Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things [B1224]

2002 PB. 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. But as this provocative, visionary book argues, 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?

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).

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Sometimes a little clumsily written. (And it could have been much shorter, if you ask me.) But I thank the authors for finally saying what needs to be said: Our current lifestyles are not sustainable. We are destroying the planet. There are alternatives. We can do better than this. We must do better than this."; "Maybe a bit overly idealistic in parts, but still a great resource for information on how to be better about the influences our buying has on the environment we all share."; "Absolutely love this book! It's a paradigm-shifter. I first read it years ago when it was released, and it blew my mind. It still does. Our current system is highly unsustainable, and Cradle to Cradle proposes a transformative shift in our production patterns through the introduction of a circular system. The core idea is to change how we produce things since significantly curbing our consumption, although necessary, seems unlikely."; "Great book. The examples it provides forced me to think critically about my own consumption & waste habits and have forced to me to consider what is and is not within my control. It's also allowed me to imagine ways our world could be more sustainable and how products should be designed to feed the environment or be re-used. I can honestly say I've begun living my life differently after reading this book. My biggest critique is that it can be highly technical at times. Almost to the point that it's difficult to follow. Even so, there's enough high level discussion to drive the key points home."