Imagine that at every USG location the water exiting the facility was CLEANER than the water entering it? This was done at a Swiss carpet factory where, at one time the trimmings were 'toxic waste, but after re-designing the process the water coming out was purer than the water coming in - which was Swiss drinking water. If it can be done in Switzerland, what could we do if it were a Presidential Directive to work towards this goal in the US?

What a concept: upgrading the quality of the environment as a required "byproduct" of all user nodes in the system of human endeavors. With just two "rules" a great many "regulations" could be retired:

1] Everything which comes out of a system [house, car, factory, office, hospital, power plant etc.] must be cleaner than when it went in.

2] Everything which comes out must be healthy ^Ñfood^Ò for either organic life or industrial processes.

The net result of these two simple, basic rules of the "new story" would be a process which restores and rebuilds the quality of the world we live in. Clearly the old industrial story is killing us - pollute as much as the law allows. Yet, just by daring to ask new questions and change a few assumptions, we can start a new story - one which does more than simply sustain us.

Eco-effectiveness is where we view the world of today as being perhaps just 10% sustaining but we can feel better every day by working to the goal we visualize as being 100 % sustaining. William McDonough posits this within the view that the world is about abundance = effectiveness. Working towards a goal of 100% is a much stronger message than asking people to work towards 0% = zero emissions. This is the world view of industrial efficiency and a world of scarcity - the old story which is dying. I know I am a whole lot more interested in listening to people who talk about getting better in an abundant world.

See also the very interesting work of Ray C. Anderson as he describes it in his book: Mid Course Correction. Ray is Co-Chair of the President's Council on Sustainable Development. Also, of course see the work of Paul Hawken.

BTW, words matter. As Dean McDonough asks: How's your relationship with your spouse? Sustainable? Oh, I'm sorry! I would hope the answer was at least sustaining, better yet would be restorative! VERBS!