Living Cradle to Cradle

The basic premise of the book Cradle to Cradle is that the modern production system is poorly designed. Industrial production is environmentally damaging, planned out of sync with the landscape around it, and extraordinarily expensive and resource intensive. The products that we create are made to be used up and discarded, leaving their value in a landfill rather than passing it on. While attempts to make the system less harmful (such as recycling) are admirable, McDonough claims that they will never be effective in the long term, because the system will still be driven towards the Earth’s limits, albeit more slowly. Instead, he calls for a system that uses all resources and creates things that can be reused infinitely. According to McDonough, the extra effort is the only way to create a system that is “100% good.”

I agree with McDonough completely. His claim that “less bad is not the same as good” struck me particularly. One of my biggest complaints is products that claim to be environmentally friendly because they use less resources, such as the 15% recycled paper coffee cup that celebrates its ecological benefits, or the water bottle with a smaller cap to “save plastic.” Such claims are absolutely ridiculous. While it is better to recycle what we can, we should not be producing things like plastic water bottles in the first place, and should be looking for products that will last and be re-used rather than melted down into a self-righteous grocery bag from Whole Foods. I know I’m not perfect, either, though; my metal water bottle will probably wear out one day, as well, and I will get rid of it and be required to buy a new one.

I also love his comments about production spreading unnaturally across the planet. When I consider civilization as a whole, I cannot help but think of us as a cancer, spreading our asphalt and pipes under and above natural processes. The idea of a society that works within natural processes and even tries to model itself after them is one of my personal fantasies, and seeing it articulated in a popular book is incredibly encouraging. His thoughts about the potential of waste are particularly beautiful, because he sees value in even things that most people consider to be valueless. My family composts, and I have a newfound appreciation for fruit peels, rotten vegetables, and earth worms. Using things we no longer need to create things we do need is not only natural, it’s also beautiful.