The Monticello Dialogues – Part 6 – Cradle to Cradle; Going Green with William McDonough & Steve Bradfield

Product Description

When talking about the future of the environment, choosing between what is bad and less bad isn’t good enough, according to Bill McDonough, who with his partner, chemist Michael Braungart, are championing “the next industrial revolution.”  He speaks of his work with Ford, China, Green/Blue, Louis Mumford and more. For anyone concerned about our ecological future, this dialogue serves as a positive tonic. Includes special guest Steve Bradfield of Shaw Industries, the largest carpet company in the world, which has adopted “cradle to cradle.”

William McDonough is former Dean of the Architecture Department at the University of Virginia, Time magazine named McDonough a “Hero for the Planet” in 1999, and he is the winner of three U.S. presidential awards including the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development.  He is the author with his partner, Michael Braungart, of the book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (Farrar, Straus and Geroux 2002). Steve Bradfield is Director of Corporate Environmental Affairs at Shaw Industries, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer. Shaw Industries is 2003 recipient of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for their innovation in material. It has adopted the “cradle to cradle” concept for their carpets.

Topics Explored in this Dialogue:

• What can you do to create a sustaining lifestyle
• How can GreenBlue make a positive difference in your life
• How Shaw Industries’ decision to adopt “cradle to cradle” transforms the entire carpet industry worldwide
• Why is China’s interest in “cradle to cradle” so exciting for the rest of the world
• How is it that migrating birds are now landing on the roof of Ford’s Rouge River assembly plant for the first time in a century

Interview Date: 5/2/2003 Host: Michael Toms Program Number: 2988