A World Fair Event!
A World Fair Event!
A World Fair Event!
The Thought Experiment:
Let's Play "Not Work" in a Utopian High-Tech Enterprise
The Thought Experiment:
Let's Play "Not Work" in a Utopian High-Tech Enterprise
"We have ten years to radically transform our global economy into a more sustainable "circular" economy, or else! This is what we know so far: under our current global-economic-system we have successfully wiped out over 60% of all wild-life on Earth in the last forty years. Yes. The debate is over - The Sixth-Mass Extinction is upon us - now the big question is "can we do something about it?" [4]
Reporting on the reality of climate change is hard. Living life as if nothing has changed once a lesson is learned is even harder. If we are willing to take the science seriously, then we must begin to act as global citizens committing ourselves on every level towards the total redesign of just about everything the modern economy has to offer. This is a daunting challenge and it seems many of us are asking the same questions: "How are we going to radically transform the global economy without a bloody revolution? How are we going to actively engage every person alive in the urgency of this moment? What are we going to do?"
The scope and vision needed to solve these problems seem insurmountable, yet, as reality has it written in its very code - if we can conceive of a plan of action, we can make it happen:
For over 150 years, The World Fair has awed and inspired an anticipating public. Since it's inception in 1791, The World Fair has been a conduit introducing all the wonders of invention human contrivance has had to offer. From the steam engine to mass assembly lines, The World Fair gave us a glimpse of the world of tomorrow, today. [5]
It is now our time to set into motion the new co-creative chain-reaction of The Forth Industrial Revolution: [6]
All over the world people are becoming more attuned to the challenges confronting us today - side effects directly linked to our Industrial Revolution. We are becoming deeply concerned about where everything we create goes when we're done with it. We are concerned about our children, and the world they are to inherit. We think about supply-chains, and sustainable industrial feed-stocks. We think about building robots to mine landfills, to plant trees, and to reseed coral reefs. We think about micro-grids and cleaning up river's. We think of remediating soil and restoring habitat loss in super-fund sites. We think about relocating the means of production to the point of consumption. We think about vertical farming and inner-city food security. We dream of creating peace on Earth and spreading good will towards all the living. Why? Because it makes evolutionary sense for us to do so.
Yes. Our world is in crisis - It is paramount that all mankind joins in on this quest towards the total redesign of just about everything this modern economy has to offer. We understand the fear many of us hold when the thought of economic change enters the arena of everyday living. It is unfortunate that many of us are unable to financially meet an advancing world with confidence. We want you to know that you will not be left behind.
Circular Cities 2030 will set the stage for a Global World Fair Event that will happen simultaneously in every city around the world. Our inspiration is the adaptation of our built environment to better suite our living world. No one solution will be the silver bullet. Our goal is to ignite and inspire a comprehensive-collaborative plan of action that is both robust and open to change, and as investors and innovators unite with unified purpose we will set into motion a more equitable game. [7]
This website is designed for the exploration of ideas. It is a work in progress and is therefore constantly evolving - it is dedicated to the Sciences: to the artists & engineers engaging reality - Let's take a vision quest in design revolution:
From Linear to Circular Cities
This poster "Circular Cities - Restorative and Regenerative by Design" was designed in collaboration with Smart City Expo & Circular Summit. It is a great visual introduction to these ideas we are about to explore:
Sources: Cities in the Circular Economy: An Initial Exploration [8]
What is a Circular city?
"A Circular City seeks to regenerate prosperity, increase livability, while aiming to decouple the creation of value from the consumption of finite resources."
Circular Cities are The Applied Logistics of a Circular Economy
The Goal: closing the loop
The Circular City Challenge is based on three principles:
- Regenerate Natural Systems
- Design out Waste and Pollution
- Keep Products, Components, and Materials in use at their highest value
Co-Creative:
As cities become more circular they will become more unique, evolving into bio-regions of Industry & Trade, from this creativity will respond with spontaneous action as the access points to the means of production become more localized.
A circular economy is by nature an inclusive economy. It is both restorative and regenerative by design. Our objective is the total redesign of everything the modern economy has to offer in an effort to re-stabilize Earth's ecosystems, while creating a world of abundance for all Earth citizens.
Resources: [8]
Circular Economy in Cities: is a suite of online resources which provide a reference point for policy makers.
The Collaboration
United Nations (SDG's) Sustainable development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 Global Goals set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 for the year 2030.
The SDGs are part of Resolution 70/1 of the United Nations General Assembly
Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
- Ending Poverty: End poverty in all its forms everywhere
- Ending Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
- Good Health & Well Being: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
- Quality Education: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
- Gender Equality: Achieve gender equality and empower all
- Clean Water & Sanitation: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
- Affordable & Clean Energy: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
- Decent Work & Economic Growth: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
- Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
- Reduce Inequality: Reduce inequality within and among countries
- Sustainable Cities & Communities: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
- Responsible Consumption & Production: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
- Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
- Life Below Water: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
- Life on Land: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
- Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
- Partnerships for the Goals: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
We have a lot of work to do!
Let's Make this Transition Fun!
Circular Economy 2030
A circular economy is an industrial system that extends beyond the current take-make-waste extractive industrial model, a circular economy aims to redefine growth, focusing on positive society-wide benefits. It entails actively decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources, and designing waste out of industrial systems.
Underpinned by a transition to renewable energy sources, the circular model builds economic, natural, and social capital.
A Circular Economy simplifies resource management, in that it is all about doing more with less. It is about designing reality through the total redesign of the goods and services we are all dependent on.
So, How Can We Achieve the Impossible?
Let's reiterate: We have just ten years to radically transform our global economy
In response, a new co-creative narrative is emerging setting the stage for new ideas and events to evolve. We are drawn towards mission statements of circular economy operatives (CEO's) that think dynamically about systems change, repair, and recovery -
and, as swarm intelligence, emergent behavior suggests, one of the main reasons why the Circular Economy is spreading as fast as it is, is because it makes evolutionary sense:
This is our survival of the fittest moment.
Our goal as investors and innovators united is to apply and embed circular economy principles into the fabric of every day life. We are committed to finding robust solutions for the UN Sustainable Development Goals and applying them on the local - Bio-Regional landscapes of our cities and towns.
To Be Continued:
References/Resources:
Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Cradle to Cradle
Green New Deal
It is proposed that once enacted, the Circular Economy paired with The Green New Deal could generate more then 4.5 trillion in new economic output by 2030
"The Green New Deal works towards the total overhaul of our decaying fossil fuel economy into a new, green economy that is environmentally sustainable, economically secure and socially just. "
"The Green New Deal starts with transitioning to 100% renewable energy by 2030. This is a ambitious goal that requires an immediate end to all investments, both public and private, in fossil fuels (including natural gas) and related infrastructure."
By investing in social entrepreneurs whose mission statements transform the current linear take-make-waste economy - into a more circular economy, The Green New Deal's goal is to transform the US economy into one that is more resilient and regenerative by design.
The European Commission adopted an action plan in 2015 to help accelerate Europe's transition towards a circular economy, boost global competitiveness, promote sustainable economic growth and generate new jobs.
The action plan sets out 54 measures to "close the loop" of product life-cycles: from production and consumption to waste management and the market for secondary raw materials. It also identifies five priority sectors to speed up the transition along their value chain (plastics, food waste, critical raw materials, construction and demolition, biomass and bio-based materials). It puts a strong emphasis on building a strong foundation on which investments and innovation can thrive.
Resources:
Circular City Governance: An explorative research study into current barriers and governance practices in circular city transitions across Europe.
To Be Continued:
The World in Transition
Climate change & the clean energy rev0lution
One of the saddest truths I've come to learn researching the carbon cycle and resulting anthropomorphic climate change is that "we the people" lost our clean energy option because alcohol (ethanol) got us drunk. We lost HEMP (Cannabis) because it got us high.
It was taxation, over regulation, and the moral mismanagement of prohibition that allowed fossil fuel the upper edge.
There is no better example in the history of the "Sin Tax" than during the civil war when the United States imposed a tax on alcohol (ethanol) at $2.00/gal to help pay for the war, while Kerosene, a new product, was taxed at $0.10 cents/gal.
Clean energy - Ethanol/Alcohol - didn't stand a chance in the "New World" unfolding, and sadly, as a result, U.S. policy became the gateway towards anthropomorphic climate change.
As a result, 150 years of burning Fossil Fuel has created the perfect storm for our northern forests when paired with Hydro-Power, which through the destruction of anadromous fish runs & surrounding habitats have effectively depleted our forests of one their most important natural nitrogen/nutrient exchanges.
See: Salmon to Forest Nutrient Cycling.
Yes. Our world is in crisis: Global Climate Change, Resource Depletion, Environmental Degradation, Species Extinction, Growing Inequalities are just some of the challenges confronting us today as a species.
Our global energy transition is one of our biggest challenges that we face today when it comes to addressing these problems.
What is a Micro-Grid?
A Micro-Grid is a localized group of electricity sources and sinks (loads). They typically operate connected to and synchronous with the traditional centralized grid (macrogrid).
Our goal is localized solutions that disconnect and maintain operation autonomously.
In the age of Climate Change, our goal is to promote & develop a diverse micro-grid to maintain a local resiliency in the advent of sever weather and/or other natural disaster & resulting outages.
Ideas to build on - Enel Smart Energy Partner of Milan 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUEx7EHUnmg
To be continued:
Climate Change & The built environment
The Impact of Climate on Cities
In the age of climate change & resulting sea level rise every city, town, and community located at or near sea level is now one perfect storm away from having to be rebuilt. This is as true today as it was yesterday.
The biggest challenge we face is how complex our social order has become. It is easy to say "we are going to redesign everything" but, what exactly does that mean? Every new process introduced, every new disruptive innovation will have a ripple effect throughout our current social order and resulting built environment.
As new technologies are unveiled, older technologies will go the way of the dinosaur. It is up to us as artists & engineers to design new systems that are inclusive and open to change.
Circular Cities 2030, as a Global World Fair Event, gives us the time-line. As a date, 2030 is not so-far-off into the future that we loose sight of our goals. It is close enough to the now that as active participants we will get to enjoy the fruits of our labor.
But, most importantly, our children who are scared and have taken to the streets in protest will have every opportunity they need to join in on this process. This is a co-creative process that requires the attention of all Earth citizens.
Let's throw a party and clean up this mess.
References: The Impact of Climate on Cities
To be continued:
Climate change & Life on Earth
What is the Sixth-Mass Extinction?
The science speaks for itself: under the current Global Economic System we have successfully wiped out over 60% of all wildlife on Earth in just the last forty years:
"This ongoing extinction of species coincides with the present Holocene epoch (approx. 11,700 years), and is mainly the result of human activity."
The biggest challenge we have as a species is the restoration of our home environment - Planet Earth.
I like to think of the Circular Economy when applied to our built environment as the foundation on which we will cultivate our ability as a species to respond to this extinction event with the assertion that our mission statement "we are going to redesign everything" is guided by the inspiration towards Healing Earth through Design.
We have a lot of work to do!
Let's throw a party to regenerate life on Earth!
To be continued:
Social Enterprise
People. Planet. Profit.
Finance in a Circular Economy:
A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being; this may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for external shareholders.
Social Entrepreneurship is the use of start-up companies and other entrepreneurs to develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a variety of organizations with different sizes, aims, and beliefs.
Social entrepreneurs are either non-profits, or blend for-profit goals with generating a positive "return to society" and therefore use different metrics.
Social entrepreneurship typically attempts to further broad social, cultural, and environmental goals often associated with the voluntary sector in areas such as poverty alleviation, health care and community development.
Source: Wikipedia
A new age of Finance is upon us!
To be continued:
Industry 4.0
What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution:
"The Fourth Industrial Revolution is the fourth major industrial era since the initial Industrial Revolution of the 18th century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres, collectively referred to as cyber-physical systems.
One of the biggest challenges in establishing circular supply chains is localization. We must disrupt the global shipping industry as it exists.
Carl Sagan described the crisis:
"We have cut the whales off from themselves. Creatures that have communicated for tens of millions of years have now effectively been silenced."
I know. I know. So dramatic. Still, the global economy is devastating to life on Earth.
To save our oceans, if that is even possible, first we need to localize the means of production of everything.
The Ultimate Goal -
Parks over Ports: Transforming Trade Routes into Tourist Traps.
To be continued:
Ideas to build on
Designing Reality: How to Survive & Thrive in the Third Digital Revolition
Drawing on the history of digitization and exploring the frontiers of research, Designing Reality outlines a vision for a future radically transformed by digital manufacturing - FAB LAB
From Global to Local: The Making of Things and the End of Globalization
To be continued:
AI & The Circular economy
Two emerging mega-trends:
"Artificial intelligence (AI) can play an important role in enabling this systemic shift. AI is a subset of the technologies enabling the emergent ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ era, and deals with models and systems which perform functions generally associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning and learning.
"AI can complement people’s skills and expand their capabilities. It allows humans to learn faster from feedback, deal more effectively with complexity, and make better sense of abundant data."
Most importantly, it helps us make sense of ALL the data. Again, we have evolved into such a complex social order that it is hard sometimes to make sense of all this information. Nature. Technology. When all life on Earth is suffering - we should know that it is time to innovate.
AI will free set the human mind free.
Source: Google Cloud
To be continued:
Transportation & Logistics
Wait? What happened to my personal vehicle?
The Future of Transportation in our urban areas and city centers will be Electric, Autonomous & Shared.
Gone are the days when we will be required to transport thousands of pounds of resources just to get us from here to there on a whim.
As a bicyclist, this is one of my favorite disruptions. I can't wait for the day when we begin building parks over parking lots, incorporating pedestrian and bike paths everywhere.
Here's the thing: we need to de-pave our built environment as much as possible. We need green infrastructure. We need de-industrialization. This is a Utopian High-Tech Enterprise after all:
See: The future of Transportation
To be continued:
Inner City Food Security & Urban Agriculture
Feeding the World in the 21st Century:
Steps Local Communities can take towards localizing food production:
- allow urban farms and community gardens throughout our cities.
- Allow residents to sell food grown on their property.
- Recognize farmers markets and allow them to flourish where ever there is public demand.
- Allow dedicated food production in rooftop greenhouses.
Vertical Farming:
To be continued:
Sustainable Industrial Feed-stocks
What are Circular Sourced Solutions (CSS) A Sustainable Industrial Feed-Stock is one defined as a renewable, biological material that can be used directly as a fuel, converted to other forms of fuel or energy.
Biomass Feed-Stocks are plant and/or algal (other) organic materials used to derive fuels like ethanol, butanol, biodiesel.
One of the key components of a sustainable feed-stock is its sourcing
Circular Supply Chains -
Cities need local solutions to offset their global footprint. Hemp & Ethanol are two bio-regional industrial feed-stock solutions.
To be continued:
Seattle /G\ 2030
Ground zero
Why Seattle? Why Georgetown? And what's with the /G\?
It would be easy to say while proposing this idea that Seattle has become a hot-bed of innovation, when all around us are the tell-tale signs of the new world collapsing the old. The struggle between what once was and what wants to be is in flux. To help guide us along this journey towards re-imagining our lives in our built environment lets take a moment to reflect upon one of the worlds greatest mission statements:
“Make the world work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.” ~Love Bucky
It's fun to think of the World Fair as the World Game
In Reality - It's all about place: in reference to Seattle - I grew up in South Seattle and have lived and worked in Georgetown for many-many years. This is where my work should begin. When it comes to Think Globally/Act Locally its all about finding your place at home base.
Creatively speaking, I have been dreaming/writing/researching "Circular Cities" for most of my life - (long story/nothing published) - and the creative force behind Circular Cities has been a thought experiment on human habitat that over time has evolved into something incredible and once I begin to learn about the Circular Economy these thoughts surrounding "Circular Cities" found their purpose: We are going to redesign everything.
I live where the blue dot is:
/G\
As you can see, my home /G\ is surrounded by industry perfectly designed to take advantage of the Duwamish River, Seattle's only working river. Historically, the Dumwamish Valley was an estuary - a flood plain. In the age of Climate Change and resulting Sea-Level rise the Duwamish Valley is one of Seattle's most vulnerable areas to the effects of Climate Change and/or other environmental events.
One of the biggest challenges we face today as a city is the restoration of these landscapes through the act of de-industrialization and remediation. This is a highly-politically-charged topic.
I keep imagining a game:
Parks over Ports: Transforming Trade Routes into Tourist Traps
On a more personal note, in reference to place based solutions: I have been dreaming of a school that does not yet exist - (An Invisible College) - it has been a character in a story that I have been in the process of writing for many-many years - (again long story/nothing published) - and when I found the Seattle campus for "Circular Cities" to be a perfect triangle /G\ I knew I was in the right place.
See Brochure: Georgetown: Health & Industry | A New School Proposal
In fact, I think the proposed campus for Georgetown /G\ to be the perfect place in geographical space to begin the game Circular Cities 2030:
Again, it's all about place!
To be continued:
