Principle
22. Convert Harm Into Benefit
a. Utilize harmful factors or harmful effect of any environment
to obtain a positive
effect
b. Remove a harmful factor by adding it with another harmful factor
c. Increase the amount of harmful action until it ceases to be harmful
- Principle Description: Harm exists; look for ways to use it to add value.
- Hints on Usage: Mother Nature does not define what is “good” or “bad”. The definition of “useful” or “harmful” are functions of human interpretation at a point in time. Therefore, to use this principle, a change in attitude is required.
- Identify any harmful aspect of a system or situation. Determine how to transform the thing you cannot use into something you can use to provide value. In particular, look for things that negatively impact the environment, such as wasted materials, energy, information, functions, space, time, etc. Consider eliminating a harmful action by incorporating it with another action to solve a problem.
- If you cannot reduce harm to an acceptably low level, try increasing it to such a high level that it is no longer an issue.
- This principle is often valuable when the creation of harm is inevitable.
In these cases, there may even be a choice of creating one harm or another,
which can result in selecting a form of harm that can be converted into something
of value.