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Summary: a book to get you thinking
Review: This is not a manual or how to, it's a book to kick start new ways of thinking about everyday things.I did find it to be a little naive in places. Their belief that "Commerce is quick, highly creative, inventive, constantly seeking short- and long-term advantage, and inherently honest: you can't do business with people if they aren't trustworthy" just doesn't ring true to me. Commerce is as much and as many (or as few and as little) of these things as it needs to be to survive at any one time. That is all. Post Enron, et. al. most of us realize this. I was also disheartened at their mentioning of Malthus without going into any detail. First of all, Malthus has so far been proved wrong. Food production has grown incrementally just like population (even if not at the exact rate) and we've realized that lack of food is usually caused by problems with distribution and politics, not with the capability of the planet to produce enough food. He may be proved right some day, but not so far. They also don't mention that the reason Malthus became what they call a "cultural caricature" who's name even now "is equated with a Scrooge-like attitude toward the world" was most likely because his solution for over population was to let the poor starve. But over all this is a fascinating book that everyone would do well to read. No matter how hard we try, attempting to lessen our "ecological footprint" probably will never be enough. We can slow population growth and waste less and less without helping our environment as much as we should. We need to find ways to make that footprint beneficial.
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Summary: A guide to CHANGING things, not just making them less bad.
Review: This is one of those rare but valuable books that emphasizes the role of perception and beliefs in how we interact with the natural world. The authors 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 are ready to do more than just be "less bad."
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Summary: Waste Not
Review: Waste. We all create waste indirectly and directly as consumers on the planet Earth. We recycle right? Return our bottles and cans and recycle our newspapers and have the best of intentions to re-use and reduce. Is it enough and is it the right way to go? Most products are designed for one use only and recycling in most cases results in downcycling, producing gradually lower and lower quality products that need to be treated and developed with great cost and energy to eventually end up in a landfill in another form. It is a cradle to grave mentality and it is time for a new way to think. Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Micheal Braungart enlightens us on eco-efficiency and the necessity to become more symbiotic with nature. Their idea is that industries and products should follow the thought that 'waste equals food' as it does in the natural world. Ants and cherry trees don't have landfills, they each have their vital part in the ecosystem using the resources at hand and the energy from the sun. McDonough and Braungart are well respected and honoured environmentalists and their book, Cradle to Cradle is a must read. It is thought provoking and intelligent and will give you insights into some telling aspects of our consumerism which all of us should be aware. This book will also give you hope for there are many people and corporations that are embracing this system of eco-efficiency and if you read Cradle to Cradle it will make you want to rise up and join them. Cradle to Cradle is also eco-efficiently produced with plastic resins and inorganic fillers. It is durable, water-proof and can easily be recycled (It is a proto-type for a technical protein, made to be broken down and reused indefinitely). No trees were harmed in producing this book so read it guilt-free.
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Summary: A few reservations...
Review: While I agree with the basic premise of rethinking the way we make things, I take real exception to the constant bashing of previous efforts to reduce our negative impact on the earth, from recycling to hybrid cars. Like it or not, most of the ideas set forth in this book are not a reality today, or they exist on such a small scale as to be insignificant in stemming the overall decline. I think we need to embrace all approaches that set us on a path toward where we need to go, and realize interim steps may not be perfect, but they are better than waiting and doing nothing. Hybrid cars are here today. Fuel cell cars are not. You can drive your hybrid car and prevent a lot of carbon from spewing into the air over the next 10 years. Also, I can recycle my paperback book at work or in any city on my way home. Where do I recycle McDonough's highly eco-effective book when I'm done with it?
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