In June, C&A, the international Dutch chain of retail clothing stores launched a line of T-shirts certified to the Cradle to Cradle standard, meaning that they were designed and manufactured in a way that is benign to the environment and human health, and whose materials can be recirculated safely back into industrial materials or composted into the soil. It represents, in no small measure, the future of product design and manufacturing. Creating a Cradle to Cradle (or C2C) T-shirt — at scale and at an affordable price to the consumer — was no small feat for C&A. It required a board-level commitment, close partnerships with contract manufacturers, an arduous search for replacements for problematic materials and some new messaging to customers.
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When Zem Joaquin’s two children suffered from chronic asthma, she took it in her own hands and undertook a major renovation in her home — and her life. “I was frustrated by the fact that both of my children were constantly being hospitalized. I was up so many nights with a nebulizer in hand with crying children,” she painfully remembers. “The pediatricians just kept saying that it was part of childhood, that many children have asthma.” But after they recommended putting her children on long-term steroids, she said, “Enough is enough!”
Continue reading... →Studies show that women are more likely then men to support environmental causes through voting, activism and consumer choices. I am going to sound like a broken record here but we buy 85% of the consumer products on the planet. We hold in our hands the economic power to change the world. My guest, Kira Gould, is doing just that. She is the co-author of “Women in Green: Voices of Sustainable Design” and her book is a poignant collection of stories and voices of women creating system-wide change in this movement.
In this show, we talk about the special qualities women have that make us prime candidates for carrying out what is needed on the planet today. Qualities such as consensus building and inclusiveness. Kira’s clear voice and grounded manner give me hope that what is needed now will be accomplished if we rally the forces of both women and men. How do we do that? According to Kira, “Keep communicating as frequent and effectively as possible about all the opportunities for ways to make change.”
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