Get rid of guilt management and start viewing sustainability and nature as an opportunity, business leaders were told at a design summit in Auckland last week.
Five of the world's leading experts in sustainable design spoke of vastly different personal, scientific and business experiences with sustainability at NZTE's Better by Design CEO Summit 08.Get rid of guilt management and start viewing sustainability and nature as an opportunity, business leaders were told at a design summit in Auckland last week.
Five of the world's leading experts in sustainable design spoke of vastly different personal, scientific and business experiences with sustainability at NZTE's Better by Design CEO Summit 08.Amongst the varied lessons were two broad themes: how vital it is to eliminate the guilt and negative language around sustainability and instead seize it as an opportunity; and how emulating the processes fine tuned and designed by Mother Nature over billions of years can lead to faster, better, more effective, more valuable products and services.
Michael Braungart, the summit's first keynote speaker, told the audience that the world's view of sustainability needs to be recreated before any benefits can be gained. Mr Braungart, named one of TIME magazine's top visionaries for 2007, says it is imperative to dispel both cynicism and the more moderate view of "eco-improving" products by replacing the "bad materials".
"People think they are protecting the environment if they destroy a little less," he says.
"But carbon footprints, etc - this is all guilt management.
"It's not about being free of 'bad' things, it's about how you make it. We need to reinvent everything."
Mr Braungart co-authored the business bible 'Cradle to Cradle', which became famous for rubbishing the traditional idea of product development as following "Cradle to Grave" and instead promoted the idea of one product leading onto or nurturing another. The process involves going back and fully redesigning today's products with sustainability in mind. In nature there is no concept of 'waste', only further nutrients. This "eco-effectiveness" is what creates opportunity, he says.
"It's a positive message; turn 20% less this into 20% more. We're leading towards 100% - not towards 0% impact or carbon neutral," he says.
Janine Benyus, founder of the Biomimicry Guild in the US and also named by TIME as a leader in 2007, similarly spoke of the efficiencies to be gained by emulating nature's processes.
The Biomimicry Institute focuses on functional questions, she says, and has helped dozens of companies improve their product's performance by looking at "how would nature do it?"
Examples included kelp shaped machinery collecting wave energy underwater; creating limestone and concretes using CO2 processes; using plant separation technologies to extract bad materials; and using nature's streamlined shapes as a design guide. In one case, shaping the bullet nose of a train like a bird's beak made the train run 15% quieter and 10% faster. Water propulsion technology based on spiral shells yielded 30-50% energy savings and was 75% quieter.
Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of global carpet manufacturer Interface Inc, talked about not only the environmental but financial benefits of "closing the loop".
One of his company's goals under a vision meant to be achieved by 2020 is eventually returning his carpet to the earth as food, he says. But the start of the journey for Interface has included transport and supply chain sustainability initiatives and redesigning 82 products using biomimicry techniques (such as replacing carpet glue with technology akin to how a gecko clings on upside down), which have netted the company more than US$372 million in savings so far.
Interface's journey is "not at the expense of nature," he says, "but at the expense of our inefficient competitor, who just doesn't get it.
"Green can be green - as in money. In my 52 years of business, I have never known a more powerful differentiator than sustainability."
Lee Weinstein, former director of Nike's US and Global Public Relations, explained how Nike, once the most hen picked company in the global media, was able to turn around its business model and reputation in the late 1990s by implementing a corporate responsibility platform including sustainable design.
"We're not good on defence," he says, "Once we got on the offence, things shifted greatly."
But the strategy only worked once senior management recognised it was not a PR issue, "but a management issue", to be championed by the company's chairman and founder.
Alex Steffen, founder and editor of Worldchanging.com, also spoke at the event's dinner about the opportunities of a green future, alongside Prime Minister Helen Clark.
The sell-out Better by Design CEO Summit also included presentations by the CEOs of New Zealand companies Icebreaker, Trilogy, Methven, B.E.E and Comvita, who spoke of using sustainable design principles to their advantage, and a presentation by branding expert Brian Richards.
The full presentations of each of the key note speakers will be made available on Better by Design's website during the coming weeks.
11/09/08