Cradle to cradle : remaking the way we make things / William McDonough & Michael Braungart.

By:

McDonough, William

Contributor(s):

Braungart, Michael, 1958- [author]

Material type: Text

TextLanguage: English Publication details: New York : North Point Press, 2002.Edition: First edition.Description: 193 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm.ISBN:

9780865475878

Subject(s):

LOC classification:

TD794.5 .M395 2002

Contents:

Introduction : this book is not a tree -- 1. A question of design -- 2. Why being "less bad" is no good -- 3. Eco-effectiveness -- 4. Waste equals food -- 5. Respect diversity -- 6. Putting eco-effectiveness into practice -- Notes -- Acknowledgments

Summary: "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.

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Copy number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Recommended bibliography book	TBS Barcelona	TD794.5 MCD (Browse shelf(Opens below))	2	Available		b05134

Includes bibliographical references.

"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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