Meet William McDonough, Architect
William McDonough received the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development in 1996, the highest environmental award given in the U.S. He was born in Tokyo, and raised in Hong Kong and attended 19 schools in different countries before college. His exposure to different cultures influenced his thinking about architecture and the future he wants for his children.
TFK:
How did your experiences living in different countries influence your work as an architect?
McDonough:
It made me very sympathetic to lots of points of view. I saw people who had very little - food, water and homes, and people who had a world of abundance. I realized that we could all enjoy the same things if we learned to design things that were smart and if we learned how to share.
TFK:
Explain the concept of zero waste. What motivated you to explore this idea?
McDonough:
When I was a little child in Tokyo, I would hear the carts at night, taking all of our sewage to the farm fields. They called it night soil. The carts were called honey wagons. They would take all the sewage out to the farmers, and then in the morning we would have carts come in with vegetables and tofu and things like that. So at night out went the waste, and in the morning in came the food.
Some things go back to the soil safely, like food and cotton t-shirts. Other things that come from industry go back to industry, like computers, or a PlayStation, to become new products without being thrown away into a garbage dump, or burned up in an incinerator. I had this feeling about things going back to nature when I was a very small child, but the idea of big industrial things came about when I met Dr. Michael Braungart, a chemist.
TFK:
You wrote a book with Dr. Braungart, called Cradle to Cradle. In the book, you talk about not just recycling, but upcycling. Explain the difference.
McDonough:
Many things that we send to be recycled actually get all mixed up with other things and become lower quality products. We call that downcycling, because the quality of the materials is going down--like a soda bottle becoming a speed bump, or park bench or flower pot. If it is recycled, soda bottles become soda bottles. That would be good. But even better, would be upcycling a product, making it better when you recycle it, taking out anything that's dangerous. There are heavy metals in water bottles, and we can take that out when we recycle them. That's upcycling.
TFK:
A few companies have started to think about how their products could be less wasteful. Do you think this idea is finally catching on?
McDonough:
Oh, I think it's catching on all over, mainly to kids. Kids come home and tell parents they want safe, healthy things that can be recycled. And this makes the people who make things wake up and be aware that their customers of the future want to see the world this way.
TFK:
Describe the ideal future, in which there is zero waste.
McDonough:
Imagine you go to school in the morning, you take your lunch or lunchbox, you eat your sandwich, and carrots, and apples, and then you can take the bag and put it in the composter with all the other food scraps and it becomes soil. And when you get too old to have a lunchbox, you either save it to remember what it was like to take a lunchbox to school, or you give it to your children, or you can send it back to the lunchbox company and they can make it into new lunchboxes, so nothing gets thrown away. Everything is valuable, and everybody is valuable too.
TFK:
Even your book is printed differently. What is the material and how is it a better choice than paper made from wood?
McDonough:
There's a lot of plastic in the world and a lot of plastic waste, but we start using that waste for all sorts of new things like books. Regular paper is often made from trees, but if we stop and think about it, trees make oxygen, which we breathe, absorb carbon dioxide, which is causing global warming. They can collect solar energy, provide habitats for thousands of species and change colors with the seasons. Why would you take something that amazing and cut it down to make a piece of paper?
TFK:
You've called this idea the next Industrial Revolution.
McDonough:
The first Industrial Revolution was powered by coal, and oil, and by burning things. And we would take things from the ground and make things out of them and throw them away, while we pollute all the water. This is bad design. So in the next Industrial Revolution, we would power by the sun, and make things that are safe for soil and people, with materials that we use over and over again. And the water will be clean. And we'll be able to drink it without getting sick.
TFK:
You are involved in an enormous project in China. Briefly explain what it is, what challenges there are, and why it's an important project.
McDonough:
I've been asked to help design new cities in China, where 400 million people will need new housing in the next 12 years. We need to make sure they're safe and healthy and that their water is clean, they have good food, and they don't destroy the planet when they build all these houses and power them. And we have to make sure that we, here in the United States, do the same thing. We all have to do this together.
TFK:
Anything you'd like to design that you haven't already?
McDonough:
I'd like to design a car. All the materials in contact with the dirt would be safe for the dirt- like the tires, things that wear out. All the rest of it would be stuff that can go back into new cars after 5 years. So when you finish with the car and you want a new one that's solar powered, maybe safer and gets better mileage, you can trade it in your old one and get a new one that's better. The new ones are made from the old ones, and everything gets better faster.
TFK:
What would you say are the most important subjects for kids in school?
McDonough:
Until you get older, it's good to explore all the different subjects. If you want to be an architect, you need to study lots of things. You have to learn mathematics, art, science, philosophy. You need everything to help you work.
Angelique LeDoux
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