Cradle to Cradle: We may have already thrown out the baby with the bathwater

Cradle to Cradle has got me thinking in new ways—I must credit it with that. Never before had I given so much thought to closed-loop production cycles, or all of the hazards of cradle to grave production. I begin reading the book in the library, but by the tenth page was starting to feel nervous and out of place, worried that my fidgeting would lead to abrasions of my clothes and the carpet and the table and that I might be breathing in any number of poisonous fumes without knowing. I quickly moved outside, where I was much better able to focus on the book and not the threatening presence of so many untested synergies of mostly unknown mixtures of chemicals.

I liked most about the book its fresh ideas. Instead of coming up with a better answer to the question of environmental efficiency, it presents a new question: eco-effectiveness. To live in such a way that human activity benefits nature—I have hopes that it might someday be a reality. However, I feel that the book may have oversimplified the issues involved and their solutions.

Take the book itself. Made from a special plastic, it has the possibility to be upcycled indefinitely. The ink can wash off, and new words could be printed on it. However, exactly what chemical washes this ink off? How is it produced? Transported? Packaged? What happens to the ink-water combination? Some of these questions are resolved in the book, which presents baby-steps for companies to introduce these new concepts. However, what happens in the mean-time, while chemicals are still harmful and cars still pollute? I am afraid that the time it would take to convert the world economy into a cradle to cradle is too long—our old ways might rob the cradle of its possibility and leave us with nothing. Already, the Earth’s ability to sustain future generations is called into question. What kind of time do we have to change our ways? Less, I think, than what it would require to change the world one soap-company and car manufacturer at a time.

Sorry to be so dreary, I know that this book was supposed to bring us some uplifting. Please, someone, prove me wrong.