The Upcycle

March 1, 2013
Architect McDonough and chemist Braungart (co-authors: Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, 2002) tender both an attitude and a strategy for a better-designed world. The authors caused a splash a decade ago with their notion of cradle to cradle: that our goods and services can be designed with the intentionality of reuse. Here, they expand on that notion, firing off examples of achieving the upcycle--"a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy, and just world with clean air, water, soil, and power, economically, equitably, ecologically, and elegantly enjoyed"--through the proper use of design. The book is a heady engagement, a powerful to-and-fro between the authors and readers. Who would quibble that design ought to take reuse into account, that regulations are a red flag indicating the need for redesign, or that using positive ingredients to begin with is better than having to eliminate dangerous byproducts? Most interesting are the hands-on, root-to-rebirth projects they, or others, have accomplished: Their design of an experimental, high-sustaining building for NASA is a vision brought to life; infusing objects with color via reflected-light polymers rather than poisonous dyestuffs; providing plants with the specific light energy they need with solar-powered LEDs. But the authors examine wind turbines as a "pleasant visual" in one instance and a potential "blight" in another, and some readers may wonder who decides "those things we like, that are useful, pleasurable, and healthy." The authors end with a "What's Next?" section, a list of 10 points to remember, including "We Don't Have an Energy Problem. We Have a Materials-in-the-Wrong-Place Problem," "Always Be Asking What's Next" and "Add Good on Top of Subtracting Bad." Mostly stimulating and inventive.

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April 15, 2013
With their landmark work on designing zero-waste merchandise, Cradle to Cradle (2002), architect McDonough and chemist Braungart launched a revolutionary program that encourages manufacturers to substitute environmentally unfriendly products with those that generate as few toxic footprints as possible. In consulting for corporations as far afield as Ford and Nike, the pair has demonstrated that nonpolluting goods, from carpets to shoes, can win consumers over without sacrificing the bottom line. Now the authors take their sustainability philosophy an inspired step further, arguing that industries can do better than simply trimming down the garbage and instead become part of the natural cycle of regeneration on the planet. Drawing on multiple examples from nature's endless food chain, where one creature's waste becomes nutrition for others, McDonough and Braungart debunk the notion that ecological measures inevitably steal profits from business and joy from life. The authors' many reports on industry innovators give readers a peek into a future where mankind might one day stop destroying the environment and, instead, add to its abundance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)