Sustainable development as defined in the Brundtland Report, or our Common Future in 1987 is the ability “to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” “The goal of the upcycle is a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy, and just world with clean air, water, soil, and power-economically, equitably, ecologically, and elegantly enjoyed” (McDonough & Braungart, 2013). Currently we have to find how to create a balance between us and nature. Second, we have materials in the wrong place. Lastly, we need to redesign.
The Upcycle talks about thinking about our environment and its needs. We often end up also thinking about our own systems and processes outside of nature. Ralph Waldo …show more content…
An example of a sustainable design would be “shades that were plants growing behind glass, thin horizontal hydroponic planters” (McDonough & Braungart, 2013). This is what one of the science center lobby in Denver has, they are growing strawberries. The problem they ran into was that in the winter the daylight is only about 7 hours long. They needed a way to come up with local fresh foods for in the winter. The answer to this question was found using solar energy and wind. They used the wind to create electricity, which then generated light. They did research and learned that some vegetables and fruits did not need the full spectrum of light to grow. Strawberries being one of them, they needed reds and blues. Science LEDs can be tuned to these frequencies that is the lighting they choose. This reduces the energy needed to power lights. It also makes them grow faster, bigger and sweeter. Another example would be when Brazil tried to build a hydropower, which had a handful of negatives. They didn’t cut down the rainforest which normally would be a positive. Instead they flooded the rainforest to “create requisite water mass and vertical drop to drop drive the generator” (McDonough & Braungart, 2013). The wood and vegetation created methane as they were soaking in the water. the methane emissions caused more greenhouse gases then were offset. Even though this was a bad design they haven’t failed they simply found a way that didn’t work, why give up
The Upcycle talks about thinking about our environment and its needs. We often end up also thinking about our own systems and processes outside of nature. Ralph Waldo …show more content…
An example of a sustainable design would be “shades that were plants growing behind glass, thin horizontal hydroponic planters” (McDonough & Braungart, 2013). This is what one of the science center lobby in Denver has, they are growing strawberries. The problem they ran into was that in the winter the daylight is only about 7 hours long. They needed a way to come up with local fresh foods for in the winter. The answer to this question was found using solar energy and wind. They used the wind to create electricity, which then generated light. They did research and learned that some vegetables and fruits did not need the full spectrum of light to grow. Strawberries being one of them, they needed reds and blues. Science LEDs can be tuned to these frequencies that is the lighting they choose. This reduces the energy needed to power lights. It also makes them grow faster, bigger and sweeter. Another example would be when Brazil tried to build a hydropower, which had a handful of negatives. They didn’t cut down the rainforest which normally would be a positive. Instead they flooded the rainforest to “create requisite water mass and vertical drop to drop drive the generator” (McDonough & Braungart, 2013). The wood and vegetation created methane as they were soaking in the water. the methane emissions caused more greenhouse gases then were offset. Even though this was a bad design they haven’t failed they simply found a way that didn’t work, why give up