Design Principle #2: Loopiness

In a recent speech given at Lawrence University, Geology professor Marcia Bjornerud presented a “list of five design principles that seem to be signatures of the House of Earth.” The second design principle she lists is Loopiness.

Our planet is arguably the best recycler—remaining forever young through the processes of evaporation, precipitation, oxidation and reduction, subduction, metamorphism, melting, crystallization, erosion, and mountain building, reusing the original “stuff” of the Earth and giving them a new, fresh face. Scarce commodities in the biosphere are used responsibly—organisms learn to live with limited amounts of these commodities or they find ways to harvest it and/or reuse it. “The scarcer the resource,” Bjornerud says, “the more the biosphere recycles it.” Makes sense, right?

So why is that we have not followed by example in our own use of resources? Most of our goods can only be recycled 1 or 2 times—if that. And far too often in our profit-driven, throwaway economy, recycling is not even an option. We are told to buy more, buy new, and buy often when we really could do more with less and make what we do have last longer—even if not in its original form.

Thankfully, there are many people who are choosing to see other’s trash as potential treasures—making high-end bags out of candy wrappers, reusing old construction materials to build new, more efficient buildings, and, more generally, capitalizing on an untapped resource: trash.

Though these industries are largely still in their infancy, that is no reason to despair—so much can be done now at the individual level. I encourage you to challenge yourself to getting rid of one throwaway item from your life each week. Start small—bring your own mug to your favorite coffee shop, bag groceries in reusable bags, start a compost pile. I have recently been inspired by someone who chose to carry her own trash around for 3 weeks—taking stock of what I throw away and how I can minimize it. Because what we throw “away” is not thrown away at all.

 The following is the video of Bjornerud’s inspiring speech: