To build is in many ways to be human. This demiurgical impulse has inspired humans to create pyramids in the desert and paper from papyrus. It is at the heart of who we are and how our civilization has progressed, but the original meaning behind that impulse has in many ways been lost. We now create ad nauseam. We build strip malls, big box stores and manufacture plastic containers for every morsel of food. And then there’s urban and suburban sprawl, which is naming just a few of our more ignominious recent creations…

According to Merriam Webster the demiurge, or creator of material things, “fashions the sensible world in the light of eternal ideas.” So unless our “eternal idea” is to create a great big pile of garbage and a slew of soon-to-be derelict buildings then we need to rethink how and what we build. This week on THE GREEN Sundance Channel does just that.

BIG IDEAS FOR A SMALL PLANET

This week on BIG IDEAS FOR A SMALL PLANET [www.sundancechannel.com] we meet visionary architect Michelle Kaufmann [www.mkd-arc.com] as he builds a Glidehouse, [www.glidehouse.com] an ultra-sustainable modular prefab dream home, for a couple looking to enjoy life off the grid; architect Carlton Brown [fullspectrumny.com] defies all odds and builds a low-income sustainable housing project in Harlem [www.kalahari-harlem.com]; and MIT genius Mitchell Joachim [www.archinode.com] demonstrates his Fab Tree Hab [www.archinode.com] living house made from intertwined trees, creating a spectacular living space of the future.

Eco-Documentaries: WASTE=FOOD

This week we are introduced to Bill McDonough [en.wikipedia.org] the author of Cradle to Cradle [www.amazon.com], a book that finally settles the paper vs. plastic debate, but not in the way one might expect. His answer, “Neither!”

In the documentary Waste = Food [www.sundancechannel.com], McDonough explains that he is not interested in “reducing” waste products but rather in rethinking our idea of what waste is. His solution to the growing mounds of garbage and toxic byproducts of industry is to totally rethink the way we produce. Instead of creating products designed to be thrown away, McDonough proposes that designers take their cue from the environment itself, or in his words, “the intelligence of natural systems.” [www.mcdonough.com] Recycling isn’t something that nature has to think about, or get off its lazy butt and actually do, instead it’s built into the system. From the water cycle to photosynthesis nature’s “wastes” are used as “food” by ecologically connected species and processes. If we stopped thinking about waste as dirty, something you throw away, and started thinking about it as “food” for another product or system then we’re starting to understand what cradle to cradle design is all about, and we might even save our earth and its natural resources along the way.

View Simran’s Webisode [www.sundancechannel.com].

ECOIST

Josh Lucas is very concerned about our excessive use of fossil fuel and the effect its use has on the planet. He hopes to promote the use of alternative fuel sources.

Go to ECOIST [www.sundancechannel.com]

ECO BIZ

Emmy Award-winning Alison Stewart hosts ECOBIZ. This week we meet the CEO of Interface Carpets, Ray

 Anderson. [www.interfaceinc.com] You may know Ray from his appearance in the documentary THE CORPORATION [www.sundancechannel.com] which airs April 30 at 2:15 e/p on Sundance Channel.

Go To ECO BIZ [www.sundancechannel.com]

and don’t forget to buy Ray’s Book! [www.amazon.com]

Ideas and Debates

Join our discussions [www.sundancechannel.com] to share your BIG IDEAS, or submit your BIG IDEA [www.sundancechannel.com] to our What’s the Big Idea? Contest.

Explore Further
Simran’s Blog Entry about Social Justice and the Environmental Movement [www.treehugger.com]

Definition of Environmental Justice [en.wikipedia.org]

The Environmental Justice organization Sustainable South Bronx (Majora Carter, Founder & Executive Director) [www.ssbx.org]

In this post, you will learn about Collin Dunn, who will be the primary writer for the Treehugger Blog on Sundance Channel. Collin Dunn has been working at Treehugger.com for a few years and has distinguished himself as an educator and motivator in the environmental movement.

Collin Dunn is a sustainability enthusiast based in Seattle, WA. He really digs modern design, music and pop culture, and believes that they all have a place in our greener world and are a great way to engage a mainstream audience in a greener lifestyle. Over at TreeHugger, he most often writes about ideas and products that can help us all be a little greener and live a little better without sacrificing looks, design and personal style. He figures if we’re going to change the world, we might as well like the way things look while doing it. Collin’s sustainable heroes include the Eames brothers, Rogan Gregory, and Bill McDonough; they’ve all helped show the world that green can be hip, cool and sexy. When it comes to apparel, he believes that organic cotton feels better; with food, he thinks that there’s nothing like fresh basil from your local farmer’s market, and that organic food tastes better when you prepare it yourself. Collin also thinks everyone should see An Inconvenient Truth, and that you should ride your bike to the movie store to rent it. He believes in human ingenuity and the power of positive thinking, that the democratic process works when everyone engages in it, and that we should all vote with our dollars. He doesn’t think there is any reason to take ourselves too seriously all of the time. He knows that no one is perfect, and that’s okay.

When he isn’t blogging about these ideas, Collin daydreams of a sustainable future while feasting on indie rock and sipping java from independent coffee shops. He makes a mean paella, prefers pinot noir from the Willamette Valley and doesn’t mind walking in the rain.

Collin believes everyone can do something every single day to make the world a better place.