Cradle to Cradle and a talk by Ray Anderson (Anderson School of Management)

Hi everyone!!! Happy Winter!

I am in the LinkedIn Group of Green Design Pros. There are always some interesting ideas posted. Today, Kevin O'Donnell posted a summary of his Green Design class at UCLA. The summary is viewable at
http://threadcollaborative.com/threadpost/2010/01/uclax-class-3/

The first half of the class is about the makeup of the book Cradle to Cradle which the students diss. I actually think it's cool that the book is so durable that I can carry it everywhere and not worry about it getting too messed up. Also, it's supposedly cradle to cradle in itself. The making of it and the polymers it is made of can be separated and all used again. The students dissed that the authors didn't explain HOW and what polymers were used. I say - if you're that interested, write them and I bet they'll tell you. As it is, the book is too long and cumbersome/rambling.

The second half of the class is about a talk given by Ray Anderson and how we should go about leaving a smaller carbon footprint. Supposedly, his company is following their own advice which I will look into further to see how.

One thing I thought was interesting about the talk was that technology keeps growing and making it harder to be green and leave a smaller footprint. The desire for affluence is making technology grow without concern for the environment. The desire for affluence is based on the fact that people think it creates happiness. Mr. Anderson suggests we need to alter this view and show that affluence in and of itself does not create happiness. My thought is - how do you change that perception? We all think it. We all need money to get what we want and need. And the more you have, the less you have to worry. Or do you think that you have to worry about different things once you have more money? Like how to manage it. How not to lose it.

Thoughts?