Reviews

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  By David Czuba - October 18, 2012 7:56 pm Log in to Reply

  If society values a predictable future to reduce uncertainty, then cradle-to-cradle thinking must pervade human enterprise. As scientist Nils Barricelli speculated in the late 50s, when intelligent beings run out of finite resources, we stagnate and lose our ability to evolve quickly when environmental change occurs. We must start designing our products like nature does: not with obsolescence built-in, but with a continual fresh start in mind at the end-of-life-cycle. As chemist and designer Braungart and McDonough met and gathered clients like Herman-Miller, they unfolded a philosophy like that mentioned. Even the book itself is designed to be upcycled as quality material for another book. What if structures were all designed this way? What if water runoff were filtered before reaching the ocean? The authors hope to inculcate the importance of this kind of thinking. For the next step, the book “Fostering Sustainable Behavior” by Doug McKenzie-Mohr and William Smith offer thoughts on actually changing our building and consuming instincts. Although I have yet to read that book, it suggests the logical next step from Cradle-to-Cradle.