Distinguished Lecture Series showcases green designer
SONIA TREVIZO
News Writer
Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: News
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McDonough's lecture consisted of economic and ecological facts and how they affect the way he designs.
The goal of The Next Industrial Revolution is a diverse, safe, healthy world with clean air, water, soil and power.
Right now there is six times more plastic as plankton in the Pacific Ocean, which can expedite climate change as well as water and air pollution.
McDonough suggested that humans have become tragic by design and we are not doing much to fix the problem.
"Being less bad is not being good. Slowing down is not going to help us," said McDonough. "Just slowing down isn't going to do much for a change. We need to do the right thing the right way."
McDonough emphasized that our world ecology is suffering in unpredictable magnitudes.
As the population grows - along with the need for more buildings, Hummers, production plants and extra large homes - the damage will just keep escalating.
Less than a third of the 104 chemicals used in manufacturing have been tested for the effects on human health.
One million people are moving into cities every week, urbanism is booming, and little is being done to control ecologic damage.
McDonough's proposal for this is to design buildings like trees and cities - like forests.
"I believe we can accomplish great and profitable things within a new conceptual framework - one that values our legacy, honors diversity and feeds ecosystems and societies. It is time for designs that are creative, abundant, prosperous and intelligent from the start," McDonough said.
His efforts have certainly not gone unnoticed. Time Magazine recognized him in 1999 as a "Hero for the Planet," stating that his utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that demonstrates practical ways to change the design of the world.
In 1996 he became the first and only individual to receive the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development, the nation's highest environmental honor. He has also earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award as a member of the EcoWorx development team for Shaw Industries.
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