Cradle to Cradle
Book

Cradle to Cradle

Remaking the Way We Make Things

William McDonough and Michael Braungart
North Point Press, 2002
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

This is an extraordinary and unlikely book. It is not printed on paper, but on a waterproof polymer with the heft of good paper and more strength, a substance that reflects the right amount of light, yet holds the ink fast. It seems like an impossible fantasy, but so does much of what the authors propose about design and ecology. They speak with the calm certainty of the ecstatic visionary. Could buildings generate oxygen like trees? Could running shoes release nutrients into the earth? It seems like science fiction. Yet, here is this book, on this paper. The authors make a strong case for change, and just when you’re about to say, "if only," they cite a corporation that is implementing their ideas. However, it’s hard to believe their concepts would work on a large scale, in the face of powerful economic disincentives. The authors do aim some of their criticism at obsolete marketing and manufacturing philosophies, but, says getAbstract.com, the overall critique is well worth reading.

Summary

This Page is Not Paper

Every day you expose yourself to poison. You do things that cause pollution. You use products and services whose design makes destruction of the ecosystem inevitable: the chair you sit in, the computer you use, your shoes. You wear clothes made by exploited Third World workers. Your baby’s toys contain carcinogens. Could it be otherwise?

This book looks and feels like paper, but it’s not paper. It’s printed on a polymer made from resins and fillers. It didn’t kill any trees. It’s almost a sacrilege to kill a tree just to make paper. The man who developed this polymer sought a substance that would hold ink fast, provide good light reflection without glare, and be comfortable to hold and attractive to read.

That’s an entirely new approach to design. It means looking for something positive. Most environmentalists take a negative approach - don’t do this, don’t do that, get this chemical out, consume less and so on. They make life a chore and ecological awareness a penance.

Why not accentuate the positive? For example, Bedouin goat hair tents don’t just provide shelter. Because of the design and material the nomads use, the tents draw...

About the Authors

Time magazine recognized William McDonough, architect, as a "Hero of the Planet" in 1999. He has also received the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development, the U.S.’s highest environmental honor. Michael Braungart, chemist, founded the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA) in Hamburg, and formerly directed the chemical section of Greenpeace. He has received numerous awards, honors and fellowships.

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