Imagine this design problem

"Imagine this design assingment: Design something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, acrues solar energy as fuel, makes complex sugars and food, creates a micro-climate, changes colors with the season, and self replicates. Why don't we knock that down and write on it."

~William McDonough

This was taken by the embedded talk by William McDonough about cradle to cradle design. I'm not going to use this space to tell you what cradle to cradle design is I would much rather you watch this talk. TED is an amazing site that takes talks from some of the most brilliant minds around the world and posts them for everyone to view.

This particular talk has a lot to do with creating a sustainable, living design that will benefit both humans and the earth. In my favorite part he begins to talk about how China is building six new cities over open, green fields. Apparently they go to William with their plan and ask his opinion. Essentially their plan was a rubber stamped city street grid on top of the plains. A gray cityscape with gray streets, gray buildings, and a gray sky due to the pollution that 6 more cities would bring.

Williams idea was to take that open field and...well...leave it a field. Raise up a city from the ground with roofs made of grass that can be used for agriculture. This is a very simplified view of what he said yet it conveys the proper idea.

After watching the video, what other ideas do you have for cradle to cradle design?