Purpose Articles Books The Crash Course Book Reviews Websites Newsletter back to top		Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart Imagine living in a house where everything you do--from watching TV to making dinner and even going to the bathroom--all replenish and nurture the environment? Imagine driving a car that instead of polluting the air, it cleans it? Or, like the authors of Cradle To Cradle suggest, imagine a world where products are so harmless and beneficial that signs in parks read "Please Litter"? Cradle to Cradle shows not only how this is possible, but also why this is better. The authors, McDonough (an architect) and Braungart (a chemist), emphasize the role of perception and beliefs in how we interact with the natural world. They show how incorrect or incomplete mindsets influence design, and poor design in turn leads to countless problems. For example: The paradigm that gave birth to the Industrial Revolution and our modern economy didn't consider the benefits of diversity. What resulted was a system that not only disregards diversity, but also REWARDS conformity. Manufacturers are forever trying to make one-size-fits-all products, because those are the ones that make the most money. They're also usually the ones that cause the most damage! It seems easy to see that if we want to fix the situation, we have to fix the system that spawns it. But too often we treat the symptoms and not the cause. As Cradle to Cradle puts it, "Instead of presenting an inspiring and exciting vision of change, conventional environmental approaches focus on what not to do....But to be less bad is to accept things as they are, to believe that poorly designed, dishonorable, destructive systems are the best humans can do." (p. 66-67) On the flip side, this book is one of the few that envisions something better. After all, it was vision that propelled the Industrial Revolution, and it'll be a new, more exciting vision that spurs the next. In stirring our imagination and helping us picture a sustainable future, Cradle to Cradle becomes a guide to those of us who really want to make a difference. I'm always on the look-out for books that are really centered on sustainability. If you'd like to be kept up-to-date on book reviews, sign up for the SustainableWays.com monthly newsletter. And if you want to help keep them coming, please make your purchases through the links on this site. The authors of this book run a firm called McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, as well as a non-profit, GreenBlue.com, based on the principles presented in their book. If you're at all interested in the whole Cradle to Cradle philosophy, these are two website you do NOT want to miss.

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