Questions such as these, emerging from the daily application of the Hannover Principles, are stimulating the worldwide evolution of cradle-to-cradle design. They are driving “The Cradle-to-Cradle Revolution,” a growing movement in which designers are developing safe materials, products, supply chains and manufacturing processes that allow us to celebrate human creativity and the world’s natural abundance. In fact, just one year after the publication of the original edition of The Hannover Principles, we had the opportunity to develop a cradle-to-cradle upholstery fabric, Climatex Lifecycle, which is produced with completely safe ingredients and biodegrades after use. The design and production of Climatex Lifecycle, which launched a partnership between EPEA and MBDC and transformed a factory burdened with toxic wastes into one with only positive emissions, signaled the real-world efficacy of “waste equals food.”

Just so, the Hannover Principles and cradle-to-cradle thinking are moving nations as vast and influential as China to begin to apply the intelligence of natural systems to their development plans. They are guiding the design of community plans that connect people to nature and to each other. They are inspiring the design of buildings like trees, which harvest the energy of the
sun, sequester carbon, make oxygen, distill water and provide habitat for thousands of species. And more. Imagine everything we do or make as a gesture that supports life, inspires delight and expresses intelligence in harmony with nature. Imagine buildings with on-site wetlands and botanical gardens recovering nutrients from circulating water. Fresh air, flowering plants and daylight everywhere. Beauty and comfort for every inhabitant. Rooftops covered in soil and sedum nourished by falling rain. Birds nesting and feeding in the building’s verdant footprint.

Imagine, in short, buildings as life-support systems in harmony with energy flows, human souls and other living things. Inspired by the Hannover Principles, architects at WM+P have already designed buildings such as these. From an environmental studies center on the campus
of Oberlin College to the corporate offices of Gap Inc.; from the Herman Miller “GreenHouse,” a factory where you feel you’ve spent your day outdoors, to the Museum of Life and the Environment, which explores the deep connections between natural and cultural history both
in the Appalachian Piedmont and beyond — designs by the architects at WM+P are testaments to the lively relationship between principles and practices. And we are now seeing the Principles influence not just the work of WM+P, MBDC, and EPEA but a host of client companies. Ford Motor Company has launched the cradle-to-cradle renovation of its famous Rouge River industrial site with a new manufacturing facility, a factory with a living roof and a landscape of wetlands and swales that naturally purifies storm water runoff. Ford also introduced in 2003 the Model U, the world’s first automobile designed to embrace the cradle-to-cradle vision.

Other business leaders are following suit. Shaw Industries, the largest producer of commercial carpet in the world, has begun to apply the Hannover Principles and cradle-to-cradle thinking to the company’s product development process. Working with MBDC, Shaw is doing a scientific assessment of the material chemistry of its carpet fiber and backing to ensure that every
ingredient is safe. The result: an infinitely recyclable, completely healthful carpet tile made from true technical nutrients that eliminate the concept of waste. Working with the City of Chicago, WM+P drew upon the example of the Hannover Principles to serve Mayor Richard Daley’s quest to make Chicago “the greenest city in America.” The Chicago Principles, which will be announced in 2003, will provide a reference point as the City develops community plans and cradle-to-cradle systems that will make it a national model of how industry and ecology, nature and the city can flourish side by side.

There is really no end in sight — and that’s the point. As we seek constant improvement by the sharing of knowledge, as our understanding of the world evolves, the Hannover Principles will continue to be our touchstone and inspiration for new designs. This process, merely a decade old, has already created hopeful changes in the world and is transforming the making of things into a regenerative force. Ultimately, we believe the principled practice of design will lead to
ever more places and ever more products that honor not just human ingenuity but harmony with the exquisite intelligence of nature. And when that becomes the hallmark of good design, we will have entered a moment in human history when we can truly celebrate our kinship with all life.

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