Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

Anyone who considers themselves green in any way should read this book. In fact, everyone should read this book. It’s a much needed paradigm shift from eco-friendliness to eco-EFFECTIVENESS.

The back of the book explains it best.

“Reduce, reuse, recycle,” urge environmentalists; in other words, do more with less in order to minimize damage. But as architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart point out in this provocative, visionary book, such an
approach only perpetuates the one-way, “cradle to grave” manufacturing model,
dating to the Industrial Revolution, that creates such fantastic amounts of
waste and pollution in the first place. Why not challenge the belief that human industry must damage the natural world? In fact, why not take nature itself as our model for making things? A tree produces thousands of blossoms in order to create another tree, yet we consider its abundance no wasteful but safe, beautiful, and highly effective.

Waste equals food.

Guided by this principle, McDonough and Braungart explain how products can be designed from the outset so that after their useful lives, they will provide nourishment for something new. They can be conceived as “biological nutrients” that will easily reenter the water or soil without depositing synthetic materials and toxins. Or they can be “technical nutrients” that will continually circulate as pure and valuable materials within closed-loop industrial cycles, rather than being “recycled”—really, downcycled—into low-grade materials and uses. Drawing on their experience in (re)designing everything from carpeting to corporate campuses, McDonough and Braungart make an exciting and viable case for putting eco-effectiveness into practice and show how anyone involved in making anything can begin to do so as well.

Posted by: Wanda Shapiro

Guidance Green Pictures

Coastal Cleanup Day with Heal The Bay
September 20th, 2008

Tree Care Event with Tree Musketeers
July 19th, 2008

Guidance Green Picnic
July 11th, 2008

iPhone Applications for the Environmentally Friendly

If you own an iPhone, you are probably as addicted to their AppStore as I’ve been over the last couple of months. From silly (yet shockingly addictive) mobile games to restaurant-finder apps, there are over 4,900 applications to choose from (and counting!). There’s really something for everyone at the AppStore. Even for those who care about the environment, like the members of Guidance Green. Check these out:

Local Reuse
Did you know the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that in 2008 Americans will send over 12.5 million tons of reusable items to their local landfills? You can help reduce that number by listing your items on Local Reuse, an iPhone application that lets users post and search for used goods in their area.

Green Tips and Go Green
So many eco-friendly tips, so little time to learn them … so why don’t you learn them on the go?! With Green Tips and Go Green, you’ll get a brand new eco-friendly tip every time you launch the application. They are both fairly similar, but each will give you a different tip. Double the tips, double the fun!

Enjoy the apps!

Alejandra Espinosa
Guidance Green

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Local Reuse™ is a registered trademark of Gigoit, Inc.
Green Tips is a copyrighted work of MacAppetite.
Go Green is a copyrighted work of Webworks and Applications, Inc.

California Coastal Cleanup Day

September 20th, 2008
9am to noon
Over 70 coastal sites throughout
Los Angeles County, Calif.

For the 18th consecutive year, Heal The Bay, a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to making Southern California coastal waters and watersheds healthy and clean, has organized the Coastal Cleanup Day. This year's event will take place at over 70 different locations throughout Los Angeles County on Saturday, September 20th from 9am to noon.

As expected, Guidance Green will be there to help collect what Heal The Bay predict as the 1-millionth pound of trash they have collected in 18 years. The Guidance Green team will report at Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey, CA.

If you'd like to join us, here's how:

• Download and print a copy of the Coastal Cleanup Day flyer to display on your car dashboard to benefit from the free parking from 9 to noon.
• Download and print the event's waiver and sign it. Bring it to the event with you.
• When you arrive at Dockweiler State Beach (or any of the 70 CCD-participating sites), turn in your waiver at the registration table or station #1.
• Proceed to station #2 to receive a safety and education talk with instructions for the day and to know where to clean, what to clean, and why.
• Once you are instructed you'll be ready to receive your cleanup supplies (trash bag, recycle bag, data card, pencil, and glove) from station #3.
• Please return everything at the wrap up of the event at 11:30am. Each site will have special instructions to follow day of, so pay attention to your cleanup captains.

Please note:

• All minors under the age of thirteen must be accompanied by an adult.
• All toddlers and babies must be with their parent at all times.
• All scouts, cubs, and youth groups should follow a reasonable adult-to-kid ratio for the safety of all participants at this event.

If you're wondering what to bring to the event, here's a list:

• a water bottle
• a hat
• sunscreen
• close-toe shoes
• appropriate clothing for a day of cleaning (if you plan on attending a beach site like Dockweiler State Beach, wear layers; if you're going inland to clean, wear clothes that will allow you to work in creek beds and rivers)

Cleanup supplies are provided by the California Coastal Commission at all sites.

For more information, contact Heal The Bay at (800) HEAL-BAY or visit their webiste at http://www.healthebay.org/.

See you on Saturday 9/20!

Guidance Featured in New Green Book!

One of our goals when Guidance started Guidance Green was “to expand the ‘Guidance Green’ mission into the community.”

So we’re thrilled to announce that Guidance and Jon Provisor are featured in the new book, Going Green: Case Studies in Outstanding Green Business Practices.

The story leads off Chapter 3 and is titled, Beyond Do’s and Don’ts – The Life of a Green Initiative Is Its Community.

Guidance is featured alongside companies like GE, Nickelodeon, HP, Walgreen's, Travelocity, National Geographic and more.

The article shares green actions that Guidance has taken and lessons learned along our company's path toward sustainability. Jon talks about the community-building benefits of collectively working toward a goal – getting beyond a list of do’s and don’ts to engage with others in a more personal way.

Many of you already know that Guidance was inspired to green action by one of our clients, Bentley Prince Street. So as you can imagine, it feels good to tell our own story, and maybe inspire someone else.

To quote from our own chapter:

“We’ve seen first-hand how one company sharing its story can influence another – and we’re hoping we can continue the legacy given to us by our client who inspired us.”

The book is available at www.prnewsonline.com/store/13.html. It’s published by the Media/Communications Group of Access Intelligence, from PRNews.

And - in case you were wondering - the book is printed on recycled paper!

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

It certainly isn't news anymore in my circle of friends and co-workers (I couldn't stop talking about it). However, more people need to know. More people need to know just how toxic plastic bags are to the environment, more people need to know that there is an "island" in the Pacific Ocean (twice the size of Texas) mainly composed of plastic bags! The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Before I found out about the plastic bag island, I did what most Americans do everyday. I picked up my groceries in plastic bags, food delivery, my shopping bags, my leftovers, my trash bags you name it and I was carrying it in plastic! However, I couldn't believe that my everyday actions contributed to the growth of plastic island, the destruction of the surrounding water systems, the endangerment of animals...

So what are you supposed to carry all your goodies with? Well you don't need a plastic bag for that soda you're buying and you certainly don't need a plastic bag for that one toothbrush you're buying! Deny the plastic bag, tell it you don't need it, because most of the time...you really don't.

And when in doubt....BYOB. Bring Your Own Bag. And if you don't have your trusty reusable bag, then please recycle that plastic bag. And please tie it in a knot so it doesn't fly off to be part of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Good luck fellow green-minded world citizens! :)

For those who want a choice: http://www.reusablebags.com/store/shopping-bags-modern-totes-c-2_41.html

Take the Guidance Green Eco-Trivia Quiz!

Ever wonder how many trees does the average American consume in paper or wood materials over their lifetime? Do you know how many plastic bottles are used every hour in the U.S.? What percentage of car journeys are made with only one occupant in the vehicle?

Find out answers to these and other greenteresting questions in the Guidance Green Eco-Trivia Quiz! Click here to download.