From Crib to Case to Covers

Every year students move in and out of their houses at the end of December and May. What does not move around with them is the extra baggage that out of style clothes and fabrics cause. I’m speaking from personal experience- when it’s time to move out, its time to move out. The last thing I am worried about is a shirt I bought last summer that doesn’t fit anymore due to my outdated dryers that bake clothes rather than dry them. This is where the Concept of Cradle to Cradle comes into play, and something I believe would be extremely sustainable. In cradle to cradle, waste or outdated products have a second life. In this second life, they are used as a resource. Sounds crazy I know, but my baked T-shirts can be reincarnated. I’ll explain in a second. Unlike recycling, where products are separated for specific components and made less valuable. In my idea, the uptaking takes the stage over recycling. On the podium, my idea creates waste into something MORE valuable. One significant difference is that not only will my crispy tshirts turn an out of style college freshman into Miss OSU, but it also please the ones who enjoy making frequent visits to coffee shops with their friend Macbook. Now to the idea.

Starting with me, I will begin collecting old clothes and use them as a “technical nutrient” which will allow the out of style college girls to have a trendy iphone case that is made from this fabric. This is one of the two concepts that are pertinent in Cradle to Cradle. Don’t worry I wasn’t trying to offend anyone who enjoys going to starbucks, because I am a coffee addict and own a macbook. Consider me a hypocrite, but spare me. The phone cases can be useful in many ways, but with my idea they can useful to the environment by promoting healthier and more beautiful gardens. The fabrics from the iphone cases have many uses to the environment- solely promoting biological process- not deterring. Holding in moisture, protecting from erosion, and protecting plants from chemicals that may enter the soil without this covering.

Lastly, I found an interesting excerpt from the article. “Whatever our society makes does not go away, and whatever is natural here, does not go away.” In saying, why should we not allow these things to provide the out of style girls with a dream guy? Cliché I know, but if the guys have are worth anything at all, they have a sense of style, and Iphones can make or break some girls. You don’t want your phone breaking on a night out with the girls, and you also don’t want to your phone to look like all the other ones, might as well make it cute. 

From Crib to Case to Covers

Every year students move in and out of their houses at the end of December and May. What does not move around with them is the extra baggage that out of style clothes and fabrics cause. I’m speaking from personal experience- when it’s time to move out, its time to move out. The last thing I am worried about is a shirt I bought last summer that doesn’t fit anymore due to my outdated dryers that bake clothes rather than dry them. This is where the Concept of Cradle to Cradle comes into play, and something I believe would be extremely sustainable. In cradle to cradle, waste or outdated products have a second life. In this second life, they are used as a resource. Sounds crazy I know, but my baked T-shirts can be reincarnated. I’ll explain in a second. Unlike recycling, where products are separated for specific components and made less valuable. In my idea, the uptaking takes the stage over recycling. On the podium, my idea creates waste into something MORE valuable. One significant difference is that not only will my crispy tshirts turn an out of style college freshman into Miss OSU, but it also please the ones who enjoy making frequent visits to coffee shops with their friend Macbook. Now to the idea.

Starting with me, I will begin collecting old clothes and use them as a “technical nutrient” which will allow the out of style college girls to have a trendy iphone case that is made from this fabric. This is one of the two concepts that are pertinent in Cradle to Cradle. Don’t worry I wasn’t trying to offend anyone who enjoys going to starbucks, because I am a coffee addict and own a macbook. Consider me a hypocrite, but spare me. The phone cases can be useful in many ways, but with my idea they can useful to the environment by promoting healthier and more beautiful gardens. The fabrics from the iphone cases have many uses to the environment- solely promoting biological process- not deterring. Holding in moisture, protecting from erosion, and protecting plants from chemicals that may enter the soil without this covering.

Lastly, I found an interesting excerpt from the article. “Whatever our society makes does not go away, and whatever is natural here, does not go away.” In saying, why should we not allow these things to provide the out of style girls with a dream guy? Cliché I know, but if the guys have are worth anything at all, they have a sense of style, and Iphones can make or break some girls. You don’t want your phone breaking on a night out with the girls, and you also don’t want to your phone to look like all the other ones, might as well make it cute. 

Return the Favor

Today our world is beautiful, but what is to come of it in the possible near future? When you walk outside your front door you see the green grass, the beautiful trees and flowers, and breathe in the fresh air.  This is something we all take for granted every day. If we continue to live the way we do our environment will end up in a crisis. We must teach our population today to change their ways.  Big changes must be made and we must change the way our society thinks.

I think that in order to do this we must first educate people and secondly make sustainability easy for them. In the article, Closing the Loops in Commerce, Janine Benyus describes different principles of ecology and describes how each one relates to our world today.  In my opinion, every one of her principles made great points.  However, there were a two principles that I really liked and supported my concept of educating and making sustainability easy.

The first principle I strongly agreed with was using our waste as a resource.  As we know by now solid waste is a big problem in our world today.  This can be minimized if we find other ways to use our so called "waste".  Just because you do not use or wear old clothing does not mean that it could not be used by someone else or in some other way, shape, or form.  In order to make recycling easy for people I think we need to set up a system just like our trash system.  What if we had a container just for recycled clothing that got picked up every other week or even once a month.  This would require almost nothing from people.  It is as easy as taking out your trash. The "waste" could be taken to the appropriate locations to be recycled. It could be used by others or broken down to make other things.

The other principle I really like was optimize rather than maximize. Although, the assembly-line and mass producing has made things very easy for manufacturers I do not think it has had a positive impact on the environment. When products are mass produced they do not have the same quality as when they are hand made.  Most mass produced products are cheap and do not last as long as hand made products.  This means they are trashed and new ones are bought.  This is a continuous cycle that leads to lots of solid waste.  If we educate our consumers to buy less of the more expensive high quality products than in the end we will have less waste.

If we use these principles to educate our society and teach them how easy these simple things are to change our healthy environment will last much longer.