UCAR's involvement in this program came through the Walter Orr Roberts Institute, which had collected funds to start a project of the sort that NCAR's founding director would have endorsed. As she polled Roberts's friends and the donors to select an appropriate project, industrial ecology was often mentioned, and Morgan and Firor were both interested in the subject. They agreed to take it on. The term was coined about a decade ago to describe a variety of efforts to make businesses function together more like the earth's ecosystems. In these, the waste stream from one species may nourish another, which in turn produces waste that feeds a third species, and so on around the circle.
Most efficient ecosystems are self-perpetuating.
In comparison, the classic model of industry calls for a constant input of resources and an equally constant output of waste materials. In a world where resources are growing scarce and waste disposal is expensive, this model needs rethinking. And it certainly is not sustainable. Even the most conscientious manufacturer can only go so far in reusing and recycling its own input and output. Bringing businesses together is the purpose of the Colorado Industrial Ecology Project.