Environmental Ethics Economics vs Morality
Holly Mangina
Cradle to Cradle Reflection The cradle to cradle idea is a view where things are designed without the concept of waste, which are eco-effective and consider the whole. The whole is the economy, the environment, culture, and humans. Instead of trying to conquer the environment we should be working with it. Thoughtful design and innovation of a new infrastructure that doesn 't just reduce harm, but eliminates it. Our industry is designed and based on economic value that relies on the environment for natural capital. We use valuable resources to design products to be thrown away. All of the value spent extracting the material and the cost of production are all now wasted. Even biodegradable waste is unable to decompose because it is sitting in a landfill (McDonough and Braungart 27). Not only are products designed to be wasted, but they are made out harmful chemicals and substances that effect both humans and the environment. It took until the 1990s, after many warnings, for the industry to realize the effect it has on the environment. The new strategy for industry was eco-efficiency. The idea was to transform the industry by integrating economic, environmental, and ethical values in its operations. The idea appealed to many businesses because of its economic benefits. As part of their plans to become eco-efficient they start the use of the 4R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle, and regulate (McDonough and Braungart 53). Many of our conventional environmental views are based on this flawed concept. Reducing the use of resources does not stop depletion it only prolongs its destruction. Reusing materials can often be harmful to the environment. Practices such as using sludge from sewer waste as fertilizer is extremely harmful for plants because of the high level of phosphates. Recycling or down-cycling is the reduction of the quality of material overtime (McDonough and Braungart 53). The amount of energy and waste produced from remaking materials is often
Cradle to Cradle Reflection The cradle to cradle idea is a view where things are designed without the concept of waste, which are eco-effective and consider the whole. The whole is the economy, the environment, culture, and humans. Instead of trying to conquer the environment we should be working with it. Thoughtful design and innovation of a new infrastructure that doesn 't just reduce harm, but eliminates it. Our industry is designed and based on economic value that relies on the environment for natural capital. We use valuable resources to design products to be thrown away. All of the value spent extracting the material and the cost of production are all now wasted. Even biodegradable waste is unable to decompose because it is sitting in a landfill (McDonough and Braungart 27). Not only are products designed to be wasted, but they are made out harmful chemicals and substances that effect both humans and the environment. It took until the 1990s, after many warnings, for the industry to realize the effect it has on the environment. The new strategy for industry was eco-efficiency. The idea was to transform the industry by integrating economic, environmental, and ethical values in its operations. The idea appealed to many businesses because of its economic benefits. As part of their plans to become eco-efficient they start the use of the 4R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle, and regulate (McDonough and Braungart 53). Many of our conventional environmental views are based on this flawed concept. Reducing the use of resources does not stop depletion it only prolongs its destruction. Reusing materials can often be harmful to the environment. Practices such as using sludge from sewer waste as fertilizer is extremely harmful for plants because of the high level of phosphates. Recycling or down-cycling is the reduction of the quality of material overtime (McDonough and Braungart 53). The amount of energy and waste produced from remaking materials is often
Cited: McDonough, William and Michael Braungart. Cradle to Cradle. New York: North Point Press, 2002. Print.