TreeHugger Gets Naked & Wet With William
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain 
on 10. 3.06
Yes we tried it out (as you can see) and it’s true: William McDonough & Michael Braungart’s book Cradle to Cradle is 100% waterproof! Now you can get wet and get IT wet while indulging into William and Michael’s approach on how we should “remake the way we make things”. More about the content here - this post is about the actual book which is the very first of its kind: “It is not a tree”. It's entirely made from plastic resins and inorganic fibres which makes it not only waterproof for beach holidays and evenings in the bath tub, but also extremely durable and in most places recyclable by conventional methods. In this case the book can be made and remade into the same or a different product by “breaking it down and circulating it infinitely in industrial cycles”. Upcycling (check out our winning C2C umbrella for a perfect example of upcycling) rather than downcycling, which can not be said about the paper we are familiar with (the one made from trees or fibres) as it rapidly looses quality along its way down the recycling pipe and releases toxins. The developers behind this revolutionary technology are Melcher Media Inc. who gave these green and waterproof books the trademark DuraBook.
William and Michael believe that “the tree, among the finest of nature’s creations, is not a fitting resource to use in producing so humble and transient a substance as paper”. Their book is an example of how we should constantly look for more effective solutions. This radically different approach to making things, so they predict, will lead to the next industrial revolution which is “founded on nature’s surprisingly effective design principles, on human creativity and prosperity, and on respect, fair play, and good-will”. That said the book also feels very nice (soft and smooth) but it has a ‘but’: it’s very heavy compared to normal books which makes transportation not very efficient. On the other hand, reading it strengthens your arm muscles. Thanks Graham for the tip! Photographer: Sergio, Photo editor: Neckel. ::Cradle to Cradle ::DuraBook
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Nice Read! I can't wait to get wet with it. I love it, green, helpfull and sexy
Glad someone finally tested it! I couldn't bring myself to do it with my copy.. :)
Looks really good, i dont mind the weight, but is it much more expensive than a normal book? will they be producing them soon? like, on a commercial scale?
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author's note:
they are in production: US$25 / CAN$35 for 'Cradle to Cradle'
That's pretty cool. I read mine last summer in a swimming pool, while drinking organic margaritas.
A paper book can also be "made and remade into the same or a different product by “breaking it down and circulating it infinitely in industrial cycles”".
Where do the plastic resins originate? While opposed to manufacturing paper from trees, TH has offered several plant-based alternatives to wood pulp which seem less dependent on petrochemicals.
It's heavy and I think I accidently spit on the book, causing a slight smudge. Maybe I'm an X-Man? Either way, I love the concept and hope it goes far beyond the couple of plastic books I've seen.
It's true---sex sells. I'd been thinking of maybe buying a copy for some time now, but now that I've seen the photo of the woman in the bathtub reading, well, off to Amazon I go :)
You can easily find the book for $20CAN in Canada. Not really more expensive..
"A paper book can also be 'made and remade into the same or a different product by “breaking it down and circulating it infinitely in industrial cycles”'."
Not really, and that's the problem.
When you recycled paper, what you get is lesser quality paper (shorter fibers that abrade and get airborne), and you have to use powerful chemicals to remove the (usually) toxic inks which then have to be disposed of.
And when you recycle recycled paper, you get even worse paper and so on. Recycling paper is downcycling, unfortunately.
looking all sexy
I don't know
saving the environment using your body!! what will your mother think
N
I bought the cradle to cradle book and amazed my family by dropping it in the bath. I think it is a fanastic concept.
She's hot
Uh, just wanted to remark that the ironic "Treehugger" adapted into German probably is "Kerndlfresser" - "grain-gulpers" focussing on the food aspect of environmentalism.
Cradle-to-Cradle (or -to bathtub ???) is a great concept.
I picked up on it in my blog entry (German)
Greetings
Heidi 2.0
Gorgeous, but a shower would have been more à propos, no? Gallons of water saved + more skin unveiled ;)
"Plastic resins"? Why do we need more plastic in the world?
Hemp will give us all the paper we need to make books.
"Circulating infinitely in industrial cycles"? Yikes.
Tell these guys to go back to school to learn what sustainable really means.
We already have waterproof books. They're called eBooks.
Jock Doubleday
Director
Natural Woman, Natural Man, Inc.
A California 501(c)3 Nonprofit Corporation
http://www.SpontaneousCreation.org
director@spontaneouscreation.org
Jock Doubleday is the author of
"Spontaneous Creation:
101 Reasons Not to Have Your Baby in a Hospital, Vol 1:
A Book about Natural Childbirth and the Birth of Wisdom and Power in Childbearing Women"