Michael Braungart: “Just try and leave the biggest possible footprint.”

Conversation with Michael Braungart at the Binnenhof.
Photo: Mariëlle Verhoef.

Michael Braungart is both the biggest pleasure-lover and the most idealistic person I have ever met. When I heard him suggest for the first time that everything was about ‘celebrating life’ I thought ‘no way’.

One look at his Greenpeace background and the lines on his face tell a different story: this man has vision and ideals, and holds on dearly to them. He is someone who is concerned and strives to achieve one goal: improvement. What I found out by spending time with him is that he is ready to make the biggest possible sacrifices to reach his goal and yet lives with an intense lust for life.

Cradle to Cradle

This website features an article about applying the concept that has made Braungart famous around the world: the “Cradle to Cradle” concept. It is the basis of the Almere Principles and a catch phrase that is currently buzzing around the world.

Ironically enough, Braungart is actually not very happy with the popularity of this expression. “It’s starting to be taken out of context. It’s not about everything going back to the way it was. Why would anyone want that? Progress is as much a part of humans as it is nature. The cherry tree, which is so often used as an example, also doesn’t stay put at the same place. And it also doesn’t take everything back itself either.”

Things taken out of context are apparently a point of concern I noticed during a lecture for entrepreneurs. After a number of presentations of companies which all claimed to be ‘100% cradle to cradle’, a few speakers got a severe reprimand right at the start of Braungart’s speech. “I’d like it very much if you didn’t only think about quoting my jokes or [William] McDonough’s jokes, but also tried to get it right.” His lecture starts with corrections and one of the participants almost got a spanking. “What you do is not at all cradle to cradle, it’s spaghetti to spaghetti.” A little later, he pushes on even further: “For those of you now who still think in terms of ‘less harmful’, you’ve understood nothing at all. We’re talking about nutrients. Stop thinking in terms of more or less waste.”

Braungart has now walked in.

Man on a mission?

When I asked Braungart later whether he was getting tired of having to sing his greatest hit like a pop star, I hit a nerve. “No,” he said. “This is what I have to do, I’ve had to make many concessions and there’s no way back now. A far away sheep farm in Ireland is not an option.” I challengingly tell him that you always have a choice. However, Braungart resolutely disagrees. “Society has invested so much in me, I could not ethically agree to do nothing. Moreover, we still have about 10, 15 or perhaps 20 years time to change something otherwise the whole system will self-destruct. It has to be done now.”

With a tight schedule full of appointments, lectures and speeches in between which our conversation is wedged, in the back of my head, I see a man who runs back and forth to say what has to be said. This is also the case when I ask him how he actually lives. “Er, in airplanes mostly.” He grins very widely when I retort that he has exceptionally little need for personal space. More seriously he tells me that he has learnt to feel at home at the place where he is at that moment. “I’m now here with you and my house is here now. If I didn’t do that, I would be lost on this planet.”

I cannot get Braungart to open up, as he remains tight lipped about how much he misses his children. However, in his speeches and during the photo shoot you can see how much he values them. Typical of Braungart, he unveils very little about his private life, as he finds talking about himself unimportant apparently. Moreover, if I lower my attention span for just a moment or ask him something he does not find relevant, he comes up with a witty remark, a grin or a joke and takes over the conversation in order to deliver his message.

As well, humour in Braungart’s hands is a very disarming weapon. In a slightly dark room he amusingly opens with “Good Evening!” and when the equipment doesn’t work he suggests we all get together and meditate at which time his sneering against Bush takes on mythical proportions. When Braungart and McDonough received the Green Chemistry Award from Bush, Braungart could not stop himself from saying that it was totally unnecessary to go looking for chemical weapons in Iraq, “because there are enough already in our toys. They were never meant for children.”

No rules!

Yet Braungart does not feel like he is on a mission. He gets very irritated with organisations that convert his ideas into rules like 1) Do this, 2) Do that, etc. “Something like that surely doesn’t work!” he said. “It’s just as stupid as saying to yourself at a party ‘You have to have fun!’. It’s ridiculous”.

Suddenly, I realise what Braungart was doing. During the days that I followed him, I saw him work in different ways. At the meeting with the entrepreneurs he invited the room to picture him mainly as the ‘enemy’, “so that you a have a common enemy to unite against”. During a debate with international politicians in the Dutch Lower House he acts as a provocateur. The proposals he throws around the room makes me gasp for air and I have to gulp three times when I hear so many attacks on things that really need to be improved.

Big names from all kinds of countries spring out of their chairs to explain what they do and what they don’t. They hurry to share their knowledge, and, in a flurry of irritation and shock, I see for example a French minister look for help in a whispered conversation with his neighbour. While I see them agree with one another I also see what happens. Braungart volunteers to be a target to let people come into action and put forth statements, especially ideas and collaboration. Suddenly, I see the Greenpeace man in him. Something that is not mentioned very often, but it is obvious that not much has changed over the years. He may have been on boats in the past or marking hazardous waste in the field, but today he knows his way around politicians, scientists and entrepreneurs.

The famous chemist

After a speech when I see all the people lined up, I almost start laughing. A chemist of rock star proportions, he probably didn’t see this coming studying chemistry (“I only studied chemistry because I had a crush on my teacher”) or that he was ever going to be handing out autographs. But even actor Al Pacino could learn something from Braungart because he has time and attention for everyone. “Time is one of the few luxuries I still have. I can actually decide how much time I want to spend time on something, so if I meet someone with a good story I can make time for them. That’s how I met McDonough in the first place.”

No feelings of guilt

For Braungart, giving people rules to live by is just as annoying as making people feel guilty. He criticises Al Gore who does this. “I don’t intend to move people to tears and deny them all kinds of things in life because it’s ‘better is for the environment’. Inspiration is blocked by fear and feelings of guilt. That’s the wrong way to go. All you have to do is do things differently.

What I also absolutely don’t want is to give people the impression that every person is one person too many like Gore does. What’s the use of crippling people? You just give them a reason not do anything anymore. Of course, it’s terribly stupid to use hair conditioner that not only makes your hair smooth but also does the same to the coral reef. But if you could make a positive or neutral contribution, why do you have to feel bad about it? It’s about time that people turn these horrible images around: it’s not about what you can do to reduce your footprint; it is about what you can contribute. Make the biggest possible footstep, as long as it’s a good one.”

I seize the opportunity to ask Braungart whether he can provide some tips to the readers of Green Magazine despite his pet peeve of rules. Braungart laughed. “The first thing you can do is enjoy life, but if you want to do something concrete, then help create support systems. When you buy something, just ask the salesperson if you can 1) burn it without filters 2) put it in your garden and let it decompose or even 3) bring it back. With these questions you can change the market – it’s that simple.

However, if you name Green Magazine, make sure that the yellow print is changed. Even in the textile industry in China this colour is forbidden because it contains dichlorobenzidine. Think about it. When people are finished reading the magazine and throw it onto the heap of paper, toilet paper is made of out it, and with one kilo of that stuff you will pollute three millions litres of water. Make sure that you can throw the magazine in your fireplace. You can make that choice.”

Nobel

After having taken up much of Braungart’s time (“without people telling our story we won’t get anywhere”), I am impressed by this driven German Dutchman who just can’t sit still. During endless lectures, introductions and films I kept seeing sheets of paper with drawings and notes from his linen bag. I was allowed to look at them as well as laugh with that restless brain which elaborates more concepts and strategies at night when the family is asleep. Today Braungart is 50 (as I am putting this online today, he just recently reached 51). I hear people saying it won’t be long before he wins the Nobel Prize.

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For the articles in this category I give permission to use the text for use on other websites and/or other media under certain conditions. Condition 1 is that my name as author, Diana den Held, as well as the source, the URL to Gevleugelde Woorden to the text in question, is stated. Condition 2 is that the text cannot be used for commercial purposes. The third and final condition is that the text cannot be altered or transformed. You can place your own title and intro above it, but the text must be placed as I have written it. Moreover, commercial parties should feel free to contact me to discuss the possibilities.

Remark:
These conversations took place in nov/dec 08, at the request of Green Magazine.
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