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Circular Economy Discussion | GEORGE TOMESKI
Hi,
THANKS FOR THE AWESOME THOUGHT PROVOKING OPPORTUNITY
+61 484 344 058
November 2016
The Problem
MOST OF THE PRESSING PROBLEMS FACING HUMANITY ARE DUE TO THE LIMITS
OF THE MATERIALS USED TO MAKE STUFF.
As a result the "take, make & turf" production / consumption
model has the planet at breaking point.
The Solution?
CHANGE THE LIMITATIONS
OF MATERIALS
Re-enginner materials so that they contribute to our ecology when disposed.
Materials are the defining input in the "take/make/dispose" model.
Changing the limitations of materials will integrate the model into our ecology.
THE IDEA
FROM POLLUTANT
TO CLEANSER
A plastic bottle reacts to the soil it's dropped in,
and changes into something valuable to that ecology
FROM POLLUTANT
TO NUTRIENT
A plastic bottle reacts to the water it's washed into,
and changes into something valuable to that ecology
FROM POLLUTANT
TO PLANT
A plastic bottle dropped in a garden bed in a suburban home,
grows into a flower
FROM POLLUTANT
TO ORGANIC SOLAR CELL
A plastic bottle that breaks down into organic solar sells,
helping deliver power to far flung environments
FROM POLLUTANT
TO ORGANISM
A plastic bottle reacts to the nutrient deficient soil it's dropped in,
and changes to grow nourishing organisms
FROM POLLUTANT
TO VEGETATION
Plastic bottles that transform landfill into vegetation,
re-building the food chain in third world environments
End State
MATERIALS THAT CHANGE FORM, CONTRIBUTING TO THE ENVIRONMENT THEY'RE DISPOSED IN.
How?
PROGRAMMABLE MOLLECULES
/ SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
CODING MATERIAL TO DO WHAT OUR ECOLOGY NEEDS
What else did I consider?
LOTS. BUT NOTHING SEEMED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM AS COMPELLINGLY AS THE IDEA THAT WE COULD CODE MATERIALS TO BEHAVE AS ECOLOGY NEEDS.
Coke and Red Garage should have a global eco system of designers,
developers and manufacturers dedicated to the re-purposing of materials
There is a big business in this. It contributes to a solution.
But the problem of materials persists.
Creative uses for existing materials,
more efficient re-cycling of existing production inputs, more art from materials, more & more re-use.
I agree that we need more of;
So validation isn't as straightforward as pointing to a business case in market.
But the advances in the required tech is all around us.
After all, if we can edit our DNA, grow organs.....
