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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Thingsby William McDonough and Michael Braungart
Powells.com Staff Pick"An eco-sustainable manifesto. The next Industrial Revolution will be Green!" Scott Smith, Powells.com Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments: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 News Annotation:Architect McDonough and chemist Braungart use this little book with
its curved corners and strangely smooth paper to embody and represent
one of two kinds of engineering which they advocate: development of
materials that can be perpetually reused in technology (the authors
claim the material can be continually remade into other books and
recycled). The other heralded mode of engineering promises the
elimination of anthropogenic waste which is not biodegradable into
food. In sum, the two maker-thinkers promote the manufacture of
objects that usefully die by means of processes and objects that
usefully never die. One of the more memorable phrases, "less bad is
no good," relates to their envisioned industrial re-revolution, one
in which reduction, reuse, and recycling pale in comparison to
upcycling, where products nourish or help nourish the planet. No
index and few bibliographic notes.
Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) About the AuthorWilliam McDonough is an architect and the founding principal of William McDonough + Partners, Architecture and Community Design, based in Charlottesville, Virginia. From 1994 to 1999 he served as dean of the school of architecture at the University of Virginia. In 1999 Time magazine recognized him as a "Hero for the Planet," stating that "his utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that—in demonstrable and practical ways—is changing the design of the world." In 1996, he received the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development, the highest environmental honor given by United States. Michael Braungart is a chemist and the founder of the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA) in Hamburg, Germany. Prior to starting EPEA, he was the director of the chemistry section for Greenpeace. Since 1984 he has been lecturing at universities, businesses, and institutions around the world on critical new concepts for ecological chemistry and materials flow management. Dr. Braungart is the recipient of numerous honors, awards, and fellowships from the Heinz Endowment, the W. Alton Jones Foundation, and other organizations. In 1995 the authors created McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, a product and systems development firm assisting client companies in implementing their unique sustaining design protocol. Their clients include Ford Motor Company, Nike, Herman Miller, BASF, DesignTex, Pendleton, Volvo, and the city of Chicago. The company's Web site can be found at www.mbdc.com. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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