Can a Circular Economy Salvage the Climate?
b"Produce, consume, discard; we all know the routine. Raw materials are extracted, produced into goods, and used \\u2013 sometimes only once \\u2013 before turning into waste. And maybe we think that recycling that Starbucks cup or Smartwater bottle is the best we can do for the planet. But that\\u2019s the wrong way to think about it, says John Lanier of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation.\\n\\n\\n\\u201cRecycling is not the answer or the solution to advancing the circular economy,\\u201d Lanier asserts. It's an answer, but actually one of the weakest ones. It\\u2019s what we should do as a last result before we throw something in a landfill.\\u201d\\n\\n\\nLike his grandfather Ray Anderson, a pioneer in corporate sustainability, Lanier advocates for a mindset in which products are designed and manufactured with a focus on permanence, rather than disposability.\\n\\n\\n\\u201cIn this vision for the future we become owners of things\\u2026not consumers of them,\\u201d Lanier explains. \\u201cThat\\u2019s a big and radical shift.\\u201d\\n\\n\\nRethinking our manufacturing methods and energy resources is another key element, says Beth Rattner of the Biomimicry Institute. \\u201cWhen we start talking about pulling carbon out of the air, taking it from source emitters, pulling methane off of farms and creating new kinds of stuff, new kinds of plastic\\u2026that\\u2019s the recycling story we should be telling.\\u201d\\n\\n\\nFinding ways to imitate nature\\u2019s most efficient methods, such as structural color, is an exciting new development in product design.\\n\\n\\n\\u201cImagine if everything we made was functionally indistinguishable from nature,\\u201d Rattner says. \\u201cThat's the goal. \\n\\n\\n\\u201cBecause when you walk into a forest, that whole forest is working toward a single common good, which is the protection of the forest; that is its survival strategy.\\u201d \\n\\n\\nAnd as more and more corporations and consumers embrace the concept of a \\u201ccircular economy,\\u201d it may turn out to be ours as well.\\n\\n\\nGuests\\n\\nJohn Lanier, co-author, Mid-Course Correction Revisited: The Story and Legacy of a Radical Industrialist and his Quest for Authentic Change (Chelsea Green, 2019)\\n\\nBeth Rattner, executive director, Biomimicry Institute\\n\\nPeter Templeton, president and CEO, Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute\\n\\nMike Sangiacomo, president and CEO, Recology \\n\\n\\nRelated Links:\\n\\nRay C. Anderson Foundation\\n\\nBiomimicry Institute\\n\\nCradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute\\n\\nRecology\\n\\nNathaniel Stookey's Junkestra: A Symphony of Garbage | The Kennedy Center (Youtube)\\n\\nThe Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability (Paul Hawken)\\n\\n\\nThis program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on May 7, 2019\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices"