BeeP Blog

Yesterday was an unbelievably wonderful day for us at Blue Practice.  Our client William McDonough and his team at MBDC, including CEO Ken Alston, Jay Bolus, and Steve Bolton, gifted the Cradle to Cradle framework, with IP valued at over $100MM dollars, to the public interest by forming the Green Products Innovation Institute.

The whole team was recognized by Governor Schwarzenegger and supported by leaders like Wendy Schmidt (wife of Google CEO Eric Schmidt) and YouTube founder Chad Hurley, along with Cradle to Cradle pioneers and supporters like Wal-Mart, SAP, Shaw Industries, Aveda, and Method, at a green-star-studded launch event at the Google campus.

If you have access to the Wall St. Journal online, I recommend reading Jim Carlton’s piece about the GPII and how it fits in with California’s regulations on toxic substances.

As a business advisory council member, we’ve been part of this transformation from the very beginning.  It is hard to believe that just six short months ago we were sitting around Jillian Manus’s dining room table hatching plans for this nonprofit organization with a small group of incredible people, including Warner Philips, Bridget Luther, Zem Joaquim, Adam Lowry, and Beth Rattner (now ED of the GPII).

Now, the GPII stands to empower others in helping develop products that do more good, rather than less bad.

The Green Products Innovation Institute, Inc. is focused on transforming the making and consumption of things into a regenerative force for the planet. GPII uses design, based on the laws of nature, to help industry create products that are safe for people and the environment. This rethinking of how we design, manufacture, use and reuse materials will spur a new era of research and innovation, simultaneously driving economic, ecological and social prosperity.

You can learn more about the GPII at the institute’s web site (cleverly designed by friend Yves Behar’s fuseproject), or YouTube channel.