Bridgett Luther is our January 2023 Mom on a Mission!

January 21, 2023

Bridgett Luther is Healthy Child Healthy World’s January finalist for our 2023 Mom on a Mission® award. Read her first-person story below on how she became an advocate for children’s health.

By Bridgett Luther, January Mom on a Mission Finalist, President Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, former Director of the California Department of Conservation

Ten years ago, I picked up the book, Cradle to Cradle, Remaking the Way We Make Things. I realized this was a new way of looking at how products are made. It was heartening to read that innovative companies were creating products that were helping to make the world a better place. These designers and manufacturers were removing toxins, making their products with renewable energy and protecting water supplies. These companies were providing practical and inspiring answers for so many environmental problems.

These stories were very personal to me, since I have seen the impact of toxins in our environment on the health of relatives and friends. The book made me realize that a world of safe, healthy products could actually happen and here was the path.

At the time, I worked for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. One of the many copies of Cradle to Cradle that I gave away wound up on his desk and helped lead to the creation of a California law regulating the use of toxins from products. This was a step in the right direction, but it wasn’t transformational.

I left government to create and run an organization that administers and promotes the Cradle to Cradle Certified Products Program. Companies whose products achieve certification are on the path to continually improve the way they make and recycle products, identifying, managing, and replacing substances of concern and design products so valuable materials are reclaimed instead of buried or burned. The program provides practical guidance so the making of things can be a positive force for people, the planet and the economy.

Now, as I watch my own daughter’s children grow, I realize that it is even more important to create healthy, safe products and create them in a ways that are beneficial for the long-term health and abundance of the planet. We all know there are environmental problems in our world, and Cradle to Cradle certification inspires healthy design innovations that make business sense instead of trying to regulate problems at the end of the production pipeline. I love my work because I know that the system we’ve created can work for the largest companies and drive transformative change at the scale and pace we need. We are making a difference for business and the environment and, most importantly, for all our children.

Know an amazing mom who is making a difference? Nominate her to be one of our Mom on a Mission® finalists! Learn more about Healthy Child Healthy World’s 2023 Mom on a Mission campaign by visitingHealthychild.org/mission. A special thank you to our sponsors Ology.