July 3rd, 2013

Paula Dallacqua:


In the Fall of 2012, Ashleigh wrote an article about William McDonough and Michael Braungart's book, Cradle to Cradle. Deemed as a visionary work, Cradle to Cradle challenges the "reduce, reuse, recycle" mantra of environmentalists and calls for a new approach to the way we design and manufacture products. In her review, Ashleigh writes,

"...the general intention is to show the reader, and hopefully to spread the philosophy, that we all can find more beneficial and more productive ways to meet our modern needs".


The Windward crew on our tri-weekly morning walk.

I recently finished reading The Upcycle, which is a follow-up work to Cradle to Cradle. In The Upcycle, McDonough and Braungart draw on lessons gained from 10 years of putting the Cradle to Cradle concept into practice and highlight routes to solutions with suggestions such as:

"...there are two ways to create a safe, healthy product: either deconstruct an existing one and replace the dangerous materials in it with the good ones, or start with a known list of positive materials and construct the product" (192).

Essentially, they reimagine the way businesses, governments, and people "do" sustainability: not only could we reuse resources, but we could also change the way we design and use everyday products in order to benefit the planet and help it grow.

Throughout the book, McDonough and Braungart stress several concepts that echo some of the main ideas Windward has about living in an intentional community.

For example, they talk about how design is the first signal of human intention, "When we redesign one product with intentionality, a whole world of other related products has the possibility of becoming safer, healthier, more effective" (191).

Over the past weekend at the Village Helix, we had a round-table discussion where we talked about the importance of intentionality while living in a small community. Walt sums up what it means to live intentionally with the old adage, "Say what you mean and mean what you say".


The Windward crew on our tri-weekly morning walk.

Although a seemingly straightforward idea, saying what you mean and meaning what you say is not a socially instilled practice.

Back home, I often find myself having conversations that seem to lack mutual involvement --it's as if it has become acceptable to be disengaged while speaking to another person. Unless a conversation is pre-determined as potentially advantageous, it rarely presents opportunity to forge connection.

In choosing to live intentionally, one chooses to live thoughtfully and to take responsibility for personal choices and actions.

Intentionality can be applied to large-scale choices, such as the ones McDonough and Braungart mentioned, or on a more intimate level, like with the daily interactions within one's community. Regardless of the scale, a bit of thoughtfulness can go a long way in creating long-lasting change.