- MP3 CD
- Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc; Unabridged edition (28 July 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1400157617
- ISBN-13: 978-1400157617
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13.6 x 1.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 568,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Cradle to Cradle
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
`A rare example of the `inspirational' book that actually is.'
--The Guardian
`A rare example of the `inspirational' book that actually is.' --The Guardian --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
--The Guardian
`A rare example of the `inspirational' book that actually is.' --The Guardian --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Product Description
How can we avoid environmental disaster? Nowadays, in the home, most of us do our bit: we recycle. But what about industry, where the real damage is done? The strategy is the same: ‘reduce, resize, reuse’ – we try to minimize the damage. But there is a limitation to this well-intentioned approach: it maintains the one-way, ‘cradle to grave’ manufacturing model of the Industrial Revolution, the very model that creates immense amounts of waste and pollution in the first place. What we need is a major rethink, a new approach which directly combats the problem rather than slowly perpetuating it. An exciting, simple and groundbreaking new vision, Cradle to Cradle offers this approach. With clear, accessible – even humorous – arguments, celebrated chemist Michael Braungart and inspirational architect Bill McDonough challenge the set-in notion that human industry must damage the world. They look to nature and find a production system we can follow, a system of abundance rather than reduction, in which waste equals food. They show how we can mimic nature’s model to our commercial and environmental advantage, demonstrating how products can be designed as biological and technical nutrients that will continually circulate as pure and valuable materials, eradicating the need to ‘recycle’ – really downcycle – products into low-grade materials and uses. Cradle to Cradle’s theories have been put into practice across the world and will shape our future – they are implemented by major governments, big corporations, small, innovative independent businesses and university science departments, and are given high-profile backing by environmentalists and celebrity activists. This updated edition is essential reading, a bold, practical and overwhelmingly positive manifesto for an environmentally prosperous future, a world where we can make maximum profit from nature without destroying it.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This extreme book is an example of it's own preachings. The book doesnt contain a single ounce of paper. In fact it's made out of a fully recyclable plastic material, and the non-toxic ink can be removed with special non-toxic chemicals. Basically it's the future of a fully recyclable book design. Amazing!
Although quite an intense read, it is quite interesting and at times captivating. Based on an architect and a scientist that teamed up and work on projects to basically help companies become more environmentally friendly.
Examples include the book design, Ford Motor company, and other examples of products that can slowly pollute the environment and possible solutions to these products. Alot of the solutions can be recycled over and over, as the cradle to cradle title suggests.
The book also describes the difference between the Technosphere and Biosphere, and how products from these two different environments interact with each other and the world around us.
Reccomended read, and the book is fully waterproof - Genius!
48 of 52 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an extraordinary and unlikely book. It is not printed on paper, but on a waterproof polymer with the heft of good paper and more strength, a substance that reflects the right amount of light, yet holds the ink fast. It seems like an impossible fantasy, but so does much of what the authors propose about design and ecology. They speak with the calm certainty of the ecstatic visionary. Could buildings generate oxygen like trees? Could running shoes release nutrients into the earth? It seems like science fiction. Yet, here is this book, on this paper. The authors make a strong case for change, and just when you're about to say, "if only," they cite a corporation that is implementing their ideas. However, it's hard to believe their concepts would work on a large scale, in the face of powerful economic disincentives. We believe authors do aim some of their criticism at obsolete marketing and manufacturing philosophies, but the overall critique is well worth reading.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Cradle to Cradle is a manifesto for the new consumer - a mall-nirvana of non toxic products, endlessly `up-cycled' and replaceable; sustainability without the need to change our consuming habits.
Shrugging off alternative strategies as too dour and depressing, the authors put their faith in the belief that we can design our way out of the current predicament of toxic and crude products and create a virtuous circle of product creation, use and "up-cycling" to preserve precious resources and reduce our impact on the planet.
This is an appealing vision and one has to admire the work of co-authors Bill and Michael over many years in developing and testing their theory. But I was left more than a little disappointed as I realised not just the practical limits of their approach but also the philosophy that seemed to underlie their proposition.
This is a manifesto for accelerated consumerism, an evolutionary attempt to overcome the problems we have created through ignorance and myopia. At no point do the authors seem to question the wisdom of consumerism in a shrinking world or its instant appeal and ramifications for a global population of almost 7billion today and maybe 9 billion by 2050.
Maybe I was expecting too much, but even if every product complied with the cradle-to-cradle philosophy we would still be an awfully long way from a sustainable, let alone just world. I can't help but feel that even if the Cradle-to-Cradle philosophy was able to generate the abundance of endlessly re-cycled products it proposes, we will still require a more fundamental appraisal of why we want so much `stuff' we do not need in the first place, regardless of how it is designed and produced.
I am reminded of the Irish farmer's response to the request for directions from a lost tourist, "Well, if I was you, I wouldn't be starting out from here." Making existing product's more eco-friendly and efficient sounds a very worthy goal but maybe the first question we should be asking is, "Do we really need them in the first place?"
Shrugging off alternative strategies as too dour and depressing, the authors put their faith in the belief that we can design our way out of the current predicament of toxic and crude products and create a virtuous circle of product creation, use and "up-cycling" to preserve precious resources and reduce our impact on the planet.
This is an appealing vision and one has to admire the work of co-authors Bill and Michael over many years in developing and testing their theory. But I was left more than a little disappointed as I realised not just the practical limits of their approach but also the philosophy that seemed to underlie their proposition.
This is a manifesto for accelerated consumerism, an evolutionary attempt to overcome the problems we have created through ignorance and myopia. At no point do the authors seem to question the wisdom of consumerism in a shrinking world or its instant appeal and ramifications for a global population of almost 7billion today and maybe 9 billion by 2050.
Maybe I was expecting too much, but even if every product complied with the cradle-to-cradle philosophy we would still be an awfully long way from a sustainable, let alone just world. I can't help but feel that even if the Cradle-to-Cradle philosophy was able to generate the abundance of endlessly re-cycled products it proposes, we will still require a more fundamental appraisal of why we want so much `stuff' we do not need in the first place, regardless of how it is designed and produced.
I am reminded of the Irish farmer's response to the request for directions from a lost tourist, "Well, if I was you, I wouldn't be starting out from here." Making existing product's more eco-friendly and efficient sounds a very worthy goal but maybe the first question we should be asking is, "Do we really need them in the first place?"
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
tark realisation that we need to do something now
This book has changed my life. Really interesting points of view and for someone who was vaguely interested in the idea of recycling, it has opened up lots of ideas on up cycling... Read more
Published 4 months ago by A. stephenson
Re-think what you know.
This book really makes you think. It borders on scary but generally sticks to being very scientific in it's non-biased look at the environment. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mark Walton
Eco-Effectiveness: a new way of thinking
What I liked most about this book is the concept of eco-effectiveness. Braungart explains how businesses are able to become more environmental friendly and more profitable by... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Frank Röttgers
Excellent ideas, not so well presented
I read the book because I had listened to a lecture by the same name, by McDonough, on iTunesU. It was worth reading the book to refresh the ideas and get a bit more depth, but... Read more
Published 15 months ago by anglolisa
Why we need a new industrial revolution, and how it can be done
Already something of a classic, Cradle to Cradle: Re-making the way we make things is an influential call for an industrial design revolution. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Jeremy Williams
Everyone should read this!
A fantastic book that everyone should/must read! I found this book inspiring, although I had heard the principles and the name of the book mentioned before I had never read it and... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Kirbie
Review of "Cradle to Cradle"
This book is a "must read" for anyone concerned with waste, pollution and / or resource depletion. On the face of it, it is about recycling, and not much more, but the rigour of... Read more
Published 19 months ago by David Weight
A fresh look at how at how we do things
A wake-up call to industry: how you can produce smarter products, save money, be profitable - and save the planet. Highly recommendable!
Published 20 months ago by net_efekt
Need help to imagine a sustainable future without giving up all our...
Word of warning to anyone who already has the last edition - this is not a significant new revision - there are disappointingly few new revelations here. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Jamie Osborne
Well worth reading
Well worth reading. And lending out, again and again.
No point in duplicating the descriptions already provided - This book should is highly recommended for a reason.
No point in duplicating the descriptions already provided - This book should is highly recommended for a reason.
Published 21 months ago by cebeautifulca
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Search Customer Discussions
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Science & Nature > Engineering & Technology > Civil Engineering > Environmental
- Books > Science & Nature > Engineering & Technology > Engineering Skills & Design > Industrial Design
- Books > Science & Nature > Engineering & Technology > Mechanical & Materials Engineering > Production Engineering
- Books > Science & Nature > Engineering & Technology > Production, Manufacturing & Operational > Productivity
- Books > Science & Nature > Environment & Ecology > Biodiversity
- Books > Science & Nature > Environment & Ecology > Conservation
- Books > Science & Nature > Environment & Ecology > Ecology
- Books > Science & Nature > Mathematics > Popular Maths
- Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical > Environment > Applied Ecology
- Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical > Environment > Environmental Conservation
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
