The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability--Designing for Abundance
William McDonough, Michael Braungart
Language: English
Pages: 227
ISBN: 0865477485
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
From the authors of Cradle to Cradle, we learn what's next: The Upcycle
The Upcycle is the eagerly awaited follow-up to Cradle to Cradle, one of the most consequential ecological manifestoes of our time. Now, drawing on the green living lessons gained from 10 years of putting the Cradle to Cradle concept into practice with businesses, governments, and ordinary people, William McDonough and Michael Braungart envision the next step in the solution to our ecological crisis: We don't just use or reuse and recycle resources with greater effectiveness, we actually improve the natural world as we live, create, and build.
For McDonough and Braungart, the questions of resource scarcity and sustainability are questions of design. They are practical-minded visionaries: They envision beneficial designs of products, buildings, and business practices―and they show us these ideas being put to use around the world as everyday objects like chairs, cars, and factories are being reimagined not just to sustain life on the planet but to grow it. It is an eye-opening, inspiring tour of our green future as it unfolds in front of us.
The Upcycle is as ambitious as such classics as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring―but its mission is very different. McDonough and Braungart want to turn on its head our very understanding of the human role on earth: Instead of protecting the planet from human impact, why not redesign our activity to improve the environment? We can have a beneficial, sustainable footprint. Abundance for all. The goal is within our reach.
be used again. Over and over, before we even start, we can ask: What’s next? We think always of the upcycle: Optimize materials or their ingredients. Optimize product pathways. Optimize nutrient management. If these ideas sound opaque at the moment, just wait. We will explain. Here Today, Where Tomorrow People leave behind nutrients not only in the biosphere. They also express their intentions in the technosphere. There is much talk today about national debts, budget deficits, and raising
with the same basic lexicon from the beginning. Let’s start with those biological and technical food chains. Why We See Abundance One of the most important concepts in Cradle to Cradle is that materials can be designed to differentiate between the biosphere and technosphere and become nutrients forever. For example, the “waste” of an animal becomes nutrition for microbes, fungi, plants, trees, reptiles, mammals, and so on, perhaps even food for humans. This is a simple example of a biological
technical nutrition; and the customer gets a new one, most likely from that very same manufacturer. The advantages are threefold: no “waste” of valuable technical nutrients for industry; the actual retrieval of materials by that industry; and a long and profitable relationship between a customer and a manufacturer. The plan has worked extremely well for a window manufacturer that essentially leases its windows as products of service. When the company has a better window available, the customer
matter the circumstances, that didn’t change: friendliness and willingness to experiment with new things. Now we take you to Iceland. The country has gorgeous small horses, known for their loyalty, unique gait, and ability to run on rough terrain. In Iceland, people don’t break the horses. The horse trainers and riders spend time with the horses and watch them, looking for particular characteristics. When asked what it is they are looking for, the answer is friendliness and willingness. They
paper that is Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Chain of Custody certified. Manufactured by Glatfelter in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, using about 50 percent biomass for energy, this virgin paper is made with no added optical brighteners or elemental chlorine bleach. The special cover material, Bio-Paper, was produced by C-Stone in Southern California and is made from a blend of limestone and plant-based resin. The paper uses a base of NatureWorks’ IngeoTM biopolymer, made from plants and not