“Cradle to Cradle – re-making the way we make things”
by M. Braungart and W. McDonough
ISBN: 0099535475
“When you do something wrong, don’t try improve upon it.” Instead, the ‘cradle to cradle’ approach suggests, you go back to the beginning (to the design of a product, and hence the drawing board that is), and fix the problem right where it went wrong in first place.
The fundamental underlying idea is, based on the cycles of nature, that there should principally not be any ‘waste’ at all. Waste, in nature, is nothing but the fuel to other – natural – processes. ‘Waste’ is always of further use, and certainly never a looming source of danger and pollution.
The authors purposely take the focus away from the human being, and instead broaden it to look at Earth, the globe, as a systemic whole. With chiefly examples taken from the world of consumer goods producers (from buildings and cars to sneakers and kids’ toys), each of the chapters adds a piece to the puzzle answering questions such as:
- how did we get where we are now (i.e. close to succeeding in destroying the species’ habitat through mismanagement of finite resources)?
- why are current mainstream efforts by far not good enough to change the course of the ship we’re on?
- why should we be ‘fundamentally good’ rather then just ‘less bad’? and
- why does doing ‘the right thing’ not mean to loose out on business opportunities?
The authors introduce us to the important distinction between eco-effectiveness and eco-efficiency:
Eco-efficiency is what the currently on-going“green the production” wave across all industrial sectors is all about – the famous 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The whole underlying idea is to“be less bad”, and therefore, make the currently existing resources last longer. Essentially, this means going on doing the same [dangerous, wasteful, polluting, depleting] activities for longer than previously estimated, but on a reduced level of intensity in order to be able to stretch the period during which the limited resources will be available. Eco-efficiency, cannot be the ultimate stage in – humanity, Earth – overcoming serious challenges such as Climate Change, depletion of fossil fuel reserves, extinction of marine live and mountains of toxic waste.
In contrast, eco-effectiveness would mean to“fit in” with nature. All that is left over at the end of one production process (‘waste’, product, by-products etc.) is either a clean natural resource such as water, or entirely organically decomposable such as untreated wool, or itself a source of potentially infinitely recyclable (rather then down-cyclable as is current practise) non-degradable material such as pure copper or gold.
The authors suggest 5 indicative, practical steps (read ‘hurdles’) as pathway to create goods that follow the logic of nature. Each step is concrete enough to apply it to a specific product design, yet sufficiently generic to not exclude any single industry. The steps and the examples given from their own experience proof that it is often only the lack of commitment as well as man’s inertia that hinders Cradle-to-Cradle becoming the new state-of-the-art.
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The ClimaTex story:
In the early 1990s, the authors collaborate with the Swiss upholstery textile company Rohner in an assignment to design “an aesthetically unique fabric that was also environmentally intelligent”. The textile company’s preferred idea was a fabric made of a cotton/recycled-PET combination. Now, PET is plastic – treated with a multitude of chemicals and dyes. In its use, upholstery fabric is exposed to heavily abrasive processes – setting free highly toxic nano-particles into the air we breath. Also, the by- and waste products of such a fabric would, under Swiss law, need to be exported as highly toxic waste, as they cannot be buried, or even incinerated in the country. In short, in the overall image a range of substantial challenges, both ethically as well as environmentally, surfaced.
Instead, a short period of research into natural fibres and non-toxic dyes began, which lead to the development of a novel fabric. With the help of sun, rain and micro-organisms, the trimmings – or fabric scraps – now provide mulch for the farmers in the surrounding community. The effluent water was as clean as, or even cleaner than, the influent water – to the degree that the Health & Safety inspectors first thought their equipment was broken. The lack of toxic materials in the production process meant that workers did not need any protective equipment such as goggles or gloves any more – which not only resulted in steep monetary savings, but also in a more agreeable, “human-kind” work place.
The fabric was such a huge success that the producers faces a different type of problem: over-demand. It is for example being used for the seating of Airbus’ current A380 model.
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“Cradle to Cradle – re-making the way we make things” is an inspirational read. The authors clearly get their point across that man is just one of the creatures living on this planet, and that the human being needs again to become a “native” within the system called Earth. The examples presented are clear and generally well understandable, albeit more detailed descriptions, specifically on how the design process exactly works in practice, would be very much appreciated. The beauty of the concept stretches beyond what is written in the book – if the authors’ motto (“love the children of all species for all time”) is taken at heart, phenomena such as human rights breaches and poverty would no doubt have a much harder time to continue to exist.
Beyond the book however, it is very unfortunate that the authors have chosen to exclude the vast majority of businesses from their efforts. They have done so by creating yet another, highly valued and equally expensive, certification process based on the 5 steps model mentioned above. This said, this only leads to enforce the conclusion that the word about the Cradle-to-Cradle concept should be spread with even more commitment. Many more committed managers, designers, workers, are needed to take the idea off the hands of a selected few out into the mainstream and our everyday lives.
This book is available from your nearest book store, or online from Amazon.
