William McDonough, author of Cradle
to Cradle, spoke at the ‘Bridges in Light’ Symposium about a concept
that is new to your editor called sustainable design. His talk had
the audience riled up. As he spoke, my blood pressure skyrocketed. He asked
challenging questions which were quite offensive.
“Why do you put
mercury in our landfills?” Excuse me!
“Why do you cause
cancer for future generations by contaminating landfills with mercury.” Who is this guy and what planet is he from?
“Why do you
terrorize future generations?”
“Why do you do
this?”
“If we help light
up an aircraft carrier, are we efficient Nazis? Is an efficient Nazi a good
thing?”
These are fighting words to your editor, and I briefly considered rushing
the stage and punching this dude’s lights out before he finished. The
audience squirmed, clearly uncomfortable. Henny
shifted in his seat. Zia didn’t move. Mark Rea walked around the room with
his usual poker face. Did they know that McDonough would imply we were terrorist? McDonough goes on, “Why do you do this?” He
pauses for dramatic affect. “Why?”
However, as he continued to challenge us about mercury, I begin thinking
about Julia Roberts and birth defects caused by heavy metals. I thought
about mercury contamination in well water. As a kid, I used to drink well
water. What if the industry did get serious about recycling lamps and
ballasts? Better yet, what if we developed mercury-free lamps. One lamp
company already has mercury-free HPS. LED’s have no mercury. Is it possible
that we could have a mercury free industry in 20 years? The speaker made me
think. He transformed the audience from a mob ready to lynch him to a group
ready to discuss new ideas.
Mr. McDonough showed a picture of a Nike shoe, made with biodegradable
materials; a rooftop where vegetation replaced asphalt; and a parking lot
that allowed water to drip through the material rather than running off. He
ended by stating, “Only you can transform the industry. Just do it.”
The speech reminded me of a talk that Dr. David Crawford gave many years
ago at an IESNA meeting about the importance of Dark Skies. I originally,
and incorrectly, felt that Crawford, like McDonough, was a threat to our
industry and briefly contemplated knocking his lights out, too. However, as
I listened more intently to Crawford, he began to make sense. For the most
part, our industry has embraced the Dark Sky concept (and we made good money
doing this.) Maybe sustainable design will have the same results and
opportunities.