44:18.120
The change and it's effects
will be far-reaching.

00:44:18.120 --> 00:44:20.960
Eliminating harmful ingredients
from rubber will

00:44:20.960 --> 00:44:23.400
protect workers health.

00:44:23.400 --> 00:44:28.120
By the end of 2002, PVC will
have been removed from

00:44:28.120 --> 00:44:30.870
virtually all Nike products.

00:44:30.870 --> 00:44:33.450
And designers are working on
shoes made of technical

00:44:33.450 --> 00:44:36.600
nutrients that will be true
products of service.

00:44:36.600 --> 00:44:41.190
I've always had this idea that
commerce would have to change.

00:44:41.190 --> 00:44:44.180
The idea of the transaction
would have to change.

00:44:44.180 --> 00:44:46.530
I think that maybe because kids
are growing out of their

00:44:46.530 --> 00:44:50.580
shoes so quickly, that maybe
the idea would be a leasing

00:44:50.580 --> 00:44:53.796
program, for example, or
a subscription program.

00:44:53.796 --> 00:44:57.690
You know, be in the service of
shoeing people's feet versus

00:44:57.690 --> 00:44:59.485
selling them goods.

00:44:59.485 --> 00:45:02.220
So I think that's the future.

00:45:02.220 --> 00:45:05.060
This doesn't necessarily mean
that an old shoe is going to

00:45:05.060 --> 00:45:07.140
be worth $5.

00:45:07.140 --> 00:45:10.390
The real value of that old shoe
is that if you come back

00:45:10.390 --> 00:45:13.160
to a company with their old
shoe and say, I want a new

00:45:13.160 --> 00:45:15.640
one, your customer has
just returned.

00:45:15.640 --> 00:45:17.290
Think of how much
money companies

00:45:17.290 --> 00:45:20.010
spend attracting customers.

00:45:20.010 --> 00:45:21.920
But what if you've got a
relationship with your

00:45:21.920 --> 00:45:23.675
customer that becomes
lifelong?

00:45:32.042 --> 00:45:35.410
What if the human footprint was
a positive thing instead

00:45:35.410 --> 00:45:36.490
of a negative thing?

00:45:36.490 --> 00:45:38.030
So wouldn't it be great if we
could design things that

00:45:38.030 --> 00:45:40.420
actually restored
natural systems.

00:45:40.420 --> 00:45:42.890
And then you'd think of the
human footprint as a

00:45:42.890 --> 00:45:45.930
delightful prospect instead
of such a horrifying one.

00:45:45.930 --> 00:45:49.590
In January of 1999, Bill
McDonough met with William

00:45:49.590 --> 00:45:53.590
Clay Ford, Junior, chairman
of the Ford Motor Company.

00:45:53.590 --> 00:45:56.430
He presented the McDonough
Braungart principles and

00:45:56.430 --> 00:45:57.490
vision for the future.

00:45:57.490 --> 00:46:01.290
And he was looking out the
window and after this long

00:46:01.290 --> 00:46:03.700
conversation he looked at me
and said, you know, do you

00:46:03.700 --> 00:46:05.210
think it would be possible
to apply these

00:46:05.210 --> 00:46:06.756
principles to that?

00:46:06.756 --> 00:46:09.535
And he pointed at the roof
of this huge facility.

00:46:09.535 --> 00:46:15.180
And I sort of gulped and went,
well, I suppose we'd have to.

00:46:15.180 --> 00:46:19.010
Located in Dearborn, Michigan,
Ford's River Rouge plant is

00:46:19.010 --> 00:46:22.160
considered by many to be the
most significant manufacturing

00:46:22.160 --> 00:46:23.750
facility of the 20th century.

00:46:26.970 --> 00:46:31.020
Completed in 1921, the plant
takes its name from the Rouge

00:46:31.020 --> 00:46:33.600
River that borders it.

00:46:33.600 --> 00:46:37.350
At one time employing some
80,000 workers, the plant was

00:46:37.350 --> 00:46:42.406
the world's first vertically
integrated automobile factory.

00:46:42.406 --> 00:46:47.650
Iron ore and other raw materials
entered at one end

00:46:47.650 --> 00:46:54.950
and were made into steel, rolled
into sheet metal, cast

00:46:54.950 --> 00:47:01.950
into engines, processed into
glass, stamped into auto

00:47:01.950 --> 00:47:07.050
parts, assembled into cars, and
rolled off the assembly

00:47:07.050 --> 00:47:10.515
line a mere 28 hours later.

00:47:10.515 --> 00:47:13.025
This is a company that's almost
100 years old now.

00:47:13.025 --> 00:47:14.770
We've succeeded to
a great degree.

00:47:14.770 --> 00:47:17.210
And so you get comfortable with
what you're doing, but

00:47:17.210 --> 00:47:21.080
consumers and our society's
expectations of an excellent

00:47:21.080 --> 00:47:24.220
outstanding company are really
changing very dramatically.

00:47:24.220 --> 00:47:27.870
In a basement room at Ford
headquarters, McDonough and

00:47:27.870 --> 00:47:30.830
Braungart were commissioned to
map out a strategy for Ford's

00:47:30.830 --> 00:47:33.300
transition to sustainability,
beginning with

00:47:33.300 --> 00:47:35.780
the Rouge plant itself.

00:47:35.780 --> 00:47:39.040
The principle of waste equals
food was applied to every

00:47:39.040 --> 00:47:40.290
aspect of the facility.

00:47:42.830 --> 00:47:47.110
And then it says treat all
emissions as nutrients of safe

00:47:47.110 --> 00:47:49.090
and productive biological
or technical systems.

00:47:49.090 --> 00:47:52.980
So we look at it as an asset
instead of a liability.

00:47:52.980 --> 00:47:56.040
The room was used to educate
about the new goals and

00:47:56.040 --> 00:47:58.390
standards that would measure
Ford's progress to

00:47:58.390 --> 00:48:02.580
sustainability, including the
interests of workers,

00:48:02.580 --> 00:48:07.110
community members, and
other stakeholders.

00:48:07.110 --> 00:48:09.960
This wasn't about being less
bad, this was a place to

00:48:09.960 --> 00:48:12.720
envision a new future.

00:48:12.720 --> 00:48:16.790
What went on in this room was
really the process of

00:48:16.790 --> 00:48:20.300
systematically looking at a wide
range of very creative

00:48:20.300 --> 00:48:22.750
ideas that Bill and his team,
as well as Ford people,

00:48:22.750 --> 00:48:26.470
brought to the table and sifting
those to come up with

00:48:26.470 --> 00:48:31.540
that precious few projects
which could demonstrate

00:48:31.540 --> 00:48:35.320
success in all respects,
economic, equitable, and

00:48:35.320 --> 00:48:36.170
environmental.

00:48:36.170 --> 00:48:37.540
No trade-offs.

00:48:37.540 --> 00:48:40.650
The joke in Dearborn was that
this image of the Rouge is a

00:48:40.650 --> 00:48:42.370
color photograph.

00:48:42.370 --> 00:48:45.880
The challenge was to restore not
only the factory complex,

00:48:45.880 --> 00:48:48.840
but also the Rouge
watershed itself.

00:48:48.840 --> 00:48:53.200
A $2 billion project with
a 20 year timeline.

00:48:53.200 --> 00:48:56.420
One of the first assignments
was the plants storm water

00:48:56.420 --> 00:49:01.150
runoff problem, a huge liability
on Ford's books.

00:49:01.150 --> 00:49:05.260
McDonough's team proposed the
world's largest grass roof and

00:49:05.260 --> 00:49:08.540
a restoration of natural habitat
that not only brought

00:49:08.540 --> 00:49:11.870
back native song birds, but also
saved the company over

00:49:11.870 --> 00:49:13.476
$30 million.

00:49:13.476 --> 00:49:17.330
This was a fundamentally sound
business decision, which is

00:49:17.330 --> 00:49:21.921
also an excellent decision
environmentally and socially.

00:49:21.921 --> 00:49:25.092
What Bill Ford has done by
declaring the Rouge the icon

00:49:25.092 --> 00:49:27.155
of the next Industrial
Revolution is he has declared

00:49:27.155 --> 00:49:29.300
himself native to this place.

00:49:29.300 --> 00:49:33.000
If we declare ourselves native
to a place, we start to think

00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:34.060
in the long term.

00:49:34.060 --> 00:49:36.630
So the next set of steps that
will occur there will be

00:49:36.630 --> 00:49:38.950
thinking about the vehicles
that are made there, the

00:49:38.950 --> 00:49:41.710
processes involved in making
those vehicles.

00:49:41.710 --> 00:49:45.810
In the year 2000, the Ford Motor
Company's division sold

00:49:45.810 --> 00:49:49.170
almost 7 a 1/2 million vehicles
worldwide, with sales

00:49:49.170 --> 00:49:52.045
of over $170 billion dollars.

00:49:54.760 --> 00:49:58.150
The transformation of this
industrial giant will mean a

00:49:58.150 --> 00:50:01.450
revolutionary re-conception
of how cars are designed,

00:50:01.450 --> 00:50:05.140
manufactured, and powered,
with implications for all

00:50:05.140 --> 00:50:07.620
transportation choices.

00:50:07.620 --> 00:50:11.960
The key to this change
is Ford's size.

00:50:11.960 --> 00:50:15.230
What we're interested in is
you're spending $140 billion.

00:50:15.230 --> 00:50:19.476
Now, if you have $90 billion
worth of purchase orders,

00:50:19.476 --> 00:50:23.320
imagine if you got up and said,
I would like my fabrics

00:50:23.320 --> 00:50:25.860
in my automobiles to be
completely safe for people.

00:50:25.860 --> 00:50:28.850
In fact, not only safe, but
also give them nutrition.

00:50:28.850 --> 00:50:31.200
All the companies that provide
these fabrics and materials

00:50:31.200 --> 00:50:33.100
instead of saying, oh, we can't
do that, or what are

00:50:33.100 --> 00:50:34.820
they talking about, or there's
no market for those or

00:50:34.820 --> 00:50:38.455
whatever, all of a sudden sit
up and say, what, what, how

00:50:38.455 --> 00:50:39.280
can we help.

00:50:39.280 --> 00:50:42.160
So all of a sudden,
the world changes.

00:50:42.160 --> 00:50:45.890
Bill Ford is the one who is
going to make the next

00:50:45.890 --> 00:50:47.283
Industrial Revolution
manifest.

00:50:53.080 --> 00:50:56.580
The 2001 environdesign
conference in Atlanta,

00:50:56.580 --> 00:50:59.370
commercial textile manufacturers
gathered to hear

00:50:59.370 --> 00:51:03.100
an announcement about the
nontoxic fabric developed by

00:51:03.100 --> 00:51:05.270
Rohner and Designtex.

00:51:05.270 --> 00:51:09.000
If there was a moment when the
next Industrial Revolution can

00:51:09.000 --> 00:51:12.690
be said to have begun,
perhaps this was it.

00:51:12.690 --> 00:51:14.070
Sharing knowledge.

00:51:14.070 --> 00:51:17.260
And to that end, we are very,
very excited today to announce

00:51:17.260 --> 00:51:20.800
the fact that Designtex is
now going to open this

00:51:20.800 --> 00:51:23.790
construction, which has been
proprietary to us, to all of

00:51:23.790 --> 00:51:25.460
our competitors.

00:51:25.460 --> 00:51:28.530
We would like to give this to
you and spread it around.

00:51:31.440 --> 00:51:37.070
The transformation to a
sustainable economy has begun.

00:51:37.070 --> 00:51:43.100
It includes architects,
designers, manufacturers,

00:51:43.100 --> 00:51:50.140
engineers, leaders in public
policy, and individuals and

00:51:50.140 --> 00:51:53.594
companies around the world.

00:51:53.594 --> 00:51:56.750
I think it is the beginning
of a revolution.

00:51:56.750 --> 00:51:59.860
It's the clean Industrial
Revolution.

00:51:59.860 --> 00:52:03.420
And we have to take care of our
future and the future of

00:52:03.420 --> 00:52:04.220
our children.

00:52:04.220 --> 00:52:06.470
This is a revolution
in how we think.

00:52:06.470 --> 00:52:10.050
And what we've seen here in
this building is people

00:52:10.050 --> 00:52:11.380
respond to visions.

00:52:11.380 --> 00:52:14.010
It's been be the greatest
opportunity and

00:52:14.010 --> 00:52:15.840
the greatest challenge.

00:52:15.840 --> 00:52:19.040
And I would say my average
sleep has gone from seven

00:52:19.040 --> 00:52:22.830
hours a night to about four
because I lie awake at night

00:52:22.830 --> 00:52:25.850
thinking about all the things
that we could do.

00:52:25.850 --> 00:52:29.110
The real big shift is when
anybody who comes in here to

00:52:29.110 --> 00:52:34.290
do work is thinking about that
tree, is thinking about what

00:52:34.290 --> 00:52:37.280
Bill McDonough talks about, is
thinking about would you let

00:52:37.280 --> 00:52:40.320
your children go play in
the dirt next to the

00:52:40.320 --> 00:52:42.730
place where you work.

00:52:42.730 --> 00:52:46.410
When you start to internalize
that in everything you do will

00:52:46.410 --> 00:52:50.245
lead you towards making
that happen.

00:52:50.245 --> 00:52:52.604
But the question is, what
do you want to grow?

00:52:52.604 --> 00:52:55.170
Do you want to grow health
or sickness?

00:52:55.170 --> 00:52:56.770
Intelligence or stupidity?

00:52:56.770 --> 00:52:59.540
Love children or destroy
the children?

00:53:02.700 --> 00:53:04.870
So the exciting time is now.

00:53:04.870 --> 00:53:07.190
This is a revolutionary
moment.

00:53:07.190 --> 00:53:09.930
And I think for us, this idea
that we can martial human

00:53:09.930 --> 00:53:12.975
creativity to this idea of
having an intention for our

00:53:12.975 --> 00:53:16.810
seventh generation that would be
as powerful as Jefferson's

00:53:16.810 --> 00:53:18.180
was for us.

00:53:18.180 --> 00:53:19.970
A Declaration of Interdependence
with each

00:53:19.970 --> 00:53:24.740
other and all species is what
that will allow all of our

00:53:24.740 --> 00:53:27.090
children and our children's
children's children's

00:53:27.090 --> 00:53:29.750
children's children's children's
children to

00:53:29.750 --> 00:53:33.520
celebrate life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness free

00:53:33.520 --> 00:53:38.410
from the remote tyranny that is
inter-generational, and us,

00:53:38.410 --> 00:53:39.780
and our bad design.

00:53:39.780 --> 00:53:40.680
Thank you.

00:53:40.680 --> 00:53:44.580
[APPLAUSE]

00:53:44.580 --> 00:55:02.087
[MUSIC PLAYING]