Charlottesville, VA (PRWEB) May 19, 2015
William McDonough received the J.N. “Ding” Darling Conservation Award from the National Wildlife Federation at this year’s Conservation Awards Gala, “Celebrating Conservation Leadership in a Changing World,” held May 14th at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.
The Darling Award is given to outstanding individuals whose lives have made a significant positive impact on the environmental movement, and whose work has been recognized as innovative, inspiring, and legacy-building. In selecting McDonough for this award, the organization identified him as the pre-eminent voice for ecologically intelligent design and noted his achievements in architecture, thought leadership and sustainable growth.
The president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, Collin O’Mara, stated, “throughout his careers, William McDonough has demonstrated time and time again that economic prosperity and conservation progress can and must go hand. His vision of sustainability has shaped everything from Nike to NASA, from the Ford Motor Company to the U.S. Postal Service. His work will literally live on for generations to come as green roofs turn lifeless space into thriving wildlife habitat and other building features cut carbon pollution and improve water quality.”
“This special award,” says McDonough, “represents a shared belief that commerce can be an innovation engine. Together, we can realize an abundant, circular economy.”
Each year since 1965, the National Wildlife Federation celebrates individuals as well as organizations for their contributions to protecting wildlife through advocacy, education, communication and on-the-ground conservation. Previous honorees of the Darling Award have included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bette Midler, Robert Redford, former President Bill Clinton, and former President Jimmy Carter.
About William McDonough
William McDonough, FAIA, Int. FRIBA, is an internationally recognized designer, sustainable growth pioneer, and business strategist. He works at scales from the global to the molecular. Time magazine recognized him in 1999 as “Hero for the Planet,” noting that “his utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that—in demonstrable and practical ways—is changing the design of the world.” For more than four decades, McDonough has defined the principles of the sustainability movement (through: McDonough Innovation, William McDonough + Partners, and MBDC). He has created the movement’s seminal buildings, products, and writings. He currently chairs and leads the World Economic Forum’s Meta-Council on the Circular Economy.
McDonough is co-creator of the Cradle to Cradle® design framework. William McDonough led the creation of The Hannover Principles: Design for Sustainability (1992) and also, with Michael Braungart co-authored the influential Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (2002) and The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability—Designing for Abundance (2013). McDonough received both the inaugural Presidential Award for Sustainable Development (under President Bill Clinton) and the inaugural U.S. EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award (under President George W. Bush). In 2009, William McDonough led the founding of the nonprofit Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute to donate the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program to the public realm. In 2012, the Stanford University Libraries invited McDonough to be the subject of its first “living archive” and, since then, Stanford has been collecting and archiving all his work and communications in real time for future historians.
