“Modern culture appears to have adopted a strategy of tragedy. If we come here and say, I didn't intend to cause global warning, it's not part of my plan, then we realize it's part of our defacto plan because it's the thing that's happening because we have no other plan.” IfsCultureCausesRealizingPlansModernHappeningsTragedyStrategyWarningAdoptedModern Culture Author:William McDonough
“If you don't have an end game of something delightful, you're just moving chess pieces around.” IfsEndsMovingGamesPiecesChessDelightfulChess Pieces Author:William McDonough
“It would be nice if all that exuberance and abundance was connected to a deep ethos of planetary responsibility.” IfsWould BeResponsibilityNiceConnectedAbundanceBeing NiceEthosExuberance Author:William McDonough
“If you don't like carbon, if you want to be zero carbon, then you might as well shoot yourself, dry up and blow away because you are carbon.” IfsWantWellsMightBlowDryZeroCarbonDry Up Author:William McDonough
“If anybody here has trouble with the concept of design humility, reflect on this: It took us 5,000 years to put wheels on our luggage.” IfsYearsInspirationMotivationProgressTroubleDesignHumilityConceptsInventionWheelsReflectingLuggage Author:William McDonough
“We see a world of abundance, not limits. In the midst of a great deal of talk about reducing the human ecological footprint, we offer a different vision. What if humans designed products and systems that celebrate an abundance of human creativity, culture, and productivity? That are so intelligent and safe, our species leaves an ecological footprint to delight in, not lament?” IfsWorldHumansDifferentCultureDealsVisionCreativityProductsOffersSafeLimitsIntelligentSpeciesDelightProductivityCelebrateAbundanceMidstWhat IfReducingEcologicalFootprintLamentEcological Footprints Author:William McDonough
“I can't imagine something being beautiful at this point in history if it's destroying the planet or causing children to get sick. How can anything be beautiful if it's not ecologically intelligent at this point?” IfsChildrenI CanBeautifulImaginePlanetsSickIntelligentDestroyingBeing Beautiful Author:William McDonough
“If we think about things having multiple lives, cradle to cradle, we could design things that can go back to either nature or back to industry forever.” IfsThinkingForeverDesignIndustryMultipleCradle Author:William McDonough
“Recycling is more expensive for communities than it needs to be, partly because traditional recycling tries to force materials into more lifetimes than they are designed for - a complicated and messy conversion, and one that itself expends energy and resources. Very few objects of modern consumption were designed with recycling in mind. If the process is truly to save money and materials, products must be designed from the very beginning to be recycled or even "upcycled" - a term we use to describe the return to industrial systems of materials with improved, rather than degraded, quality.” IfsNeedsTryingMindUseEnergyForceProcessTermCommunityQualityModernObjectsMaterialsProductsReturnResourcesLifetimeComplicatedConversionTraditionalExpensiveConsumptionMessySaving MoneyRecyclingRecycledReuse Author:William McDonough
