[U]ltimately a[n environmental] regulation is a signal of design failure. In fact, it is what we call a license to harm: a permit issued by a government to an industry so that they may dispense sickness, destruction, and death at an “acceptable” rate.

William McDonough & Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle. (ISBN: 9780865475878) p.61

The key is not to make human industries and systems smaller, as efficiency advocates propound, but to design them to get bigger and better in a way that replenishes, restores, and nourishes the rest of the world. Thus the “right things” for manufacturers and industrialists to do are those that lead to good growth—more niches, health, nourishment, diversity, intelligence, and abundance—for this generation of inhabitants on the planet and for generations to come.

William McDonough & Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle. (ISBN: 9780865475878) p.78