Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

A manifesto for a radically different philosophy and practice of manufacture and environmentalism

"Reduce, reuse, recycle" urge environmentalists; in other words, do more with less in order to minimize damage. But as this provocative, visionary book argues, 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?

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, William McDonough and Michael Braungart make an exciting and viable case for change.

Architect William McDonough is an architect and the founding principal of William McDonough + Partners, an architecture and community design firm based in Charlottesville, Virginia; MBDC, a firm that assists companies in designing profitable and environmentally intelligent solutions; McDonough Innovation, where he is able to advise business and provide targeted ideas and strategic business solutions. A highly regarded speaker and writer, William McDonough’s co-authored Cradle to Cradle: Remaking The Way We Make Things has played an influential role in the sustainability movement.  McDonough partnered with Stanford University Libraries in 2012, on a “living archive” of his work and communications.  At the 2014 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland, McDonough participated as a leader, presenter and convener, and made sustainability a primary focus, for the first time at the WEF.    In 1999 Time magazine recognized him as a "Hero for the Planet," stating "his utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that―in demonstrable and practical ways―is changing the design of the world." In 1996, he received the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development, the highest environmental honor given by United States.  Additionally, in 2009, McDonough led the founding of the  Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute to donate the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program to the public.  In 2014, William McDonough was appointed by the World Economic Forum to Chair of the Meta-Council on the Circular Economy.  

Michael Braungart is a chemist and the founder of the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA) in Hamburg, Germany. Prior to starting EPEA, he was the director of the chemistry section for Greenpeace. Since 1984 he has been lecturing at universities, businesses, and institutions around the world on critical new concepts for ecological chemistry and materials flow management. Dr. Braungart is the recipient of numerous honors, awards, and fellowships from the Heinz Endowment, the W. Alton Jones Foundation, and other organizations.