????2002年，著名的環保建筑師比爾?麥克唐納和他的業務伙伴，即環境化學家、前綠色和平組織（Greenpeace）活動家、德國人邁克爾?布朗嘉合作撰寫了一部開創性的著作《從搖籃到搖籃：重塑人類生產方式》（Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things）。自出版以來，受這本書影響的人不僅包括整整一代工業設計師和首席可持續發展官，還包括一些知名的CEO。《從搖籃到搖籃》一書聲稱，一家公司僅僅變得更有效率是不夠的——它還必須從根本上改變產品設計環節，從而使產品的生產方式更具可持續性。

????盡管兩位作者付出的這番努力令人印象深刻，但如今大多數產品的設計仍然秉持著“從搖籃到墳墓”的理念，它們的生命周期是制造、使用，然后扔掉。相比之下，設計一款從搖籃到搖籃的產品所使用的均是能夠回收或者安全地歸于泥土的材料，從而一舉消除浪費現象。赫曼米勒（Herman Miller）、福特（Ford）、寶潔（P&G）和蕭氏地毯（Shaw Carpets）這樣一些具有前瞻性思維的公司已經部分采用了這種激進的方式。幾年前，蕭氏地毯公司設計了一款從搖籃到搖籃的辦公椅，材質安全到了能夠咽下肚子的程度（如果你真有這個胃口，我猜你的確是餓壞了）。

????《從搖籃到搖籃》出版11年之后，兩位作者又推出了這本書的續本《升級回收》（The Upcycle）。那些還沒有讀過《從搖籃到搖籃》的讀者將有機會聆聽作者以令人耳目一新的方式重述自己的設計哲學。這些讀者將接觸一些首部著作已經詳細闡述過的重要概念，比如，“好設計將帶來物質的豐裕，材質的無盡再利用，以及精神的歡愉，”比如“廢棄物即食物（waste is food）”，再比如“減少浪費也不管用”（less bad is no good）。

????然而，那些已經熟知麥克唐納和布朗嘉首部著作的讀者會發現，這本新書在整體理念上并沒有多少新東西。大家確實能夠看到的是，他們對自己過去10年來的進步所做的深刻分析。他們創造了麥克唐納和布朗嘉認證流程，這個流程有助于公司充分思考從搖籃到搖籃產品的設計步驟。他們還向產業界贈送了安全的，從搖籃到搖籃的化學品名錄。編撰這份名錄耗費了他們數年時間。

????讀者的確能夠以更廣泛的視角及時審視升級回收概念。作者認為，不是將原材料重新應用于那些在價值鏈中位置越來越低的產品（想一想用于制造桌子，甚或衛生紙的樹木），而應該重新設定原材料的用途，使其應用于價值等于、甚至更高的產品。這就是升級回收的精髓。這類產品的設計理念是，原材料能夠永續使用，再使用，或者能夠安全地歸還給地球。

????升級回收很難做到。這本書陳述的一個引人注目的案例研究恰恰彰顯了升級回收之難。當初Steelcase公司尋找一種能夠替代PVC（一種可引發致癌隱患、排出有毒氣體的材料）的材料時，這家家具制造商選擇了一種名為TPU、更加安全、進而可升級回收的塑料。然而，Steelcase公司進一步研究后發現，制造TPU最終將排放更多的溫室氣體，盡管其生產和生命周期比PVC更長。怎么辦？ Steelcase公司判定，相較于堅持使用一種更節能、但有毒的原材料，在生產設施中使用更多的可再生能源是減少碳排放的更好方式。

????這是一項頗有價值的案例研究。讀者或許希望這本書能夠講述更多諸如此類的案例，特別是那些從經濟學角度仔細審視了從搖籃到搖籃工程的例證。盡管如此，我們不能錯誤地追隨這兩位激進的思想家看似生動的思維過程。所以，我建議你買一本，看完后傳給下一位朋友，這也算是你親身體驗了一次升級回收的進程吧。（財富中文網）

????譯者：任文科

????In 2002, the renowned green architect Bill McDonough and his German business partner, Michael Braungart, an environmental chemist and former Greenpeace activist, wrote the groundbreaking book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. Since its publication, the book has influenced not only an entire generation of industrial designers and chief sustainability officers but some notable CEOs. Cradle to Cradle argued that it's not enough for a company to become more efficient -- it must radially alter the way it designs products to make them more sustainable.

????Despite the authors' impressive efforts, most products today are still designed to be "cradle to grave." They are made, used, and thrown away. By contrast, a cradle to cradle product is designed of materials that can be recycled or returned safely to earth. Waste is eliminated. A few forward thinking companies such as Herman Miller (MLHR), Ford (F), P&G (PG), and Shaw Carpets have adopted in part this radical approach. A few years back, Herman Miller designed a cradle-to-cradle office chair made of materials safe enough to eat. (I suppose you'd have to be really hungry.)

????Eleven years after the publication of Cradle to Cradle, the authors have written a sequel called The Upcycle. Those who haven't already read Cradle to Cradle will be rewarded with a refreshed retelling of the authors' philosophy. They will be exposed to important notions expounded upon in the first book such as "Good design would allow for abundance, endless reuse, and pleasure" or "waste is food" or "less bad is no good."

????Yet those already familiar with McDonough and Braungart's book will find little that's new here in terms of their overall philosophy. What you do get are insights into the progress they've made over the last decade. They've created the McDonough and Braungart certification process, which helps companies think through the steps of doing cradle to cradle design. They've also given away to industry their catalogue of safe, cradle to cradle chemicals, work that has taken years to compile.

????And one does get a broader and updated examination of the concept of upcycling. The authors argue that instead of reusing materials in products that end up lower and lower on the value chain (think of the tree that goes to a table to toilet paper) materials should be repurposed into products of equal or greater value. That's the gist of upcycling. Such products are designed to be used and reused forever or safely be put back in the earth.

????Upcycling is hard to do, and the book presents a compelling case study that shows just how hard. When the furniture maker Steelcase (SCS) was looking to replace PVCs, which is a carcinogenic precursor and will off-gas toxins, it turned to a plastic called TPU which was safer and therefore could be upcycled. Upon further study Steelcase found that making TPUs ended up emitting more greenhouse gasses though its manufacturing and lifecycle than PVCs. What to do? Steelcase decided it was better to try to offset the carbon by using more renewable energy at its facilities than to stick with a more energy efficient, yet toxic material.

????This was a valuable case study, and one wishes there were more of them in this book, especially examples examining the economics of cradle to cradle engineering. That said, one can't go wrong following the lively thought processes of these two radical thinkers. So buy this book and pass it on to a friend when you're done and engage in a little of your own upcycling.