Cradle to Cradle cover art

Cradle to Cradle

Remaking the Way We Make Things

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Cradle to Cradle

Written by: William McDonough, Michael Braungart
Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
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About this listen

 "Reduce, reuse, recycle," urge environmentalists. In other words, do more with less in order to minimize damage. William McDonough and Michael Braungart argue in this provocative book that this approach perpetuates a one-way, "cradle to grave" manufacturing model that dates back to the Industrial Revolution, a model that casts off as much as 90 percent of the materials it uses as waste, much of it toxic. They challenge the notion that human industry must inevitably damage the natural world.

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. "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 redesigning everything from carpeting to corporate campuses, the authors make an exciting and viable case for change.

©2002 William McDonough and Michael Braungart (P)2008 Tantor Engineering Environment Industrial & Manufacturing Nature & Ecology Science Conservation Mathematics Pollution Ecosystem Capitalism

What the critics say

"An inspiring reminder that humans are capable of much more elegant environmental solutions than the ones we've settled for in the last half-century." ( Publishers Weekly)
"A readable provocative treatise that 'gets outside the box' in a huge way. Timely and inspiring." ( Kirkus)
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in conjunction with many other sustainability related titles the concepts ensure the reader thinks through many common aspects of life that could be improved but need the shift of so many systems

New Revolution

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