I am surprised that this book is so popular. I found it to be full of criticisms, criticisms and more criticisms of our current practices but with few solutions other than broad, nonspecific suggestions. I had hoped for insights into positive things that can be done to be more ecoconscious but found almost none.
They sugggest
1-redesigning products so they can be recycled into good quality materials that can be used again
2-redesigning packaging so it can be biodegradable
To disagree with these motherhood-types of suggestions would be like disagreeing that childen should be fed or we should't pollute rivers until all life is dead in them. I would love to have heard how their suggestions could be implemented or followed, and what products or practices we can use would support these solutions. I see simple things being done all around me that are ecoconscious and would love to have learned from their experiences and insights about things I could do more ecoconscious. What's new, what can we do, which of our ideas need rethinking, what little things can we do that would make a difference...
They suggest we make books out of materials that are recyclable (but acknowledge this technology doesn't exsit yet), plant green roofs to reduce the deluge of runoff that often overwhlems storm sewers (and in our area this sends untreated sewage into the ocean), plant plants for bioremediation, make a carpet where the backing detaches from a recyclable top, consider toxic chemicals in clothes and materials consumer products are made form.... Great ideas, but I don't know how I can do these things. Maybe websites or references could have been given with information on how to implement ecoconscious practices?
I've never written a book reveiw, but this book actually made me mad enough to do it because the authors write from such a smugly superior and holier-than-thou position. There are many people who want to bring about positive change and would love to make choices to be more eco-conscious, but the book doesn't suggest any real actions we can take in our every day living to do this. How disappointing because they are clearly committed to and involved in their field. This book was highly disappointing to me.

Ever since my high school days many years ago I have been intrigued by the idea of progress. I have come to the conclusion that, for many folks, progress is what American marketers say it is. In other words, most progress is crap.

Now, in this book, the authors offer a coherent philosophy, along with step-by-step instructions, that offers some alternatives to North American marketing.

This book, one of the most important in the last two or three generations, is a wonderful read for thoughtful people. But it you're the sort of person who runs out and buys whatever the television commercials tell you to buy, skip it.

Waste. We all create waste indirectly and directly as consumers on the planet Earth. We recycle right? Return our bottles and cans and recycle our newspapers and have the best of intentions to re-use and reduce. Is it enough and is it the right way to go? Most products are designed for one use only and recycling in most cases results in downcycling, producing gradually lower and lower quality products that need to be treated and developed with great cost and energy to eventually end up in a landfill in another form. It is a cradle to grave mentality and it is time for a new way to think. Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Micheal Braungart enlightens us on eco-efficiency and the necessity to become more symbiotic with nature. Their idea is that industries and products should follow the thought that ‘waste equals food’ as it does in the natural world. Ants and cherry trees don’t have landfills, they each have their vital part in the ecosystem using the resources at hand and the e