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.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: North Point Press
Published: 04/22/2002
ISBN: 9780865475878
Pages: 208
Weight: 1.22lbs
Size: 7.88h x 5.14w x 0.68d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 02/01/2002 pg. 164
Publishers Weekly 02/11/2002 pg. 170
Mother Jones 03/01/2002 pg. 82
Discover 07/01/2002 pg. 87
Choice 10/01/2002 pg. 305