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I stumbled into a really interesting presentation recently on the intertrons while researching the idea of “Cradle to Cradle” design. Among other things, it takes issue with the idea of recycling, in its current form, which is really just slowing down the process of waste production as goods are “downcycled” into lower-quality products. Wending my way to the video below led me past something I’d seen before, the “Eco roof” at Ford’s Dearborn, Michigan Truck Plant. As you’ll see in the presentation, installing a 10-acre grass roof saved Ford nearly 40 million dollars in the construction of an equally effective water treatment plant. Perhaps a good intro is the following quote from the presentation, on why McDonough’s book is printed on a fully recyclable polymer that can be recycled into another book made of the same polymer.

as Margaret Atwood pointed out, “we write our history on the skin of fish with the blood of bears.” And with so much polymer, what we really need is technical nutrition, and to use something as elegant as a tree — imagine this design assignment: Design something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, accrues solar energy as fuel, makes complex sugars and food, creates microclimates, changes colors with the seasons and self-replicates. Well, why don’t we knock that down and write on it?

-William McDonough on why his book, Cradle to Cradle, isn’t printed on paper.

So Chuck Grassley decided that he’s going honor his healthcare-industry campaign donations and, along with the “Quitta from Wasilla,” drum up fear instead of rational debate on the ever-shrinking healthcare reform we were promised last November. It’s not that I don’t think Senator Grassley is probably controlled by Republican handlers I’d find appalling, it’s just that he’s seemed somewhat rational in the past. His harping on the Sotomayor nomination, and now his “they’re going to pull the plug on grandma” show a decline in his previously-perceived-as-centrist speech. I feel like he’s marching, lock-step with the looniest of the loons. So much for Grassley attempting to curry favor from anyone but the hard-right. I suppose when you’re not worried about re-election, you cater to your base.

So, Senator Grassley, your remarks just got me to pony up money for your inevitable downfall. I really hope Tom Fiegen or Bob Krause pulls the plug on Grassley. Both campaigns (@tlfiegen & @krauseforiowa) managed to figure out that Twitter is worthwhile. Heck, I now know that Bob Krause will be on the Rachel Maddow Show, waiting for me on DVR, thanks to Twitter. Krause has an ActBlue fund raising page which you ex-Iowan’s might consider tossing money at. Maybe Grassley should consider following some of his own advice and taking the “Japanese-way out.”