Last night I attended an awards meeting convened by Entrepreneurs for Sustainability (E4S) in Cleveland, Ohio. E4S is an organization that has been formed to bring together community leaders for the expressed purpose of sharing ideas on how to build a sustainable economy in Northeast Ohio. Holly Harlan, one of the co-founders, has been working since 2000 to bring together on a monthly basis people who are deeply committed to making sustainability a cornerstone of their enterprises.

The event last night was a recognition gathering for eight honorees who were selected from over 50 nominees. Each person had demonstrated exceptional performance in the application of sustainability principles primarily focused on reducing waste streams. For example, one company owner was recognized for his efforts to eliminate waste by first removing the dumpster in the back of his plant. This action forced everyone in the operation to focus on fixing the process that caused the waste in the first place. In another instance, a graduate student was honored for eight years of work at Case Western Reserve University where she was able to reduce energy consumption by over 25 percent.

Although at this time in our society we are looking at waste streams (outputs) and working to eliminate them, we must look to changing our designs in such a way that waste outputs are eliminated. I feel certain that if we apply the Nine Laws of Nature as defined by Janine Benyus to our design principles that waste will indeed become food and the idea of offal will soon become an outdated term.

- Roger Saillant