The concept of local economic development turned into a new reality when the present and the former mayors of the island El Hierro put the wind-hydro-fly wheel technology in motion generating water as an engine for growth with renewable energies only. When Javier Morales contacted me for the first time in 1997 seeking advise on how to realize a dream - eliminate petroleum and turn the cash exported into the stimulus needed to provide a future to the young leaving the island, we agreed on a long term alliance to make this happen. The local engineering team headed by Juan Manuel Quintero designed a system that is tailored to the opportunities and requirements of the island. It is not only a model for the rest of the world, it is a concrete example how "the impossible turned possible." The impossible is not so much overcoming the engineering and financial challenges. The impossible is that the local population controls 60% of the new water and energy company in partnership with ENDESA, the large energy company. And ... it only has just begun. The islanders are ready for the next challenge: stop using fuel for mobility, securing more cash circulates in the economy. The first electric cars arrived and there is a plan to replace all 6,000 fossil fuel engines with electric and compressed air vehicles. The most important desire is that young people return to the island and can imagine their career where their parents were born. Located three hours from Madrid and only one hour from the African coast, the future is for those who are unreasonable and yet make it happen against all odds.
Stan Shih, Yvon Chouinard, Edward Ayensu, and many more.
Here is a brief presentation on how they and 3 decades of experience on the ground has shaped my thinking and doing into "The Blue Economy"
ALREADY 100 BUSINESS MODELS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED OPEN SOURCE.
ZERI identified 100 innovations that within a decade could generate 100 million jobs. Gunter Pauli has designed a competitive business model based on case studies and personal experience. Already 100 business models have been presented open source.
"Entrepreneurship is the route to a sustainable society"
In his latest article Gunter Pauli explores the challenge we face with solar energy. On one hand governments are bankrupt and cannot subsidize generously as before. On the other hand, we need abundant and cheaper renewable energies to replace nuclear, coal and petroleum.
ZERI applies the concept of open source and offers its friends and partners unburdened rights to use references to its organization for the promotion. Gunter Pauli is the exclusive holder of the copyrights of ZERI, Zero Emissions, Blue Economy and many other typical expressions first described in his original writings some as early as 1991. Now that the United Nations has embraced the term The Blue Economy, be it in a slightly different context but with the same intention of creating a better world, the Global ZERI Network will ensure that its creation will be valued through positive action, without imposing restriction.
ZERI Foundation and The Blue Economy movement - which is ZERI's Philosophy in Action RESTRUCTURE their OPERATIONS to be PRO-ACTIVE in IMPLEMENTATION starting with the creation of the EUROPEAN HUB in Brussels with immediate effect. Charles van der Haegen, a hard-nosed manager and entrepreneur with a track record in innovation and rescue management, and one of Europe's much welcomed coaches has been working over the past few months to come up to speed with ZERI and the Blue Economy. He has accepted to spearhead the key projects that will transform the European operations thanks to teams that respects all the core principles guided by the motto "Uncompromising - yet self-evident". The team around Charles securing implementation and integrity is composed of the key persons in Europe who share the same culture and loyalty. This includes ZERI teams in Spain, France, Italy, Hungary the Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Bulgaria, Denmark, Poland, and Sweden. Everyone has transparent and simple copyright agreements and a track record of cooperation. We are adding other ZERI and Blue Economy (interested) parties that confirm in writing their adherence to our top quality standards and have undertaken extensive trainings.
On April 6, 1994 Gunter Pauli arrived in Tokyo at the invitation of Heitor Gurgulino de Souza, then Rector of the United Nations University who with the support of the Japanese Government decided to create a think tank which was to imagine a competitive business model in a world guided by the Kyoto Protocol. Twenty years later, the philosophy of zero emissions, where waste is converted to revenues, and unused yet widely available resources are cascading into a chain of value generation, can look back at nearly 200 implemented projects, the generation of €4 billion in investments and an impact as a concept that created to an estimated 3 million jobs. The most widely copied project is the farming of mushrooms on coffee (+1,000), the most advanced is the biorefinery with the inauguration of the first and second phase in Porto Torres, Italy in a few months. Today, the Blue Economy, the philosophy in action, maintains its global network of some 3,000 scholars and scientists as part of its Think Tank, ready to contribute ad hoc to initiatives anywhere in the world that are spearheaded by about 900 implementors who are part of the Do Tank. Gunter Pauli, as founder and animator of the initiatives, is committed to continue to find more opportunities, looking resolutely forward, focusing on the implementation of initiatives that carry the broadest possible stakeholders' support. Moving from the regeneration of the rainforest in the savannas of Latin America where trees stood tall 200 years ago, to the regeneration of 100 million corals around the Caribbean island of Bonaire, the ZERI network is in a constant quest to change the rules of the game, bringing more benefits to people and nature with local resources. In the course of the next few weeks, we will publish a new manifesto outlining the strategies for the decade ahead which include fast track implementation of initiatives after the scanning and screening for opportunities and the widespread distribution of the 365 fables (of which 190 are ready) which were launched in China in April 2014.
After all, whatever we pioneer, we need to inspire the next generation, pioneering beyond what we could ever imagine.
Ivanka Milenkovic was elected earlier this year as the Entrepreneur of Serbia. Ivanka started her career at the University of Belgrade. In the midst of the Balkan wars she decided to tackle the problem of food by converting the spent substrate of mushroom farming into animal feed. Her pioneering work lead to the publication of a peer group reviewed article in Elsevier Science. That article caught the attention of Prof. Dr. S.T. Chang who was at the time member of the ZERI Scientific Advisory Board. Prof. Chang suggested that Ivanka should join the ZERI World Congress. Unfortunately, the boycott of the former Yugoslavia made it difficult to get her visa cleared. However we insisted through UNESCO and finally we cleared the bureaucracy and Ivanka joined at the 1999 World Congress in Colombia. She delivered a fresh insight on how we could cascade coffee to animal feed thanks to the cultivation of edible and medicinal mushrooms. Ivanka has continued to support numerous ZERI research projects including initiatives in the UK, USA and Spain. However, Ivanka's core commitment has always been to take science to the people and the best way she envisaged this is leading by example. She became a mentor to Chido Govera, the African leader in mushroom farming. She also welcomed Jan Willem Bosman Jansen and Cedric Pechard who pioneered mushroom farming on coffee waste in the Netherlands and France. Her mushroom farm demonstrates what is possible, turned the home of numerous training programs but most important it became a platform for entrepreneurs to learn open source from a generous scientist. Her years of dedication and perseverance were internationally recognized when she was elected as the Entrepreneur of the Year. The fact that Ivanka operates open source and differentiates herself from the disappointing example by a couple Germans who wished to create their own money spinning business on this global experience, Ivanka provided the leadership we are proud to share.
Gunter Pauli has designed a competitive business model based on case studies and personal experience. Already 100 business models have been presented open source. That process started five years ago and turned into a major reference on how to grow the economy with what we have.
We have learned a lot through our "scan screen and implement" process. Thanks to these hands on experiences we identified dozens new business innovations. Instead of celebrating the individual technology or the lonely entrepreneur the new clusters offer the history, the science, and the emerging worldwide trends.
If you like to translate and offer these cases with wealth of information through your website, feel free to ask permission.
We have a few remarkable contributions from our top scientists Jorge Alberto Vieira Costa, who now leads one of the top 5 research institutes of the world on algae extracting everything from food, fibers and fuel.
Then we will have Prishani Satyapal, who has worked for over a decade on the mining projects in Brazil and South Africa to share the new business models that are emerging.
Algae and Mines two key areas where the field work and the concrete implementation has made a difference.
If you are interested to join, please note that this event is by invitation only but if you have a convincing reason, we welcome your motivation.
Mangroves represent a unique ecosystem at the crossroads of four distinct form of life: aerobic, anaerobic due to the tides causing changing water levels, exposure to air or submersion in water, and saline and fresh water, due to the arrival of fresh water from inland, and the bordering of the sea. Mangroves have been decimated like no other ecosystem to make space for coastal development. Often, mangroves ceded space to shrimp farming. However, after the white spot virus eradicated farming, it only left desolate flatlands behind. After a series of pioneering experiences in Namibia, Tanzania, and Eritrea, the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries build up the experience and the proof that the regeneration of mangroves is the basis for a highly productive mariculture that includes the production and processing of fruits from mangroves, shrimps, fish and seaweed creating clusters of growth on land in despair. If one adds to these findings and experiences the arrival of sea rice, a natural biota discovered in China, then we can imagine how coastal of the world can resist climate change and rising seawater levels, and evolve into a new resilient economy.
ZERI launches at the Entrepreneur Summit of Berlin a new business model for diapers.
Diapers are for free, and will us to redesign the city.
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