William McDonough, a featured speaker at the Sierra Summit this September, is a renowned architect and designer. His projects are aimed at promoting ecological intelligence, eliminating the concept of waste, and finding the “infinite game—the game we get to play forever.” This summer, McDonough talked with the Planet’s Timothy Lesle about his work.

Planet: Could you describe the “Next Industrial Revolution”?

McDonough: We’re approaching the issues that need to be dealt with on a planetary basis as a design problem. I work with an architectural practice and we design buildings that have been characterized as having led the green building movement. We did the first green office in America for Environmental Defense Fund in 1984. I built the first solar-heated house in Ireland myself, by hand, in 1976. We’ve just finished the world’s largest green roof at the new Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan. Right now, I’m designing seven new cities in China based on our philosophy. China has adopted our design approach as part of its national policy.

On the other hand, I work with a German chemist who represents the sciences. And we’ve delved down to the molecular level with the same protocols. So we now effectively look at design from the molecule to the country level, which brings us to a global approach.

Our approach can essentially be characterized as “cradle to cradle,” instead of “cradle to grave.” We characterize materials and energy as flows. For example, we characterize materials as either biological nutrients—they should return to soil, reinvigorate it, and provide a regenerative resource—or technical nutrients, materials that need to be coherently engaged with a technical metabolism. In other words, plastics that can become high-level plastics again, not be degraded into park benches on their way to landfills or incinerators.

We see energy as ultimately derived from renewable resources. Clearly, the use of fossil fuels is a great blessing to our species in many respects, but it’s far too valuable to burn and the deleterious effects of global warming are immensely damaging. We see carbon as an asset instead of as a liability. We’re looking at carbon fuel cells that allow us to strip hydrogen from coal and take the CO2 or CO and turn it into algae and make proteins and polymers in continuous carbon cycles, instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. We see renewable power as the primary energy source in the system, just like nature. And we see clean water as essential. We’ve done textile projects where the water coming out of the factory is cleaner than the water coming in.

Planet: What will designing seven Chinese cities entail?

McDonough: We’re laying out the whole cities and the transportation system, how they look, how they’re built, how their infrastructure works. For example, we’re proposing that sewage treatment plants be sold to the highest bidder as an asset instead of a liability—so that it’s a fertilizer factory that makes methane. Instead of a cost for the city, it becomes a revenue producer. We just turn everything on its head.

Planet: Will this project set an example for other developing countries, or are they bound to repeat our mistakes of industrialization?

McDonough: I think it’s inevitable that the first industrial revolution in the developed world will transfer across simply by dint of its momentum. And people in the developing world are very attracted to the quality of life that is enjoyed by industrialized nations.

There’s a recent statement by the president of China calling for resource-effectiveness and a circular economy with materials in virtuous cycles, which is how cradle-to-cradle translates in Chinese. In a sense it’s similar to the cell phone in the developing world. In China, they leaped over wired telephonics. And I think in the environmental space they will leap into the next phase more quickly than the industrialized world because they can avoid all the pitfalls.

Planet: We tend to look at the cheapest and easiest way to do things, and when people look at design proposals that are not the status quo, they’re often dismissed as too expensive.

McDonough: Often that’s a very key element for success. For example, with the Rouge project we did for Ford Motors, we saved them millions of dollars using ecological design instead of conventional engineering. In one model, we saved them $35 million on the first day, in effect, in first costs. And with the Ford Taurus at a four percent margin, it’s the equivalent of an order for $900 million worth of cars. So the economics were uncontestable. What it required was the creative imagination of Bill Ford and his leadership, and then the creative imagination of the team that was assembled to break the boundaries of conventional thinking. As Einstein said, no problem can be solved by the same consciousness that created it. So it does require a fundamental shift in thinking, a willingness to experiment, make mistakes as quickly as possible, correct them, and move on.

Planet: You said that in this country the public is one of the big drivers in adopting the design changes like those you work on. What do you think citizens or consumers can do to move that forward?

McDonough: The issue around consumers is that in many cases, consumers don’t consume anything. You can only consume food and the occasional shirt that can rot. Most products are what we call products of service; you want the service, but most of it’s packaging, and you can’t consume that. It goes to landfills or incinerators.

What consumers and customers could do is close the loops. If customers of cars and computers sent messages to companies and said, “We want safe, healthy things in closed cycles,” things will start to change dramatically, no question. It’s the kind of thing where you can support companies that are making these changes with your business. That’s probably the most powerful message available, in a general sense.

Planet: I read that there is a cradle-to-cradle seal.

McDonough: Yeah, we’re about to certify products to be cradle-to-cradle. The first things we’ll see are various lines of furniture, since that’s the world I come from. A carpet collection that I designed will be in that category. Textiles. Wall systems for buildings. Running track. Packaging. We’re going to do a car. We’re going to be doing a bread company: there are food product companies that want cradle-to-cradle packaging to go with their food.

Planet: Any advice for homeowners who want to improve their homes to fit in with your design scheme?

McDonough: The first thing to do is to plant some trees to put shade in the right places. Plant trees on the northwest side if you’re in places that have northern winds and are cold. What in the old days was characterized as “farmer-dumb,” the obvious things to do that any farmer knew.

There are things that everybody used to know, since ancient times, which are to engage the sun in the winter and disengage with it in the summer. A house can very easily adopt these things with awnings and shade structures. I would look very hard in most climates at solar-thermal collectors. We found in a study we did for the military that solar-thermal collectors have very short paybacks in most jurisdictions over conventional energy use— two to three years.

I think it’s very important for houses not to get uglied up, so we often recommend that people put their solar collectors on a place that needs shade, like a gazebo. What is solar collection but the absence of sun?

And composting is a really important idea. It’s a good chore for the kids.

Planet: If you had the opportunity to drill a few principles into a young architect or designer’s brain, what would they be?

McDonough: Celebrate diversity. Waste equals food. And use current solar income.

Those are three fundamental things. Set the goal as being relatively simple. Our goals start with a tone poem, which is that we love all the children of all species for all time. And we think that there is no end game. What we’re looking for is the infinite game—the game we get to play forever.

Our technological goal is quite simple. We seek a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy, and just world; with clean air, soil, water, and power; economically, equitably, ecologically, and elegantly enjoyed. Period. Now, what part don’t you like?

So just put those things in front of you when you’re working, and stick with it. And be persistent, be principled, and make sure you’re having a really good time. I think Joseph Campbell gave us the best advice, which is “Follow your bliss.”