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As Stewart Brand said in the introduction to the Whole Earth Catalogs,

"If we are going to act like gods, we might as well get good at it."

And Biomimicry is one key, and in a sense, one of the legacy's of the Whole Earth movement. Like Buckminster Fuller's comprehensive antipatory design science, Biomimicry is (1) the exploration and understanding of nature, i.e., the environment, as the technology and economy of an exquisitely evolved and designed regenerative life support system (living machine) that has been tested and developed over 3.8 billion years of evolution (see-the time line of evolution) and then (2) applying those battle-hardened principles to all aspects of human activity--designing, creating, and managing of society, from industrial products, to urban and regional systems, to public policy, business, the economy, etc., i.e., Sustainability 2030 and the leading edge of the sustainability response.

Key Questions

Sustainability 2030's (S2030) research/practice program addresses the following key questions:

1. How can you/we become effective, powerful, even transformational forces for sustainability?

2. What is the program required for ultimate sustainability success--the end game?

3. Who has part of the answer now (current sustainability champions), how far do they take us, and how can we harness the state-of-the-art leading edge sustainability to an innovative research/practice program that gets us to ultimate success in the limited time remaining?  (more)

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Advance, accelerate, and amplify an accurate understanding of the sustainability challenge and how to harness the power and potential of sustainability for an effective response before time runs out. The Strategic Sustainability2030 Institute  (S2030I) is a web-based think/do tank (more).

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April 2013, Chicago, APA National Conference.

May 13-15, 2013, Seattle, Living Future unConference.

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May 2-4, Portland, The Living Future Unconference for deep green professionals.

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Our Challenge

as Buckminster Fuller observed, is

"to make the world work for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone."

This goal is the essence of sustainable development! The Buckminster Fuller Institute (BFI) provides access to Bucky's legacy, including his comprehensive anticipatory design science revolution. Check out their website, their programs, and engage.

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Caption: "Sadly, the only proven way to achieve global GHG reductions so far has been economic recession." Comment: Fortunately, shifting to 100% renewables would catalyze the global transition to durable prosperity and community well-being in a way that would eliminate GHG production AND grow the economy <<continued>>. (See also: strategic sustainability, natural capitalism, its four strategies, and RMI's Reinventing Fire [energy] Program.) 

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Thursday
Mar182021

The Emerging Field of Sustainability Science

DateMarch 18, 2021 at 06:22PM

Sustainability science, as described by the PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America website), is “…an emerging field of research dealing with the interactions between natural and social systems, and with how those interactions affect the challenge of sustainability: meeting the needs of present and future generations while substantially reducing poverty and conserving the planet's life support systems.” Over the past 7 y, PNAS has published over 300 papers in its unique section on sustainability science and has received and reviewed submissions for many hundreds more. What kind of a science is sustainability science?

The article by Bettencourt and Kaur (1) on the evolution and structure of sustainability science provides one answer . . . (PDF Article Link) Selected references:

1. Evolution and structure of sustainability science, Luís M. A. Bettencourt and Jasleen Kaurc

2. Our Common Journey: A Transition Toward Sustainability (National Academy Press, Washington, DC), 1999 (book)

3. Clark , WC, et al. Science and Technology for Sustainable Development: Consensus Report of the Mexico City Synthesis Workshop, May 20–23, 2002.
Scott Edmondson AuthorSustainability 2030 | CommentPost a Comment | Reference1 Reference |

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