Foundational References & Media

Intellectual Lineage, Practice, and Public Record

The work of Circularity Edge is grounded in forty-eight years of applied practice at the intersection of business, sustainability, and living systems.

The frameworks developed across this practice — the Belief Architecture Diagnostic™, the Tactical Tetrahedron™, Design Like Nature™, Vitacide Risk™, and the Sustainable Circularity framework — did not emerge from theory alone. They are the result of sustained engagement with executives, institutions, and innovators across sectors and geographies..

What follows is a selective record of public references, institutional engagements, and formative origins that inform this work.

Framework Origins and Professional Lineage

Ken Alston has spent forty-eight years at the intersection of business, sustainability, and the structural questions of how organizations meet the conditions for life.

His work includes:

  • seventeen years working directly with William McDonough and Michael Braungart as CEO of their design consultancy, translating the Cradle to Cradle design philosophy into business practice across multiple industries and geographies
  • advising multinational executives and leadership teams for over three decades
  • the program manager who launched the Sustainable Packaging Coalition through the GreenBlue Institute
  • managed the formation of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute and the creation of Version 1.0 of its product certification program, on behalf of William McDonough and Michael Braungart
  • co-authoring Real Circularity (2023) with Rachel S. Kan

Circularity Edge is the home of the Belief Architecture Diagnostic™, the Tactical Tetrahedron™, Design Like Nature™, Vitacide Risk™, and the Sustainable Circularity framework, developed across forty-eight years of applied practice, and the base for ongoing advisory, speaking, and diagnostic work.

Selected External References

Media and Journalism

Government and Diplomatic Engagements

State of California — Office of the Governor (2010) — Launch of the California Green Products Innovation Institute, recognized as part of Governor Schwarzenegger’s Green Chemistry Initiative. Ken managed the formation of the institute on behalf of MBDC and was personally present at the launch ceremony with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The work was formally acknowledged in writing by the Office of the Governor. The institute was subsequently renamed the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute following completion of intellectual property transfer from MBDC.

Ken Alston with Governor Arnold Swarzenegger Letter to Ken Alston from the Office of the Governor, California

U.S. Embassy Berlin (2015) — Earth Week Visiting Speaker Program — Berlin, Baden-Baden, Frankfurt, Stuttgart. — Earth Week Visiting Speaker Program

Academic and Institutional Engagements

Conferences and Keynotes

Publications

Alston, K. (September 2026)

Our Common Future Now: : The Belief Problem Business Has Not Yet Named.

The Simple Idea Ltd.

ISBN/ASIN:

Alston, K. & Kan, R. S. (2023)
Real Circularity
The Simple Idea Ltd.
ISBN / ASIN: B0CJ4DLHZY
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJ4DLHZY

Foundational Organizations

  • MBDC (McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, LLC) — June 2000 to September 2017 — successively as senior advisor, Chief of Staff to William McDonough, and CEO. Seventeen years working directly with William McDonough and Michael Braungart on the development and deployment of Cradle to Cradle.
  • GreenBlue Institute (2003–2004) — Secondment from MBDC. Program manager for the launch of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, the industry organization that became the primary sustainable packaging education and standards body in North America for over two decades.
  • California Green Products Innovation Institute / Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute (2008-2010) — Recognized by the State of California as part of Governor Schwarzenegger’s Green Chemistry Initiative. Operated under the working name California Green Products Innovation Institute during the period before MBDC’s intellectual property transfer was legally completed. Renamed the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute once IP and governance arrangements were finalized. Ken managed the formation work and the creation of Version 1.0 of its product certification program on behalf of McDonough and Braungart.

These organizations represent formative milestones in the evolution of applied circular-economy practice.

Ongoing Dialogue and Public Conversation

Ken Alston maintains three live channels of ongoing dialogue with practitioners, leaders, and engaged readers across the field.

The Circularity Catalyst Podcast has run since 2019 and is the practitioner conversation archive — sustained dialogue with leaders, entrepreneurs, and practitioners exploring how business can be redesigned to sustain the conditions required for life. Over six years of weekly episodes have produced the comparative practitioner transcript archive that the Belief Architecture Diagnostic was eventually built to read. Available at: youtube.com/@CircularityCatalyst.

The Ken Alston YouTube channel runs the weekly V10.1 content calendar from April through September 2026, building the case Our Common Future Now makes — Belief Architecture, the structural finding, the Twelve Belief Pairs, and the path beyond the ceiling. Available at youtube.com/@kenalston.

Circularity Edge Intelligence is the weekly Substack publication where the ideas in the work are developed in writing between books — language, belief, and the assumptions that shape how sustainability is understood and practiced. Available at: kenalston.substack.com/

Together, the three channels are the public surface of an active practice. The podcast is the archive; the YouTube channel is the present argument; the Substack is the written companion.

A Note on Integrity and Attribution

Circularity Edge prioritizes clarity of origin, precision of language, and respect for intellectual lineage.

The instruments presented here are the result of cumulative learning, collaboration, and refinement over time. Where ideas build on the work of others, attribution is made explicitly and carefully.

Enduring work leaves a public trace.
This page exists to make that trace visible.