o2 alta: Cradle to Cradle author in Calgary

20.3.07

Cradle to Cradle author in Calgary

This happened last Friday - I was unable to attend but will try to find a review to let you know what happened: "He’s been proclaimed a “Hero for the Planet” by Time magazine and received numerous prestigious awards for sustainable development and industrial design. World-renowned ecological architect and designer William McDonough is helping multinational corporations including Ford, Nike and Gap green their operations and has made headlines around the world for calling for nothing less than a new industrial revolution that will improve the environment and revitalize the global economy.

"McDonough will be in Calgary on Thursday, March 15 for a special guest lecture for U of C students on his “Cradle to Cradle” philosophy from 2 pm to 4 pm, followed by a dinner speaking engagement at the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown as the final event in the Faculty of Environmental Design’s keynote speaker series on sustainable environmental design. His visit is co-sponsored by the U of C’s Faculty of Environmental Design and the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

McDonough’s connections to the Calgary area include the fact that his firm, William McDonough + Partners, were the lead designers of the environmentally-friendly Bison Courtyard commercial development in Banff and McDonough praised Calgary Transit’s wind-powered light rail transit program Ride the Wind in his 2004 essay Something Lived, Something Dreamed: Urban Design and the American West."

[U of C Media Release]

o2 background

o2 alta is part of the o2 Global Network, an international network for people interested in sustainable design. The network is made up of the o2 Global Network foundation, regional hubs, local groups, liaisons and individuals (called o2's). It has currently more than 70 country contacts. o2 ("Oxygen") was founded in 1988 in Milan by Niels Peter Flint, Thierry Kazazian, Jorgi Scheicher, Jeremy Quinn and others. o2 Groups in Denmark, France and the United Kingdom followed. Six years later (5 July 1994) Iris de Graaf and Willem Hanhart founded the o2 Global Network foundation, or in short, the o2 Global Network. o2GN, as it became to be known, was set up as an independent organization. Its first home page appeared in November that year, and by August 1995 the network had hosted its first web broadcast, live from Rotterdam.

For nearly two decades o2 has pioneered solutions to a central problem of the made environment: how to foster sustainability while having a good quality of life. The people in this forum have been wrestling with the problems of a throw-away culture, formulating non-polluting production methods, sourcing nontoxic, sustainably managed materials, innovative sustainable product services, sustainable lifestyles, behavior and consumption, and crucially, passing on the knowledge.

The basic idea of the o2 Global Network is "global thinking and local action". Global information and knowledge is exchanged and discussed. Local groups, mostly non-governmental organizations, or o2 individuals organize lectures, projects, workshops and distribute newsletters to promote, educate and implement design for sustainability with all of its facets in mind.

The network involves people with a background in engineering, design, industrial design, architecture, graphic design, arts, fashion, innovation, as well as people from academies, universities, public authorities, companies or knowledge centers.

[from Wikipedia]

o2 alta

20.3.07

Cradle to Cradle author in Calgary

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