I was asked the question. The one question that we all avoid like politics or religion. The one question that everyone seems to be an expert on yet no one practices what they preach. The question that so many will debate with such passion and yet not have a clue of the complexity of what they are dealing with.

What conditions may help us to achieve a world of sustainable resources?

The knowledge of time physics resulting in its manipulation through travel might help. Genetically re engineering mankind to take their head out of their … might help in the cause as well. Since neither of these possibilities seem likely in the feasible, being less bad is not going to cut it anymore, we need to change the way we do things. I am not an expert at any of this, nor am I innocent of misusing the world as much as the next person, however there are those who are experts with their heads safely on their shoulders and up right! William McDonough and Michael Braungart are two such men.

In their book, Cradle to Cradle, they take the issue of the ever deteriorating world and give a fresh, if not ambitious, solution. They emphasize a way of industry which will enable things not to be recycled, but continuously used. In this method, all our unwanted articles are conceived as biological nutrients. The remnants of last years Christmas gifts are not folded neatly into a land fill, is there even more energy expended in turning them into something else, they simply provide nourishment for something new. This is due to the world not looking at different ways to recycle, reuse and reduce, but different ways to produce.

In this way we are conscientious about the products as they are being made. Using materials that are eco-effective, they will either renter the earth in a natural way, or can easily be down cycled into low grade materials without depositing synthetic materials and toxins. We rethink our ways of production instead of simply our ways of waste. Now not only are we more careful about what we are using, we are more careful about how we are using it and what it will become later in its cycle.

Sounds wonderful doesn’t it? However this would mean saying good bye to many articles and materials that the world has decided are impossible to live without. It would mean more natural fibers and finishes. A world of making what is needed, not wanted or yearned. It would mean that industry and environmentalists would have to work with each other, finding a way that the success of one would not diminish the other.

Personally I think it is possible to have all that we have now, all the luxuries, and still manage to change the way in which we produce. I think it will take time and patience, but I think it is there, the capability to create things in a new and better way. I believe we have already achieved a small victory int this area through some of the natural, biodegradable and green friendly products that are currently being used. I also think we have a long way to go. Mankind will not accept a different method unless the result is as good. I am as guilty as the next, as I type on my plastic keyboard which will eventually use way too much energy in being recycled into some new product which eventually in turn will go to a land fill.

So is it really to much to ask? For our world, for our resources, for our children? Can we change now when we are such creatures of habit and are flush with our success of our instant throw away lives? Can we do that?

I think the time machine might have more success, and less time to figure out.