Will I love Cradle to Cradle?

This book is an excellent primer on sustainable design by leaders in the field. They make the case as clearly as anyone that we have the knowledge and skill to design products that are functional, durable, beautiful, and sustainable. This isn’t just a hope or ideal. McDonough and Braungart have demonstrated their creed of sustainable design in practice.

When I first read this book more than twenty years ago, I wanted to jump for joy. Here was a book of solutions to our problems based on a simple but brilliant question: How can we create products, buildings, and systems that are 100% regenerative and healthy? In other words, not simply less bad but truly good?

The book then proceeded to answer that simple question with examples that had already begun to take root, and a vision in which we can all take part. It was among the most hopeful books I had ever read, and even though it’s… show more.

I loved this book because it goes beyond our typical ideas about how to “rescue the planet.” If there was ever a simple way forward and argument to be optimistic about the future of the products, consumerism, and building, then this is where I found it.

Written with enthusiasm and passion (not to mention humour) this is groundbreaking ecological thinking all wrapped up in a new systemic way of designing for the future.

Cradle to Cradle challenges conventional approaches to design and sustainability.

The authors present a compelling vision for a world where products are created with a 'waste equals food' philosophy, imitating natural systems by reusing resources and eliminating harmful waste. The books struck me as being both encouraging and depressing at the same time, a sentiment I get from many other sustainable and recycling books.

However this is the reality of the complex world of materials we have created for ourselves and one we must come to grips with. Unfortunately change can be slow, so even though this book was written… show more.

Cradle to Cradle lays out a clear and actionable approach to balancing our modern industrial systems with the health of all living things on this planet. Unlike so many perspectives that pit technological progress against ecological health, this book makes it clear how we can have both without sacrificing our own health or the health of other living things. When I was first beginning my landscape design practice, this book inspired me greatly. Now, over two decades later, it still inspires me because the perspective shared on these pages is more relevant than ever.