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Cradle to cradle : remaking the way we make things / William McDonough & Michael Braungart.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublication details: New York : North Point Press, 2002.Edition: 1st edDescription: 193 p. ; 21 cmISBN:
  • 0865475873 (pbk. : alk. paper)
  • 9780865475878 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Other title:
  • Remaking the way we make things
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction: This book is not a tree -- Question of design -- Why being "less bad" is no good -- Eco-effectiveness -- Waste equals food -- Respect diversity -- Putting eco-effectiveness into practice.
Summary: 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. As this book argues, however, this approach perpetuates a one-way "cradle to grave" manufacturing model that 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, they ask. Products might be designed so that, after their useful life, they provide nourishment for something new. Elaborating their principles from experience (re)designing everything from carpeting to corporate campuses, the authors make an exciting and viable case for change.--From publisher description.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 745.2 M136 Available 33111006037739
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 745.2 M136 Available 33111006296905
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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.

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction: This book is not a tree -- Question of design -- Why being "less bad" is no good -- Eco-effectiveness -- Waste equals food -- Respect diversity -- Putting eco-effectiveness into practice.

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. As this book argues, however, this approach perpetuates a one-way "cradle to grave" manufacturing model that 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, they ask. Products might be designed so that, after their useful life, they provide nourishment for something new. Elaborating their principles from experience (re)designing everything from carpeting to corporate campuses, the authors make an exciting and viable case for change.--From publisher description.

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