With filmmaker Chris
Bedford
William McDonough and Michael Braungart believe we
are at the cusp of the Next Industrial Revolution. In this bright
new world, humanity takes nature itself as our guide, reinventing
technical enterprises to be as safe and ever-renewing as natural
processes. Can't happen? It's already happening, and it's bigger
than you think.
Rohner Textiles, a once struggling company, creates
fabric that is so toxin-free a local garden club uses the factory
trimmings as mulch, and the water leaving the factory is as clean
as the water entering it. At Oberlin College, a new building
not only cleans its own waste water and produces more energy
than it consumes, but has become a magnet for campus activities
that tak e advantage
of its healthful, yet beautiful interiors.
Even enormous corporations like Nike and Ford seek
McDonough's help in eliminating toxic chemicals from their products
and integrating their companies with a natural design. McDonough
proves that by keeping products in their natural systems and
seeing all refuse as an asset, companies will stand to make profit
through the elimination of waste, the recycling of products,
and the improvement of working conditions. More importantly,
they will increase the safety of their products and manufacturing
to both people and the environment. Directed by Shelley Morhaim
and Chris Bedford. 2001, USA, 55 minutes.
Reception to follow in the Willard Straight
Art Gallery
Cosponsored with the Department of Architecture and
the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis.
Chris Bedford is an award
winnning documentary and advocacy film writer-director-cameraman.
He is also an environmental, community and workplace organizer
who integrates video and other media into the process of change.
He currently is a volunteer leader in the Sierra Club, nationally
and in Maryland.
|
