From cradle to cradle. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things is a book published in 2002 by the German chemist-ecologist and former member of the global organization Greenpeace Michael Braungart and the American landscape architect William McDonough in which a new way of interpreting environmentalism, the Next Industrial Revolution, is proposed.

Traditionally the main slogan of environmentalism has been the Rule of the three Rs: Reduce, reuse, recycle. Through this book, the authors propose a change of approach: Reducing the impact on the environment would cause a slowdown, but sooner or later we would be reaching the same end.

Faced with this panorama, they propose that the problems be tackled from their roots: instead of reducing energy consumption, from the very design and conception of any product, strategy or policy, all phases of the products involved must be taken into account (extraction, processing, use, reuse, recycling...) so that energy expenses are not even necessary, even that the balance of expenses and contributions is positive.

Taken to a practical example, this would imply that if a building spends a lot of energy with air conditioning and lighting, while optimizing the performance of the machinery and the installation of photovoltaic panels, the building should be conceived from the beginning considering the use of cross ventilation and natural lighting, so as not to need the energy expenditure that would otherwise occur. Even the building would generate more energy than it consumes (and would purify the water that passes through it, etc.).

The key concepts of the "cradle to cradle" philosophy are intuitive and rooted in imitation of nature, or more precisely connection with it:.

The problem with compostable products is that they are just that, compostable, they rot, and their speed depends on the amount of toxins they contain, which generates complaints against some biodegradable plastics; which also entails the danger to hygiene, and the "disappearance" of the product when it is required to be available for use or in stock, that is, its useful life is shortened and linked to special conservation conditions.

Cradle to Cradle: Redesigning the way we do things.

Original title: Cradle to cradle: Remaking the way we make things.

External links in English.