Conservation : Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

EUR 14,62


Paper or plastic? Neither, say William McDonough and Michael Braungart. Why settle for the least harmful alternative when we could have something that is better--say, edible grocery bags! In Cradle to Cradle, the authors present a manifesto calling for a new industrial revolution, one that would render both traditional manufacturing and traditional environmentalism obsolete. Recycling, for instance, is actually downcycling, creating hybrids of biological and technical nutrients which are then unrecoverable and unusable. The authors, an architect and a chemist, want to eliminate the concept of waste altogether, while preserving commerce and allowing for human nature. They offer several compelling examples of corporations that are not just doing less harm--they re actually doing some good for the environment and their neighborhoods, and making more money in the process. Cradle to Cradle is a refreshing change from the intractable environmental conflicts that dominate headlines. It s a handbook for 21st-century innovation and should be required reading for business hotshots and environmental activists. --Therese Littleton

Economic prosperity -Ecology: two sides of the same coin!, - Can you imagine that today in December 2007 some people still believe (and publicly state it) that there is some kind of a trade-off between economic growth and ecology?The authors of this book demonstrate very practically why it is not true. The solutions proposed are not in the form of binding constraints and the examples taken by the authors come from their own (very successful) professional experience. Their have had as client a gigantic automobile corporation of Detroit as well as a textile manufacturer from Switzerland and to some extend Nike. They all have in common greater productivity, and increased health standard for worker and clients and very significant cost cut.Get introduced to the concepts of downcycling and (genuine) recycling.The main point of the authors is that we should switch from a one size fits all standardized world to a haute couture highly engineered, customized and creative world. The book, the object in itself, illustrate their point and shows how consequent they are with the ideas the propose us. By the way, I just saw Brad PITT on TV, working hand in hand with one of the authors of the book (William McDONOUGH) to provide new generation homes and utilities for the victims of Katrina.




Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things