The Upcycle

2013, McDonough & Braungart

From the authors of Cradle to Cradle, The Upcycle draws on the green living lessons gained from 10 years of putting the Cradle to Cradle concept into practice with businesses, governments, and ordinary people. McDonough and 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 pose the question: Instead of protecting the planet from human impact, why not redesign our activity to improve the environment?