Cradle to Cradle Production

In 1805, Richard Trevithick, an English mining engineer, designed the first railway steampowered locomotive. Unfortunately, his heavy machine had limited success since its own weight broke the rails it travelled on. Despite its failure, this locomotive was a springboard for other modes of transportation. The Industrial Revolution has generated thousands of new inventions over the last two centuries; however, Trevithick’s steam-powered locomotive provides a good metaphor for the age as a whole: a system that goes against the laws of nature. Two hundred years after the failure of Trevithick’s invention, we now recognize the importance of a beneficial, symbiotic relationship with nature. Instead of wastefully consuming valuable natural resources and carelessly sending out toxic materials into our air, water and soil, we can develop a Cradle to Cradle world of natural cycles powered, not by fossil fuels, but by the sun where growth is good, waste nutritious and diverse styles of industrious productivity enrich human and natural communities.