Waste = Food
Man is the only creature that produces landfills. Natural resources are being depleted on a rapid scale while production and consumption are rising in nations like China and India. The waste production world wide is enormous and if we do not do anything we will soon have turned all our resources into one big messy landfill.
But there is hope. The German chemist, Michael Braungart, and the American designer-architect William McDonough are fundamentally changing the way we produce and build. If waste would become food for the biosphere or the technosphere (all the technical products we make), production and consumption could become beneficial for the planet.
A design and production concept that they call Cradle to Cradle. A concept that is seen as the next industrial revolution. Design every product in such a way that at the end of its lifecycle the component materials become a new resource. Design buildings in such a way that they produce energy and become a friend to the environment.
Large companies like Ford and Nike are working with McDonough and Braungart to change their production facilities and their products. They realize that economically seen waste is destruction of capital. You make something with no value. Based on their ideas the Chinese government is working towards a circular economy where Waste = Food. An amazing story that will definitely change your way of thinking about production and consumption.
This film is on Youtube as "Waste is food - VPRO documentary - 2007
This documentary won the Silver Dragon at the Beijing International Science Film Festival 2006.
Originally broadcasted by VPRO in 2007.
© VPRO Backlight June 2007
The date posted on topdocumentary says 2010.
Don't blame china or India for this. more dangerous waste is produced by developed nations.
whats the currently status since this video is now 4yrs old.
Thank you ...I did not know. Someday all of humanity will understand this need.
papercrete blocks (with plastic bottle in centre) for building filler walls - insulating, recyclable, and uses waste paper
All we need to do is live at one with nature, wake up to the fact that we are only a small part of this natural system. Why don't we form proper communities. Why do we all need computers, tv's, washing machines, cars, etc. These could easily work in a communal way. We're so disintegrated, but that was by human design, by the ruling system which still manipulates, alienates. If we had proper sense of community we wouldn't need so much, we wouldn't need silly jobs like insurance sales, etc. We'd be more localized. Every street should be as self sustaining as possible, and it is a very real possibility. We've got to take our focus off maintaining a system which can't ever work, and change to one which will work.
we need computers to write comments about sustainability videos while we save up to buy a bigger flat screen tv.
sounds like all sides were considered,,,that was the missing peice coming from so called progresives
man is the only creature that produces landfills. a striking revelation.
concepts that their discussing are very clear however it seems two need to create some new words to communicate these concepts and ideas.
When i heard the idea of using material that could be completely absorbed by the soil once the lifetime of the material is over ,i was sold to the idea that WASTE IS FOOD.That is an amazing idea.Nature finaly made us understand what we needed to understand.
What an amazing idea. If only more corporations would do thing's to sustain the planet and humanity instead of causing more harm and deaths. We need to get CEO's attention and to listen to the people and the troubles our planet faces. The political, war, banking and profiting corruption has to stop. We can't sustain a future if we continue the way we are. Too many people are sick and dying and starving for no reason. Humanity is coming at an end.
This, Affluenza and Escape from Affluenza are definitely must watch documentaries on the topic of the bad side effects of over-consuming.
I always felt that the consumer society I grew up in was wrong.. it damages everything. It destroys the environment, destroys families and communities, destroys nations and most of all destroys the true self. It robs childhood (Watch Consuming Kids for more info.), robs of ones true identity, robs the uniqueness of ones true culture, robs of ones health, robs of ones life...etc. How I feel about it now is worse... because now it is more like a super consuming society and it disgusts me. It leaves a nasty, stinging taste in ones mouth as if one just purged out a week old sandwich that was left out of the bag to rot in the kitchen cabinets. Really gross...I know, but that's how I feel about these so-called advanced civilizations/nations... second and third world nations aren't too far behind since they want to copy the first world example...*shakes head* an awful continuous cycle of waste and death of everything. Makes me want to punch humanity in the face and tell it to stop repeating stupid mistakes... to finally evolve and become the true stewards (guardians) of the world that they're meant to be. Being a dominate species means taking responsibilities for that dominance and to look after ones world... our species depends on being good protectors of everything around us.
what if we don't want to be consumers anymore? what if we don't want to buy our way onto this planet...this documentary only wishes to maintain the current capitalist system
the capitalist system already has so much momentum, that they are working with what they have. look at their impact! it's large scale. of course, growing your own food is great. do it! like the video says, economics is a part of sustainability, and it would take a heck of a lot of people that disagree to change it.
also i think they're working with a different part of the system. namely, if you want people to stop buying stuff, delete the media and everything else that people learn from, from birth, that teaches consumption.
ants also create their on landfills....those bastards
Yeah, this is great, but they aren´t looking at the greater cusaes of the waste. Our economy is based on oil, and plastics are dervied from that oil. They will need to take on giant organizations, (so big they control the US Army) and convince them. the competition between companies also is a driving factor as they need the cheapest materials to produce the cheapest products, frankly becusae consumers need it, they become poorer and poorer all the time due to the inflationary cycle, derived from the interest charged by banks.
look at documentaries such as ´who killed the electric car´, Zietgiest, and addicted to plastic.
I don´t like the using leather for shoes and clothes, because that is enslaving life, and torturing it while you do, just for it´s skin. Will defintly buy a ford though.
Great documentary, but what they suggest should be the core focus of organizations, but it doesnñt solve the enslavement we are living.
Why does that guy keep saying, yeah after every phrase. Yeah. It's a little bit odd to see. Yeah. Turning me off from wanting to watch the whole thing. Yeah.
@Healer
well said.
Unfortunately it is us the consumer who controls production. They have us so blinded with celebrity fiascos, TV shows, Sports, Smart Phones, etc to even know that we can make a change in the world/environment if we all just STOP buying the things that pollute it. No business man will build something he knows no one is going to buy. But they have us so separated by every social class possible (black, white, skater, rocker, punk, gay, lesbian, muslim, christian...you name it) that we have almost no hope of banding together like they did to free India from British rule, or like we did for Women's rights/Civil Rights.
I hope we wake up soon and come together before we let big Biz ruin the Earth.
Having a governing system like China does can be a real pain in the ass for it's citizens. But, if it enforces good things like these, I can say it's better than our western ones where you let people keep polluting. I strongly feel that once this technology becomes available to the public, it should be enforced for at least the biggest cities and the biggest industries like automobiles, electronics, plastic containers and so forth. If you do not enforce it, big companies will keep doing things in the old way as long as it fits their wallets better in any possible way.
Best doc on a true "green" lifestyle. Not just recycling, but living the way nature intended. Another welcome addition to this information is permaculture. Put Cradle to Cradle and Permaculture ideas together and you'll have a self sufficient, environmentally friendly, and nourishing life. Not only safe and friendly to people and people's view of "the environment" but friendly to animals, bugs, plants etc. Excellent doc. Thanks again Vlatko!
thie is really one for the MUST WATCH LIST , for me the last few minutes when they talk about creating a world where the peasant farmer will NOT wnat to move to the bright lights of acity like a mothe to a FLAME .... needs to be re-seen atleast twice to grasp the things being said thru out .
enjoyed the the RE WATCHING more than the 1st