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You are here: Home / Cradle to Cradle

Cradle to Cradle

Cradle to Cradle is a design concept guided by nature. With Cradle to Cradle, as in nature, there is no such thing as waste. In nature all things are products of a metabolic process and useful for other processes. Leaves of a tree are nutrients for the tree itself and other plants. Among leaves there are places to hide for mice or to hibernate for hedgehogs. Or think of a cherry tree: an abundance of blossoms creates new cherry tree generations. Every product, no matter how useless it may seem, is beneficial in nature.

Products designed according to the Cradle to Cradle design concept work exactly the same way. Therefore they are an important answer to the most urgent challenges of our times. They envisage their redesign into circular nutrient cycles in which value, once created, remains of worth to both man and nature. They are part of the lifecycle.

A shirt for example, whose production processes contain only eco-friendly components and which is biodegradable, can simply be composted and is a biological nutrient. Materials can also rotate in a technical nutrient cycles. Designed in a way that they can be disassembled, every carefully chosen material can be a follow-up product in a technical nutrient cycle. Thinking in these new ways of design, every television set or every washing machine can be reborn as a new apparatus.

The aim of the Cradle to Cradle design concept is to improve the quality of products so that they:

  • have an improved consumer quality for the user
  • pose no health risk for anyone who comes into contact with them
  • are of both economic and ecological benefit

The Cradle to Cradle design concept is based on three innovative principles:

  • Everything is designed to be a nutrient of something else (waste = food)
  • Everything is produced by renewable energy from current solar income
  • Everything contributes to diversity – be it conceptual, cultural or biological

The Cradle to Cradle design concept is an idea of the German chemist Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart and the American architect William McDonough. Its basis is the Intelligent Product System (IPS) that Braungart’s company EPEA (Environmental Protection and Encouragement Agency) developed from 1987 to 1992. Currently, hundreds of enterprises around the world offer products designed after the Cradle to Cradle design concept – among them many are from the Netherlands, the United States of America, Taiwan, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Even local authorities or institutions use it in their procurement.

More info at Cradle to Cradle NGO

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Insights

Appointments

February 5, 2023: New Year’s reception of the SPD Heidekreis with party chairman Lars Klingbeil and the new Minister of the Interior of Lower Saxony Daniela Behrens in Walsrode.

February 7, 2023: Women in Lead event in Berlin. In 2021, the “Women in Lead” network was founded out of the SPD Economic Forum to add female leaders to the dialogue on the key economic and social issues of the day. Now it will be expanded to include an “Expert Group.”

February 14, 2023: Public meeting of the Climate Advisory Board of the City of Buchholz with presentation of the Climate Action Plan in the City’s budget.

March 10, 2023: The winner of the “Alternative Nobel Prize” Vladimir Slivyak from Russia is a guest at the “Reading without Nuclear Power” event in Hamburg. Read more about the event week of the association Culture for All!

March 17, 2023: Organizational meeting of the Swiss board of the Right Livlihood Foundation (“Alternative Nobel Prize”) for future events.

March 22-23, 2023: Roundtable of the Living City Foundation.

March 28, 2023: Keynote at the Automotive Industry Association VDA on “New Solutions for Climate Neutral Drives” Read more about the conference here (in German).

March 30, 2023: Participation in the real estate congress of the Federal Association of Free Real Estate and Housing Companies (BFW). Discussion in the panel “Departure into the circular economy.” Click here for the program (in German).

April 20, 2023: Start of the four-day nature film festival Lüneburger Heide under the patronage of Monika Griefahn. You will find the program here shortly (in German).


Nature Film Festival Lueneburg Heath

Planning group for the next Nature Film Festival Lueneburg Heath.

April 20-24, 2023: 2nd Nature Film Festival Lueneburg Heath with Monika Griefahn as patron. At four venues in the region of the Lüneburger Heide Nature Park, after 2021, it is once again: “Film off!” Visitors can expect fantastic nature films, stirring documentaries and, above all, great conversations with filmmakers and experts. From now on, check the status of the program planning at www.films4future.de (German).


Cradle to Cradle Congress 2021

Logo C2C-Congress

Cradle to Cradle Congress 2021: Because of the Corona pandemic the C2C Conress took place in three parts this year: The first one was on June 14, 2021 in Freiburg. The second took place on September 7, 2021 in Mainz, the third November 4, 2021 in Mönchengladbach.


eFuels

Synthetic fuels are one of the decisive factors for the energy transition away from fossile fuels. That is why I am committed to the further development and practical use of eFuels and became a member of the Sounding Board of the eFuel Alliance in May 2021.
English website of the eFuel Alliance


Climate committee

Constituent session: Photo: City of Buchholz / Helms

In May 2021, the climate committee was constituted in the climate forum at my place of residence in Buchholz in the Nordheide. I am pleased to be chairwoman of the advisory board! The city has set itself the goal of becoming climate neutral and there is still a lot to do to achieve this. The committee advises the municipal  administration on fundamental questions of climate policy.
To the article on the Buchholz website (in German)


Right Livelihood Laureate 2021

Right Livelihood Award

They stand up against violence and climate change and address the most pressing questions of our time: Marthe Wandou (Cameroon), Wladimir Sliwjak (Russia), Freda Huson (People of the Wet’suwet’en, Canada) and the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (India) are the winners of the Right Livelohood Award (“Alternative Nobel Prize”) 2021. Please find here the award ceremony documentation or read more about the laureates in our blog.


Federal Order of Merit

After the award ceremony, Olaf Lies, Monika Griefahn and Rainer Rempe stand together. Photo: Frank Ossenbrink

After the award ceremony, Olaf Lies, Monika Griefahn and Rainer Rempe stand together. Photo: Frank Ossenbrink

Our CEO Dr. Monika Griefahn received the Federal Order of Merit. Please read more about her biography and about the award ceremony in our blog.


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21231 Buchholz
Germany
Phone: +49 4181 4069262
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Website: www.institut-muk.de
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