Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things | 
 enlarge | Authors: William Mcdonough, Michael Braungart
Publisher: North Point Press
Category: Book
List Price: $27.50
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Avg. Customer Rating:  142 reviews
Sales Rank: 525
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0865475873
Dewey Decimal Number: 745.2
EAN: 9780865475878
ASIN: 0865475873
Publication Date: April 22, 2002
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
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
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.
Book Description
"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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 137 more reviews...
 Spectacular Read!! July 16, 2008
The book was delivered in good condition and in a timely fashion. I am very pleased with your services.
great read July 14, 2008
this was a fascinating book with a great amount of real life examples and how their theories actually apply to real life and how their design plan of "upcycling" (opposed to recycling) is actually do-able. Even this book is made of materials that fit into their design plans. I've read some books that have great ideas but no way of implementing them, the two authors are already succeeded. it is well written and a good read.
cradle to cradle July 5, 2008
This was an interesting book to read and an important one. Is has not used paper as its format. It offers a slightly different take on the ecology problems. It focuses on creating products that are designed at the onset to be environmentally sound and completely recyclable. It is well written, easy to read and offers a bit of hope. Although at times I felt it was perhaps a bit idealistic, since completing it I have read about 2-3 businesses that have been started using these principles. Numi tea one.
 Great read! June 21, 2008
This was a great introduction to so many key, elementary principles in sustainable thinking/living/product design. I learned a lot! I hope enough people are informed and inspired by it to create the kind of real change that is being discussed in this book in terms of truly ecological product designs in everyday things (e.g., cars, homes, and other "products" that incorporate biomimicry, etc).
solutions for a future May 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
this book introduces one to a new way of making things and eliminating the worry about pollution and garbage. It should be read by every manufacturer, politician, teacher, parent... in short by everyone who lives on this planet!!!!!
it shows the right approach to production and consumption ....cradle to cradle, where waste becomes food or is comletely reused by the industry without leaving toxins behind. A fabulous and quite obviously a doable concept. Therefore animals, plants, water, air and soil can recover from the effects of our past practices.
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