Books : Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 745.2
EAN: 9780865475878
ISBN: 0865475873
Label: North Point Press
Manufacturer: North Point Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: April 22, 2002
Publisher: North Point Press
Sales Rank: 1374
Studio: North Point Press
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
A manifesto for a radically different philosophy and practice of manufacture and environmentalism
"Reduce, reuse, recycle" urge environmentalists; in other words, do more with less in order to minimize damage. As William McDonough and Michael Braungart argue in their provocative, visionary book, however, this approach perpetuates a one-way, "cradle to grave" manufacturing model that dates to the Industrial Revolution and casts off as much as 90 percent of the materials it uses as waste, much of it toxic. Why not challenge the notion that human industry must inevitably damage the natural world, they ask.
In fact, why not take nature itself as our model? A tree produces thousands of blossoms in order to create another tree, yet we do not consider its abundance wasteful but safe, beautiful, and highly effective; hence, "waste equals food" is the first principle the book sets forth. Products might be designed so that, after their useful life, they provide nourishment for something new-either as "biological nutrients" that safely re-enter the environment or as "technical nutrients" that circulate within closed-loop industrial cycles, without being "downcycled" into low-grade uses (as most "recyclables" now are).
Elaborating their principles from experience (re)designing everything from carpeting to corporate campuses, the authors make an exciting and viable case for change.
Amazon.com Review:
Paper or plastic? Neither, say William McDonough and Michael Braungart. Why settle for the least harmful alternative when we could have something that is better--say, edible grocery bags! In Cradle to Cradle, the authors present a manifesto calling for a new industrial revolution, one that would render both traditional manufacturing and traditional environmentalism obsolete. Recycling, for instance, is actually "downcycling," creating hybrids of biological and technical "nutrients" which are then unrecoverable and unusable. The authors, an architect and a chemist, want to eliminate the concept of waste altogether, while preserving commerce and allowing for human nature. They offer several compelling examples of corporations that are not just doing less harm--they're actually doing some good for the environment and their neighborhoods, and making more money in the process. Cradle to Cradle is a refreshing change from the intractable environmental conflicts that dominate headlines. It's a handbook for 21st-century innovation and should be required reading for business hotshots and environmental activists. --Therese Littleton
Average Rating: 
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McDonough & Baumgarten have re-envisioned how companies might redesign their manufacturing processes to actually leave the environment better than they found it. And create better products in the end, products that people will want to buy because they are well-designed.
What I love about this book is that their vision is mostly a PRIVATE sector solution. They believe that business is the solution, not the problem. They say entrepreneurs are the ones best suited to develop creative solutions to environmental issues, and ultimately better, less expensive products. That is, cheaper in the truest sense--no externalities, nothing in the landfill, no costs of disposal foisted off on the taxpayers to clean up. Materials would go back into manufacturing more goods--not just recycling for lower-level uses, but true recycling. This would save on our use and wastage of original materials also.
Favorite quote: "Government regulation points to a design flaw." They envision a world where environmental regulations become obsolete because businesses operate cleanly. This would become a norm. Regulations would be a rare backup system, because sustainable design would be profitable.
Every business person should read this book. We're obviously not there yet, not anywhere close, but I was inspired to think hard about all my operations! They have a vision to work toward, and it will not be a world of scarcity and deprivation.
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Great book, in perfect condition and as I saw on screen that s how i received at home.
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For those to are ecologically minded, a key part of creating any new product is to produce a life cycle assessment (LCA), which is also known as a cradle-to-grave analysis, working from manufacture (`cradle') to use and disposal (`grave'). The LCA investigates all of the environmental impacts of that product and attempts to minimise that damage. One of the key premises of McDonough & Brangart's book, is that minimising damage just isn't good enough. Instead, the authors propose that we change our entire design processes so that reuse and nourishment are built right into the process. Instead of minimising waste, we create value. Cradle to Cradle goes beyond the notion of having recycling as the final step in a process flow, and instead builds on the idea that waste need not exist at all. We can design our lives and products around the notion of nourishment - from the way we live to (primarily) how we design and produce goods. The natural world provides the template for what the authors suggest, from the regenerative world of the insect, to the cherry tree, to the use of natural nutrients such as solar and wind power. They suggest that the key to working within, rather than against, nature is to respect biodiversity, respect the elegance and abundance of what is around us, and begin our design process with the notion of there is no such thing as waste.
The writing style itself is clear, simple, and suitable for all ages and knowledge levels. Different readers will ... Read More
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This book was in perfect condition when I received it and the really cool thing about it is that its WATERPROOF which means you can read it pretty much anywhere-in the shower, underwater, at the beach or even in a fish tank! The book gives you scary insight on how we are destroying our earth and killing ourselves slowly and simultaneously!!!
Rating:  -
Apparently corporations are all going green. Even Ford will become perfectly sustainable. Now they abuse their employees & produce thousands of fossil-fuel-burning cars out of a "green" facility built with materials extracted from where, a green, sustainable mining operation?
This book has some good points & quotes, but in the end it's another propaganda piece for greenwashing corporations.
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