Michael Braungart > Quotes

“The average lawn is an interesting beast: people plant it, then douse it with artificial fertilizers and dangerous pesticides to make it grow and to keep it uniform-all so that they can hack and mow what they encouraged to grow. And woe to the small yellow flower that rears its head!”
― Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

“Glance at the sun.
See the moon and the stars.
Gaze at the beauty of eath’s greenings.
Now, think.”
― Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

“We see a world of abundance, not limits. In the midst of a great deal of talk about reducing the human ecological footprint, we offer a different vision. What if humans designed products and system that celebrate an abundance of human creativity, culture, and productivity? That are so intelligent and safe, our species leaves an ecological footprint to delight in, not lament?”
― Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

“Cradle to Cradle is like good gardening; it is not about “saving” the planet but about learning to thrive on it.”
― Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

“When you talk about “saving the planet” you turn it into an ethical question, and I think you won’t solve problems if they are ethical.”
― Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

“Everything else is designed for you to throw away when you are finished with it. But where is “away”? Of course, “away” does not really exist. “Away” has gone away.”
― Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle

“The best way to reduce any environmental impact is not to recycle more, but to produce and dispose of less” The”
― Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle

“as a buyer you got the item or service you wanted, plus additives that you didn’t ask for and that may be harmful to you and your loved ones.”
― Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

“But from our perspective, products that are not designed particularly for human and ecological health are unintelligent and inelegant - what we call crude products.”
― Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

“The design intention behind the current industrial infrastructure is to make an attractive product that is affordable, meets regulations, performs well enough, and lasts long enough to meet market expectations”
― Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

“what most people see in their garbage cans is just the tip of the material iceberg; the product itself contains on average only 5% of the raw materials involved in the process of making and delivering it.”
― Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

“....in 1991 we coauthored the Hannover Principles, design guidelines for the 2000 World's Fair that were issued at the World Urban Forum of the Earth Summit in 1992. Foremost among them was "Eliminate the concept of waste" - not reduce, minimize, or avoid waste, as environmentalists were then propounding, but eliminate the very concept, by design”
― Michael Braungart