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June 11, 2002
Book Review: Cradle to Cradle
by William Baue
William McDonough and Michael Braungart propose a paradigm shift for how the world views product
lifespans, moving from a "cradle-to-grave" mentality where products die in a landfill to a
"cradle-to-cradle" mentality where they continue to feed production.
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Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things initially illustrates the authors'
main proposition not through print but through physical touch. The book feels heftier and sturdier
than traditional paperbacks, in part because it is not made of paper but of plastic resins.
Besides being waterproof and durable, the book itself serves as the prototype of a truly recyclable
product in which materials are reused without degradation of quality.
 "[The book] celebrates its materials instead
of apologizing for them," write the authors, architect William McDonough and chemist Michael
Braungart.
This may be the most radical proposal of a book filled with radical but
eminently practical proposals. Mr. McDonough and Mr. Braungart conceive of a paradigm shift that
removes the guilt from environmentalism. Most environmentalists point out the negative apects of
certain practices, such as bleaching paper. They rely on guilt to motivate people to employ less
harmful practices such as using recycled paper. However, when this paper can no longer be recycled
it will end up in a landfill, where it will leech the chlorine that was used to bleach the original
paper.
This form of recycling, which the authors define as "downcycling," merely
postpones the consequences of the problem. "Upcycling," on the other hand, completely reuses
materials in ways that do not degrade their quality. The authors call the upcycling approach
"eco-effective," as opposed to the "eco-efficient" approach of conventional recycling. With more
and more corporations considering their products' complete life cycles, the application of the
cradle-to-cradle model could have profound implications not only for the environment but also for
investors. Eco-effective companies can potentially lower their raw material costs and generate
more sustainable returns.
Cradle to Cradle reads easily and is peppered with
abundant examples and lively language. Indeed, the authors contribute many new terms to the
lexicon and new theories to the collective conscious. They distinguish between "biological
nutrients," or any material that can biodegrade safely, such as leather, and "technical nutrients,"
or any material that feeds the industrial processes, such as copper. The authors also seek to
obliterate the concept of waste, replacing it with the notion that "waste equals food." The key to
economic nutrition is keeping biological and technical nutrients separate, so that each can be
fully upcycled to remain in the economic food chain.
Mr. McDonough and Mr. Braungart
borrow the term "monstrous hybrids" to describe products that combine biological and technical
nutrients in ways that prevent their being completely recycled. For example, books combine
biological nutrients (paper) with technical nutrients (adhesives) that prevent them from being
fully recycled. Monstrous hybrids also include the cross-breeding of technical nutrients. In
automobile production, for example, the melting of highly valuable metals results in much less
useful amalgamations at the end of the product's lifespan.
The authors see at present a
world where valuable raw materials are thrown into the "grave" of landfills simply because the
designers did not have enough foresight to plan for their reuse. They envision a world where
intelligent design results in the perpetual reuse of materials, and where the concept of waste
becomes obsolete.
While traditional environmentalism chants a reduction mantra (reduce,
reuse, recycle), the cradle-to-cradle theory is rooted in capitalism, which encourages growth.
Environmentalists often focus on how products degrade the environment. The authors reconcile
growth with environmental preservation by envisioning products that are in harmony with the earth's
cycles of regeneration.
The cradle-to-cradle theory almost conveys a sense of
inevitability. Investors with foresight can support the transformation from an economy that
presages its own funeral (cradle-to-grave) to an economy that celebrates its perpetual
reincarnation (cradle-to-cradle). And these investors can profit financially while encouraging the
adaptation of what the authors claim is a truly sustainable form of capitalism.
Buy this book at Amazon.com
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. North Point Press, New York: 2002.
©
SRI World Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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