At the Longfellow Sustainability book group meeting today we talked a bit about economic growth and development. Some of us feel the economic downturn is going to continue until we reach a level that is sustainable. Some feel development can continue to move forward at high speed but it needs to move in a vastly different direction.
It’s not evident that we are making progress in this arena, but progress is being made. Check out this website about the Blue Economy and the work of Gunter Pauli.
“The blue economy is using the waste of one product as the input for another. These innovations will revolutionize the industries they are applied in, making consumption of those products a positive action. Thus, it will become possible to live in a sustainable way, responding to all basic needs for water, food, energy, health and shelter.”
You can hear and see some examples of what Mr. Pauli is talking about in this video:
http://dotsub.com/media/59a1a1c1-cdd8-417f-8de3-926669907b31/e/m
Think of It As An Adventure 
I want to say that I think this Blue Economy is a really, really great thing. I hope they can make their vision expand. More, more, more waste to resources is needed! Trash is our #1 export commodity. Every city, every state, and every nation is experiencing a trash crisis. Most of us with a vision can see trash as resources…. it’s great to see someone expanding on that vision by creating a new way to consider the solution. I love this website! Thanks for posting it Leslie.
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This idea has been developing for years, starting in the 1980’s. I used to work at MPIRG on the Barter Project; a collaborative project between ME3, the University of MN, and many others that offered trash as resources. There is actually a national and international network already in place that shares resources in this way. I haven’t looked it up for years, but I do know it’s out there. Hazardous waste, actually, was the first product to be implemented. Trash followed.
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