Review by Gregory Paul Sparhawk, AIA

Gregory Sparhawk is a partner with Surround Architecture in Boulder, Colo. He graduated in 2000 from the Boston Architectural Center . He has worked in the field of architecture full time for 10 years and hopes to return to architecture education to research and teach the importance of the diverse artistic aspect of architecture.

The simple physical act of picking up this book is an enjoyment for the senses. Its weight and tactile qualities make it a joy to handle. There are very few bad things to be said about this book, many of which are actually further justification for a sequel….if there is still time left in our doomed existence. Perhaps that is a grave approach to what this book seems to relate but it certainly doesn’t fall far from the mark.

The authors make spectacular observations regarding the degree of waste created in developing and producing a product, wholly apart from the actual waste of the product itself. The reader is taken by the hand and walked through the various socioeconomic systems of development and consumption present in our world’s development. Through reading the book we become more familiar with the stereotypical corporate priorities of the best for the least amount. You’ll be drawn in ever deeper, feeling guilt at what you, as a consumer, are doing to support this cancerous system of waste. Then when you begin to feel some sense of redemption at the fact that you recycle your plastic bottles; you are hit with the fact that even this hallowed solution, promoted from high upon the environmentalists pulpit, is in fact also adding to the waste that is destroying our ecosystem. This is when many of us less intelligent readers will reach an epiphany of sorts. The true genius behind this published effort is that our mainstream society has become so engrossed in the recycle mantra that very few of us have stopped to think that it is humanly possible to actually put a stop to the waste, as opposed to reducing it. In fact, McDonough and Braungart, in their dogged research and practice, are going beyond this stage which so many of us have yet to reach. They are pushing not only for the cessation of waste, but the production of goods that strengthen the environment and this world we live in. It is a brilliantly simple idea, but an extremely daunting practice. And therein lies one of this reviewers biggest issues with this publication. This book lacks depth in its response to these problems. While extremely commendable, their obtainable utopist ideals are certainly not without flaw or criticism; understandably so considering that what they are trying to achieve is an undertaking of monumental proportions.

Some of the books analogies are fairly weak and unpractical, but certainly create fodder for thought. One in particular was how the authors description on the nature of ants as a beneficial species to the planet leaves the reader with a “why can’t we be like them” feeling. The human race, for better or for worse, is certainly a much more fickle and complicated animal and this analogy simply does not do this book justice. Part of the problem with this ant comparison is that it seems to be a highly undeveloped idea in the face of the extensive research and analysis that took place for this book. In fact, one of the most amazing things about the authors’ practices is that they are questioning practices that involve grand scale pollution in conjunction with analysis of the smallest ingredient in a product, such as the effect of abraded molecules from a tennis shoe on the air we breathe. They seem to challenge everything that most of us take for granted, and are certainly not ready to kick up their heels at a ‘sustainable’ solution to our world’s problem. In supporting their belief that simply maintaining the status quo is not sufficient they offer this anecdote, perhaps one of the strongest in the book. It is the author’s position that “a sustainable marriage is not a good one.” This simple idea is a perfect example of how we need to keep pushing for better solutions to yesterday’s, today’s, and tomorrow’s environmental problems.

Cradle to Cradle certainly reads as a call to arms and is overflowing with examples of what we are doing wrong and how we are harming our environment. I began to get so engrossed in the book that I was almost alright with the fact that they do little to offer concrete solutions to these problems. I truly hope that these two brilliant innovators continue to develop their ideas and perhaps develop a second work that puts a much greater emphasis on the answers to these problems. We now need concrete directions on what we, as professionals, can do to solve these issues. Perhaps this may be provided to us as a guide to selling our clients on the benefits of a more expensive product, or perhaps it could be produced in a similar format as graphic standards laying out step by step graphics for the less proprietary systems and solutions. Regardless of the format, we will all be better off with more books in this world that do as good a job at offering a fresh and informed perspective as this book has done. The question isn’t whether you should read this book or not, the question is when. The answer is yesterday.