Rebecca Zak

What I am choosing to write my blog on this week is something that McDonough and Braungart discuss in Cradle to Cradle. In Chapter 5, Respect Diversity they talk about how using local resources is a good idea for several reasons. One of the reasons they give is because the local resources obviously can live in this environment if they are naturally there. This stuck out to me for a couple of reasons. It seems obvious after reading this that this fact is true. Why do we use materials from all over the world if the ones that are proven to work in these specific environments are already here? Not only will this help to become more environmentally friendly because we will know where all the materials for things are coming from, but also, it will help local business and help keep the money circulating locally. Also, instead of the “sameness” that is talked about in Cradle to Cradle occurring, there will be obvious cultural and environmental differences. I believe that these differences are important. I don’t like the idea that everything is becoming the same. I look around by my parents house in the suburbs of Chicago and everywhere that used to be a forested area, now holds a subdivision of identical houses, a target or walmart, or some other business that can also be found half a mile up the same road. In my hometown now there are more than 5 McDonalds. I’m not from a large suburb… It bothers me that when I was a kid I can remember all those forest areas by my school or soccer field and now when I look around it has all been chopped down to create more of “the same.” With using local resources it seems as though each different place, could be even just be a little different than the next place similar. Instead of relying on corporations to tell us what we should be eating, dressing like, playing with, etc. perhaps we could decide for ourselves.