Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
by William McDonough, Michael Braungart
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Book Summary Information
Author: Michael Braungart, William McDonoughEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2002-04-22
ISBN: 0865475873
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: North Point Press
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780865475878
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Book Reviews of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
Book Review: Reuse, reuse, reuse
Summary: 5 Stars
Reuse, reduce, recycle, has been societies' motto for dealing with environmental problems. However, as it is well known, it has not helped. Authors McDonough and Braungart present a new theory behind this. They tell us to reconsider the radle to cradle motif in life, where products turn to trash as soon as they are manufactured, to a cradle to cradle life. This means that when a product is created it will not end up in a landfill, or incinerator, but rather they will return to the cradle from which they were once made, only to be reused again, and again.
According to McDonough and Brungart , about 90% of the materials created in the USA will become obsolete right after they are manufactured. These products, such as plastic bottles, or styrofoam, will not degrade and will only keep adding to the already overwhelmingly large toxic landscape created by consumer goods. Because the earth is not able to safely absorb the toxic wastes, the authors encourage us to create products that are not only biodegradable but also work as nutrients that benefit the earth's different systems. For example, hydrogen powered cars will be extremely beneficial relative to our current transportation system. Their emissions will go from being CO2, to H2O.
The book itself puts their theories to use. It is created with a special synthetic paper that is waterproof and can be recycled indefinitely for the creation of other books, thus reducing deforestation, along with other factors associated with the recycling of paper.
Also, the authors refer to two main ways of life: downcyling, which presents what would happen if the problem is not fixed, and upcycling, which would reuse every single material, therefore not allowing it to turned into another toxic waste pile. They want to revolutionize the entire design of products, so that from the very beginning each material used will be utilized in ca clean manner and be able to be reused continuously. They pose the problem that many industries do not want to go back to the drawing board because of the massive amount of expense that would cause.
The book itself is a very easy read, one that is informative to all educational levels. The only negative aspect that I can think of is its weight, because it is made from the synthetic material, it is quite a heavy book for its size.
All in all this book presents the idea of intelligent design, where the world should not see valuable raw materials sent to their graves through the use of ill design and manufacturing, but rather have them be intelligently created for an everlasting product thus making waste virtually nonexistent.
Summary of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
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.
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
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