THE BLUE ECONOMY

10 YEARS

100 INNOVATIONS

100 MILLION JOBS

Gunter Pauli
REPORT TO THE CLUB OF ROME

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The Blue Economy

10 Years, 100 Innovations, 100 Million Jobs
Report to the Club of Rome
Gunter Pauli
ISBN 9780912111902
Copyright 2010 Paradigm Publications
All rights reserved. Under penalty of law, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.
Published by Paradigm Publications, Taos, New Mexico, USA
www.paradigm-pubs.com
Distributed by Redwing Book Company
Taos, New Mexico USA
www.redwingbooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
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Graphic Design: Lesley Cox: FEEL Design Associates, www.feeldesignassociates.com

Praise for The Blue Economy

T H E B L U E E C O N O MY

PRAISE FOR THE BLUE ECONOMY

The Blue Economy describes innovations that are certain to change our habits of
production and consumption. It points us in a strategic direction for sustainable
development. Dr. Paulis new economic model gives aspiring entrepreneurs and
political leaders the means to contemplate and achieve a sustainable future. They
will be able to take advantage of manifold opportunities and make policy decisions
that serve both economy and community.
NOEMI SANIN POSADA

Colombia Ambassador to Spain (2003-2007),

UK (1994-1996, 2007-2009), Venezuela (1990-1991) Colombia Minister of
Communications (1983-1986), Colombia Minister of Foreign Affairs (1991-1995)
Government of Colombia Peace Negotiator

The Blue Economy is exactly the kind of tool we need to help us repair our broken
economy and create a more sustainable model. The new ideas and innovative
thinking compiled here give us exciting new options about how to transform our
economy so that it can generate new jobs and sustain healthy, happy communities
far into the future.
PHAEDRA ELLIS-LAMKINS

CEO, Green For All

Over the past 30 years as I have built up the computer industry around ACER, Dr.
Pauli has introduced me to many creative ideas, especially through his Zero Emissions
Research and Initiatives (ZERI) organization. He has devoted himself for decades to
theoretical development as well as practical application of zero emission concepts.
The ideas he puts forth in The Blue Economy represent a sustainable and competitive
business framework based on innovations that offer investors and society financial,
social, and environmental benefits. Such opportunities to achieve sustainability, parity,
and profitability are not only inviting but tremendously compelling.
STAN SHIH

Founder, ACER Computers

Chairman, IDSoft Capital Venture Fund

T HE BL UE ECONOMY

Praise for The Blue Economy

Gunter Pauli masterfully elucidates examples from nature that can help us solve our
sustainability problems. There are refreshing and competitive options to artificial
chemical and technological fixes and their unintended toxic consequences.
YVON CHOUINARD

Owner, Patagonia, Inc.

Nature holds all our solutions. Gunter Pauli is a visionary entrepreneur who is able
to help us create a Blue Economy based on respecting the Earths ecosystems and
humankind. His book is destined to be the bible of this new economy, meant for all
of us who are working to build a better world.
CHRISTIAN COURTIN-CLARINS

Chairman, Clarins (France)

Our current economic crisis is also a crisis of ethics and values which has led to
the enrichment of a few and the disempowerment of many. The Blue Economy
advocates for a new economy, one led by innovation and creativity to cultivate the
next generation of social entrepreneurship. We are in need of such an economy and
no one is better placed than Gunter Pauli to offer this to the world.
WENDY LUHABE

Chancellor , University of Johannesburg

Chair, Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa

Fifteen years ago Gunter Pauli came to my Tokyo office where I was serving as Rector
of the United Nations University. He explained his concept of Zero Emissions
and I immediately hired him as my Special Advisor.In a very shorttime, the Zero
Emissions concept was thoroughly disseminated in Japan and other countries.
Private Japanese companies quickly began to invest in technologies and facilities
to implement, in practical terms, that original concept.
Gunters new work, The Blue Economy, presents excellent innovative ideas with
practical applications that will help entrepreneurs and consumers to significantly
impact the economies of the world, while earning money, generating jobs, and
protecting the environment. In envisioning the future, Gunter continues to be an
optimist. I am one too. As you read The Blue Economy, you will be introduced to these
ideas and their concrete applications. Dont miss it and recommend it to your friends.
PROFESSOR HEITOR GURGULINO DE SOUZA

Rector, UN University, Tokyo, Japan (1987-1997)

Secretary General, IAUP (International Association of University Presidents) Brasilia, DF Brazil

Praise for The Blue Economy

T H E B L U E E C O N O MY

Ultimately, our civilization will survive if we are able to emulate nature. The Blue
Economy illumines the way.
LESTER R. BROWN

President, Earth Policy Institute

Author, Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization

Though I know too little of ecology, the rich ideas and inspirations set forth in
The Blue Economy are worthy of our greatest attention.
ELIE WIESEL

1986 Nobel Peace Laureate

The Blue Economy shows us that by securing materials and aligning production
schemes as nature does, many problems of environmental degradation and
pollution would disappear. However, economic policy and core business models
largely ignore integrated solutions. Future economic models would do well to
take into account the strategic advantage of a portfolio of innovations based on
nature and physics. That will be a tall order, but Gunter Paulis book, with its rich
presentation of how nature and economy can and must collaborate, convincingly
shows the way.
ANDERS WIJKMAN

Member, Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences

European Parliament (1999-2009)

The Blue Economy is an exceptional vision of what is truly possible in the context
of a sustainable economy. Gunter Pauli has worked tirelessly for many years to put
substance to the promise of a Blue Economy. His book is the fascinating result of true
dedication to unlocking the potential for sustainability that is universally practiced in
Natures ecosystems. As investments managers we always seek great, unique ideas that
can make money while solving the worlds greatest challenges. I would urge anyone
who is interested in going beyond shallow notions of sustainable business to read this
book and be inspired by the real opportunity we now have to create a truly enduring
and sustainable economic system based on Natures profound wisdom.
COLIN M. LE DUC

Partner, Generation Investment Management LLP (London)

T HE BL UE ECONOMY

Praise for The Blue Economy

Gunter Pauli is an inspired and visionary entrepreneur. He is the kind of business

leader and educator the world needs. His concepts and ideas for creating
sustainablebusiness and social enterprisesare based on a deep understanding of
ecosystems. This book belongs in the library of every university, business school,
and entrepreneur who wants to make a difference in the world today.
HAZEL HENDERSON

Author, Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy

President, Ethical Markets Media (USA and Brazil)

The Blue Economy describes in a clear and inspiring manner a systems approach
that models Nature and provides a way forward. For anyone who wants to profit
from the economic opportunities concomitant with 21st century changes, Gunter
Pauli explains how to restructure economies and reshape societies.
HARVEY STONE

President, Open Circle Innovations

Gunter Pauli has formulated an entrepreneurial business model that can respond to
basic needs, build social capital, and achieve sustainability. His current economic
development work with READ in Bhutan is focused on introducing a portfolio of
the innovations described in this book as tools to improve the National Happiness
Index and foster environmental and social entrepreneurship. Given the mission
of the Social Venture Network, his message in The Blue Economy is certain to
resonate with a growing community of business and social leaders.
OMER L. RAINS

Chairman, Rural Education & Development (READ)

Global Director, Marshall Plan Venture Capital Fund
Member, Social Venture Network (SVN)

Gunter Pauli has carefully gathered many concepts that can achieve harmony
with nature, wealth for entrepreneurs, and opportunities for food and livelihood
security for all. The Blue Economy is important reading for all entrepreneurs who
embrace environmental awareness and celebrate human evolution.
PAUL MAHAL

Co-founder, CoroCare

Praise for The Blue Economy

T H E B L U E E C O N O MY

Hawaii is moving to revitalize the ina (the land and the ocean) using the
principles of prosperity from the ahupuaa model, originating fromthe indigenous
culture, aligning with the ancient systems of the Earth and the values and spirit
of Aloha and Pono. The innovations described in The Blue Economy honor this
spirit. Alohake Akua, emlama kakou.
MARK MCGUFFIE

Managing Director, Enterprise Honolulu.

Japan was among the first to support Gunter Paulis early work with zero emissions.
I am certain that the innovative approaches he describes in The Blue Economy will
give the entire world a powerful engine for a new kind of economy.
PROFESSOR KIYOSHI KUROKAWA, M.D.

Special Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Japan (2006-2008)

President, Science Council of Japan (2003-2006)

The Blue Economy fosters our transition from a product-based economy to a

system-based economy. Such a cultural leap requires all of us to see and move
beyond the connections that have gone into an oblivious core business strategy
subject to market tyranny.
DR. CATIA BASTIOLI

President, Novamont SpA (Italia)

European Innovator of the Year (2007)

As a species we have evolved in interdependence, formulating the tools for brilliant

co-existence. The novel ideas and breathtaking concepts presented in The Blue
Economy resonate with our deepest knowing. We are led to recognize that Nature
devises systems perfectly suited to continuance. The model of cascading energy and
nutrients from one kingdom of nature to the next offers us a necessary paradigm
that allows us to envision our place in natures congruence.
AMY MCCONNELL FRANKLIN, PH.D, M.ED., M.P.H.

Emotional Intelligence Education Consultant and Lecturer

Author, Choose to Change

T HE BL UE ECONOMY

Praise for The Blue Economy

In The Blue Economy Gunter Pauli exposes readers to a brilliant compendium of

innovations that hold the potential to intertwine profitability with sustainability.
He shows us how business, science, civil society, and community can partner
and profit in meeting the needs of all. This work will energize entrepreneurs to
meet the challenge set by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
Let us choose to unite the power of the markets with the authority of universal ideals. Let
us choose to reconcile the creative forces of private entrepreneurship with the needs of the
disadvantaged and the requirements of future generations.
FREDERICK C. DUBEE

Professor, World Peace Academy, University of Basel

Senior Advisor, United Nations Global Compact, China Network
Executive Director, International Global Management Education Institute

The Blue Economy holds a special place on my desk front and center. In my 30
years of working for a sustainable future, it is rare to come across a book with such
a high level of both intellectual rigor AND joyful wonder. I consider both essential.
Gunter Paulis insights and extraordinary breadth of solution-oriented scenarios
can make your head spin and your heart beat fast. As a student of systems thinking
and design, the 100 innovations described fill me with a sense of hope and thrill
me with the possibilities for a future Ill be happy to leave to upcoming generations.
KRIS HOLSTROM, REGIONAL SUSTAINABILITY COORDINATOR

The New Community Coalition

Colorado organic farmer

The Blue Economy reveals, through the eyes of an economist, a panoply oftechnological
innovations based in nature. It shows us that environmental sustainability and
company profitability are far from mutually exclusive.
ANDREW PARKER, PHD

Research Leader, London Natural History Museum & Green Templeton College,
Oxford University; Blue Economy Innovator

From the GREEN (initiative)

Jump into THE BLUE (economy)
Your RED (balance sheet) becomes BLACK (wealth)!
With the true dynamic of GAIA (naturally . . .)

TOMOYO NONAKA

Chairwoman, Gaia Initiatve

CEO, Sanyo Electric Group (Japan) (2005-2008)

T H E B L U E E C O N O MY

CONTENTS
Foreword
Dedication
Preface

xvii
xxi
xxv

ONE TIMELESS RESOURCES FOR THE CHALLENGES OF OUR TIMES 1

Physics and Practicality
Wasting Away
How to Welcome Waste
Achieving Abundance

2
4
7
11

TWO EMULATING ECOSYSTEMS FOR A BLUE ECONOMY

13

Plenitude from Paucity

Food Security in Africa
An Island Afloat a Dream
Progressive Pueblo Solutions
Bagasse, a Sweet Solution
Urban Whole Systems

15
19
21
24
26
27

THREE NATURES RESOURCE EFFICIENCY

29

Structure and Flow

Termites, the Masters of Flow
A Stripe of a Different Color
A Desert of Plenty
Collecting Water by Attraction and Repulsion
Sophisticated Sticking
Vortexes as Viable Bactericides
Natural Ways to Avoid Fire and Flame
Unlocking Solutions to the Challenges of Sustainability

30
31
34
35
36
37
38
41
44

FOUR LEADING THE WAY FOR MARKET LEADERS

47

Oak from Seed

New Possibilities, New Perspectives
Getting Out of the Box

48
49
52
53

Management Principle 1: Core Business Defined by

Core Competence
Management Principle 2: Supply Chain Management
Management Principle 3: Outsourcing

56
58
xiii

T HE BL UE ECONOMY

From 20 Thousand to 100 Million

59
60
62
62
63
65

FIVE NATURES MBA (MASTERY OF BRILLIANT ADAPTATIONS)

68

Empowering Entrepreneurs
Three Levels of Sustainability
One Innovation, Multiple Revenues
Cascading Resources in a Community
Real Opportunities, Real Solutions

70
74
75
77
78

SIX CASCADING MODELS, MULTIPLE CASH FLOWS

81

The Buzz about Coffee

Pulp to Livelihood
From Waste to Superfood

85
90
94

SEVEN SPINNING A SILKEN TALE

97

Management Principle 4: Cash Flow as King

Management Principle 5: Crowding Out

The Downside of the Upside

So Many Solutions, So Little Time
Greenwashing

Topsoil on the Cutting Edge

Silk for Carbon Capture
The Geometry of Silk
A Close Shave
Smooth as Silk
Biocompatible Medical Uses

98
101
102
105
107
108

EIGHT FROM THE MIGHTY TO THE MINISCULE

111

Only a Heartbeat Away

112
113
116
118
121
123
128
134
135
137
139

Energy from Whales

Healthy, Battery-Free Electrical Current
Health Data Online

A Cooler Way to Cool

(Did You Hear?) The Furor over Furanones
Miraculous Maggots
Painless Injections
Gasless Propulsion
Bundling Innovations
Biodiversity and Health
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T H E B L U E E C O N O MY

NINE A RAINBOW OF POSSIBILITIES:

REMAKING COLORATION AND COSMETICS

141

Light Perception
Ultraviolet: Light Humans Do Not See
The Evolution of Color and Perception
Color Pigmentation as Commodity
Waste for One, Resource for Another
The Biorefinery of the Future

143
144
146
148
151
154

TEN ENVISIONING NEW ENERGY OPTIONS

157

Rethinking Demand-Side Energy Policies

Unlocking New Energy Options

CO2 as a Source of Energy

160
163
165
165
167
170
171

ELEVEN TRUE GOLD: MINES AS PLATFORMS OF HEALING

179

How to Restore Errors of the Past

Binding the Wound to Heal
A Method for Methane Capture
Converting water from cost to revenue
Electrifying Savings

Environmental remediation
Contributions from Complex Ores
Mines as Biorefineries
Financial Engineering

180
183
184
186
188
189
189
190
192
194
196

TWELVE BUILDINGS DESIGNED BY FLOWS

197

Creating an Ecosystem of the Domicile

The Seven Flows of Building Design and Living Space
The Thoroughly Modern Nursery
The Flow of Air and Light

198
200
203
205
207
208
209

Electricity from pH
Electricity from Temperature Differential
Electricity from Gravity and Pressure
Energy from Movement (Kinetic Energy)

Power from Airflows

Energy Generation from Temperature and Pressure

Insect Insights Relative to Humidity

A Living Filter
Fungi in the Basement

xv

T HE BL UE ECONOMY

The Flow of Sound

The Flow of Energy
The Flows of People and Matter
Schools as Sustainability Classrooms

211
211
217
218
219
222
223

Housing for All

All Flows Considered
50 Technologies Inspired by Nature Integrated into Building Design

225
228
230

THIRTEEN CASCADING A BLUE ECONOMY

231

Opting Out of a Dead End

A Curiously Winding Path

232
233
238

The Challenge of Triple Glazing

The Flow of Water

The Heat Island Effect

Natures MBA, Core Business MBA A Qualitative Comparison

EPILOGUE REALIZING A DREAM

239

Success in California
Coffee, Invasive Species, and Local Biodiversity
Overcoming an Unjust Boycott
From ZERI to 100

242
244
245
247

APPENDIX 1 A TABLE OF 100 INNOVATIONS

INSPIRED BY NATURE

251

APPENDIX 2 100 INNOVATIONS INSPIRING

COMPETITIVE BUSINESS MODELS

259

Cascading Materials, Nutrients, and Energy like Ecosystems

Substituting Something with Nothing
Platform Technologies Accelerating Sustainability
Extraordinary Food for Thought

260
271
285
293

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES

297

Books and Journals

Other Works by Gunter Pauli
Additional Information

297
301
302

INDEX

303

xvi

T H E B L U E E C O N O MY

FOREWORD

he ideas you are about to encounter are among the most tantalizing
prospects for realizing a low carbon, resource-efficient, and
competitive economy in the 21st century. It is remarkable that some of
the greatest opportunities for jobs will come from replicating the waste-free
efficiency of ecosystems. The natural world, in all its splendor and diversity,
has already solved many of the sustainability challenges humanity faces in
ingenious, unexpected, and even counterintuitive ways. If humans could
only unravel the fascinating chemistry, processes, structures, and designs
that organisms from bacteria and mollusks to reptiles and mammals
have evolved and tested over millennia, perhaps then we would have new
and transformational solutions to the many challenges faced by a planet of
six billion people, rising to over nine billion by 2050.
Gunter Paulis book, The Blue Economy, opens the door to this fresh, forwardlooking field. The pioneering advances it profiles will quickly persuade
business and government leaders to explore and develop the cutting-edge
sciences at the foundation of these new developments. It highlights the
innovative work of many, including Emile Ishida (Japan), Wilhelm Barthlott
(Germany), Andrew Parker (UK), Joanna Aizenberg (Russia/USA),
Jorge Alberto Vieira Costa (Brazil), and other front-line scientists who
refuse to accept either the conventional wisdom or the status quo. In
featuring their work, The Blue Economy demonstrates that we can find
ways of utilizing physics, chemistry, and biology with renewable materials
xvii

T HE BL UE ECONOMY

Foreword

and sustainable practices just as ecosystems do. This is no longer the realm
of science-fiction; it is actually happening here and now. With appropriate
policies to support research and development, with promotional strategies
delivered through market mechanisms, these materials and methods offer
abundant opportunities for accelerating adaptation to pressing global issues.
In turn, widespread adoption of the framework proposed in The Blue
Economy can provide a solid rationale for implementing the agenda of the
Convention on Biological Diversity and the missions of organizations like
UNEP and IUCN. Currently, species are being lost at an unprecedented rate.
Many scientists believe that the world is now undergoing the sixth wave
of extinctions, primarily caused by economic models and human behavior
that undervalue the contributions of species, habitats, and ecosystems to
our lives and the planets life support systems.
These species within ecosystems underpin our mega-trillion dollar economy
by providing essential services at the local, regional, and global level. Many
ecosystem species and processes hold clues for potentially significant
achievements in the production of medicine, food crops, biofuels, and lowenergy materials. These could prove to be essential for societal measures
to mitigate or adapt to climate change. Such achievements will certainly
be needed to catalyze new sustainable businesses and industries to provide
decent, sustainable jobs. For the 100 innovations it describes, The Blue
Economy estimates an employment potential of 100 million jobs. The
plausibility of this estimate is enhanced by the fact that there are today
more people employed in renewable energies than in the oil and gas
industries combined, and that investment in wind, solar, and geothermal
power generation exceeds investment in new fossil fuel power plants.
The United Nations forecasts that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in
countries or regions suffering from water scarcity. Two thirds of the worlds
population could be living with conditions of water stress. Meanwhile,
climate change is expected to aggravate water problems via more extreme
weather events. Consider a water-collecting system modeled after that of
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Foreword

T H E B L U E E C O N O MY

the Namib desert beetle. This resourceful creature lives in a location that
receives a mere half-inch of rain a year, yet it can harvest water from the
fogs that blow in gales across the desert several mornings each month.
Researchers have recently designed a surface that is inspired by the waterattracting bumps and water-shedding valleys of scales on this beetles wings.
These scales allow the insect to collect and funnel water droplets that are
thinner than a human hair. Trials have been conducted to capture water
vapor from cooling towers by using a technique modeled after the beetles
skill. Initial tests have shown that this film invention can recover 10% of
the water lost. This lowers energy bills for nearby buildings by reducing
the heat island effect. An estimated 50,000 new water-cooling towers are
erected annually and each large system loses over 500 million liters of water
per day. Thus a savings of even 10% is significant. Other researchers are
adapting the beetles water collection system to develop tents that collect
their own water, as well as surfaces that will mix reagents for lab-on-a-chip
applications. Twenty people are employed on this fledgling development
but the true world-wide potential might be as many as 100 thousand new jobs.
The Blue Economy cites a project in Benin where a novel farming and foodprocessing system emulates the way an ecosystem cascades nutrients.
Animal wastes from the slaughterhouse are processed in a maggot farm
to feed fish and quail; biogas provides electricity and plants purify water.
The project is a microcosm of the Blue Economy. For the same Dollar,
Euro, Rupee, or Yuan it generates, it produces income, livelihoods, and
food security while recycling and re-using wastes. To date 250 people are
employed. There is a potential of 500 thousand jobs if this cascading model
were used in every African abattoir, and five million jobs worldwide.
It has been nearly 70 years since Swiss engineer George de Mestral, having
examined the natural hooks of the burdock seeds that stubbornly attached
to his clothes while on a countryside stroll, came up with an invention we
know as VelcroTM. More recently, buildings such as a shopping centre in
Zimbabwe, a hospital in Colombia, a school in Sweden, and the Zoological
xix

T HE BL UE ECONOMY

Foreword

Society of London are cooled by structures inspired by termite mounds.

Meanwhile, engineering schools around the world are racing to develop
far more efficient solar power based on the molecules and processes of
photosynthesis. What The Blue Economy emphasizes is the vast potential
of such innovations. It spotlights the tipping point inherent in the
immense number of such breakthroughs currently in the laboratory, under
development, or being commercialized.
The world has been racked by food, fuel, environmental, financial, and
economic crises. Ecosystem and biodiversity loss has led to an emerging
climate crisis and a looming natural-resource calamity. A Blue Economy,
able to deal systematically with these many challenges, and ready to seize
the manifest multiple opportunities, is now essential. Our Earth has always
been our greatest resource, and this book cites 100 new reasons why
investing in both local and global ecosystem sustainability is even more
valid and central today. If we follow the logic of nature we can create a
foundation for societal sea-change and economic transformation that
manifests from the ground up.
Leonardo da Vinci neatly summed up the power of ecosystems and
natures material efficiency in his Codex Atlanticus: Everything comes
from everything; everything is made of everything; everything turns into
everything, for all that exists in the elements is made of these elements.
ACHIM STEINER

Under-Secretary of the United Nations

Executive Director, UN Environmental Programs (UNEP)
ASHOK KHOSLA

President, International Union for Conservation of Nature

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T H E B L U E E C O N O MY

DEDICATION
Let us not demand more of the Earth.
Let us do more with what the Earth provides.
GUNTER PAULI

he endeavor to grasp new insights based on the elegance of natures

ecosystems is anything but a solitary exercise. While this book was
written by one person, the impulses, energy, and support emerged from
a diverse network, ranging from old friends, close family, and surprising
new arrivals. Since 1982, Yusuke Saraya, my long-time friend from Japan,
often conspired with me to explore the possibilities offered by ecosystems.
The strongest encouragement for this project came at the start from my
friend Yasuhiro Sakakibara. After a memorable visit to Reims, France, in
2006, the moment I first discussed the idea with him, he offered his full
encouragement. His unconditional support, combined with his admonition
that it had to make business sense, typifies the personal generosity that
accompanied his promise of funding.
The intellectual supports from Ashok Khosla, Anders Wijkman, and
Heitor Gurgulino de Souza, who have been fellow co-inspirators and
members of the Club of Rome, have offered structures for debate. From
the beginning they provided generous support for this endeavor to identify
real breakthroughs beyond green batteries and corn-based plastics. Jorge
Reynolds, whom I have had the privilege to follow and work with over a
quarter of a century, provided first-hand and deeper insight as to how single
discoveries into the functioning of the whale heart could impact society
beyond the health of heart patients. His inventions provide a fresh look at
how innovative advances in health care could provide breakthroughs for
xxi

T HE BL UE ECONOMY

Dedication

planetary health and simultaneously build a competitive industry, in effect

achieving a powerful and deliberate synchronicity. Jorge is also part of a
small nucleus of individuals who witnessed Paolo Lugaris emerging dream
at Las Gaviotas that used the powers of symbiosis in natural ecosystems to
heal centuries of thoughtless human abuse of the land.
The technical and innumerable pages of listings of what nature and
ecosystems accomplish, gathered with painstaking effort, came to life only
when scientists like Joanna Aizenberg, Andrew Parker, Peter Steinberg,
Christer Swedin, Jorge Alberto Vieira Costa, Peter Steinberg, and Fritz
Vollrath plumbed the depths of their insights and described opportunities
with passion and clarity. These efforts, complemented with the
entrepreneurial pragmatism of Curt Hallberg, Emile Ishida, Mats Nilsson,
and Norman Voyer, provided a wealth of content that helped establish the
vision and the foundation for the ideas that stand at the core of this book.
When I subsequently contemplated the work of systems integrators like
Paolo Lugari (Gaviotas), Father Godfrey Nzamujo, John Todd, and Anders
Nyquist, I realized the tremendous power of bundling these technologies
into systems to achieve something that is economically viable, eminently
natural, quite complex, yet very simple. I knew that their energy had set
me on track toward something truly worthwhile. Without the generosity of
time offered by over a hundred scientists and entrepreneurs, I would never
have had their perspective for my goals to describe how adapting the logic
of ecosystems to economic models can generate sustainable livelihood and
provide the basic needs of all.
Then, there is the energy to pursue this endeavor against all odds. When
my partners of the moment abandoned larger goals and chose to control
intellectual property for personal benefit, it was the ethical leadership of
my mentor, Elie Wiesel, that helped direct my focus to the greater good.
It permitted me to drop the excessively romantic view of each species that
had diverted my attention from the real power of ecosystems and the vast
portfolio of entrepreneurial opportunities. Within that changing world my
wife, Katherina, provided the greatest support. Her unconditional backing
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Dedication

T H E B L U E E C O N O MY

helped me realize the importance of discarding the superficial calculations

of idealized businesses in favor of a vision of systemic job generation that
could redefine competitiveness and offer a new economic framework to a
global population.
Several organizations around the world invited me to share emerging
insights, engage dialogues, focus proposals, and prioritize the cases.
Addressing Bioneers at the Bay (Massachusetts, USA organized by the
Marion Institute); the governing council of UNEP in Nairobi, Kenya; the
COP on Biodiversity in Bonn, Germany; the Industry Leaders Summit
in New Delhi, India; bankers and farmers at ABSA in Stellenbosch, South
Africa; Al Gores Expert Panel on Solutions for Climate Change in New York,
USA; the GLOBE Meeting at the G8 in Tokyo, Japan, the LIFT Conference
in Marseilles, France; the Annual Congress of Engineers (ANPEI) in Brazil;
the APEC CEO Summit in Singapore; the General Assembly of UNIDO
in Vienna, Austria; and the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Club of Rome in
Amsterdam, Netherlands, are some of the valuable exchanges that enriched
my insights.
Perhaps the greatest gift over the past decade was the spider bite (from the
brown recluse) that put me on crutches for nine weeks and in a wheelchair
for four. While this did not stop me from scouting the world for solutions,
it did offer me time in Marion, Massachusetts to reflect upon pathways
towards the future. Michael Baldwin, founder of the Marion Institute, and
Peter Dean, his fellow board member, offered me a rare chance to think and
rethink, while a new world emerged on my horizon.
It was at this nexus in time that Peter Dean and Erin Sanborns crystallizing
energy provided the platform this project has deserved ever since Achim
Steiner, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment
Programme, opted to support this initiative. I am very grateful that Achim
has continued to support this effort to look at the emerging Blue Economy.
Then the editors appeared who could convert the spirit of this epochal
insight into language that reaches everyone. Martha Fielding and Bob Felt
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Dedication

translated my insights into this emerging world into a fluid chain of

words and concepts that reaches a larger readership, beyond the experts
and the converted.
In 1979 Aurelio Peccei, founder of the Club of Rome and a personal mentor,
invited me to attend the annual meeting of the Club in Salzburg, Austria.
Three decades later, the members of the Club have considered this book
worthy of being named a Report to the Club of Rome, in the rich tradition
of milestone publications like Limits to Growth and Factor Four. It is a
humbling honor. Thus it is with deep gratitude that I undertake to merit
these expectations. My deepest wish is to fully contribute to the vision and
the shaping of the sustainable society articulated by the founding fathers of
the Club of Rome.
There are many people who have been key to making certain that this
book came to be; but perhaps the most momentous inspiration has been
my son, Philipp-Emmanuel, who just arrived to this world, opening wide
my eyes and making me look positively into the future, reawakening
that fundamental feeling that parents have a responsibility to create an
environment that is conducive to a better future. My older sons, Carl-Olaf
and Laurenz-Frederik, were the first readers of this book. My adopted
daughter Chido deserves full credit for demonstrating that all in this book is
not fantasy. It is reality in the making as described throughout the chapters
of The Blue Economy. This is what offers hope.

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PREFACE
If we teach our children only what we know,
they can never do better than we do.
GUNTER PAULI

n the 1980s when I read the books of Lester Brown and his team at the
Worldwatch Institute, I had the urge to make available to everyone this
wealth of data concerning global environmental issues. The onslaught of
negative statistics and trend analyses, based on data assembled in Washington
DC, showed only a few positive lights on the horizon. Consequently I
created a dedicated publishing company to bring the State of the World and
Vital Signs to a recalcitrant listener: the business community in Europe. As
an entrepreneur who had established a half-dozen companies by then, I was
also a concerned citizen. In the early 1990s with the arrival of my two sons,
Carl-Olaf and Laurenz-Frederik, a reflection crossed my mind as happens
with so many young fathers and mothers: we want to leave the world to
our children in a better condition than we received it from our parents. As
my first sons graduate from high school nearly two decades later, I must
confess it seems a Herculean task.
However, as life matures and wrinkles unveil deep concerns, we cannot
simply remain concerned citizens, worried about the future, sorry about
every error. Rather we must regroup and find ways to create the foundation
on which we can allow the next generation to surpass our achievements.
Perhaps the greatest freedom we can offer our children is to allow them to
think differently and, more importantly, to act differently. It is therefore
helpful to reflect on what we can bequeath future generations as a structure
for positive thinking and a platform for concrete action. This is perhaps the
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greatest challenge. The bad news is not only about the health of our planet.
For the first time in decades we are realizing that the economic system is
also crumbling.
As an early member of the Club of Rome, the informal gathering of concerned
policy makers, scholars, business leaders, and international civil servants, I
know all too well the importance of sounding a wake-up call. The Limits to
Growth report put forth by the Club of Rome clearly delineated the vicious
cycle of population explosion, environmental degradation, unbridled
industrial growth, and collapse of ethical standards. As a publisher of the
Worldwatch State of the World in selected European languages, and as
an avid participant in the Club of Rome for three decades, I could never
separate the negative conclusions from the need for positive action.
I began working with Ecover, a Europe-based producer of biodegradable
cleaning products. When even the largest manufacturers adopted our
biodegradable ingredient the fatty acids of palm oil as an industry
standard replacement for petrochemical surfactants, it dramatically
increased demand for this alternative. This spurred many harvesters,
especially in Indonesia, to replace vast swathes of rainforest with palm tree
farms. In destroying the rainforest, much of the habitat for the orangutan
was also lost. Thus I learned to my chagrin that biodegradability and
renewability do not equate with sustainability.
In my first article on the subject, published in Seoul, Korea in 1991, I
exhorted the industry to emulate the efficiency of ecosystems. The wisdom
of an ecosystem is not just that it provides services like fresh water and
clean air, replenishment of topsoil, balanced control of bacteria, and a
never-ending evolutionary pathway, always searching for better solutions
and higher efficiencies. Ecosystems are also an inspiration for changing our
highly wasteful production and consumption model. The article suggested
that sustainability is only foreseeable when our system eliminates the
concept of waste, and starts cascading nutrients and energy as nature does.
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After the disenchanting experience with Ecover, I was challenged by Prof.

Dr. Heitor Gurgulino de Souza, the Rector of the United Nations University
hosted by the Japanese government, to model an economic system that
generated no waste and no emissions, yet created jobs, contributed social
capital, and did not entail a higher cost. I accepted this challenge three
years before the Kyoto Protocol was approved. Thus I had the opportunity
to imagine, from an academic ivory tower, how we could emulate the
productive and evolutionary interactions of natural ecosystems where
waste for one is food for another. Following three years of research, and
in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme, the
ZERI Foundation was established in Switzerland with its sole objective to
implement pioneering cases that could demonstrate a scientifically feasible
and economically viable model of production and consumption.
Celebrating the first decade of pioneering around the world, the Board
of ZERI commissioned an inventory of innovations inspired by natural
systems. Although the starting point was nothing more than assembling
peer-reviewed, publicly accessible scientific literature, it quickly evolved
from a romantic and fascinating search for the brilliance in each species
that dramatically enriches biodiversity, to a quest for an economic model
that could inspire entrepreneurs to put humanity in general and its
production and consumption in particular on a viable and sustainable
path. At the outset of this search I had the opportunity to work with Fritjof
Capra to edit the book, Steering Businesses towards Sustainability. This
project triggered a deluge of ideas. I realized that my search for a next
generation of business opportunities was based on the conviction that if I
could portray the models I envisioned, it might inspire others to become
entrepreneurs. The review team ploughed through and annotated thousands
of pertinent articles in English-language scientific publications. These were
complemented with similar Spanish, German, and Japanese publications.
My task was to sift through one after the other and imagine which one
of over 3,000 cases would present an opportunity to move industry and
commerce toward sustainability independent of subsidies or tax breaks. I
pondered which innovations could be bundled into a system that could
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work the way ecosystems do, clustering innovations developed by diverse

players, making a more efficient use of all the existing, unfailing forces
described by the laws of physics for which there are no exceptions.
As an entrepreneur who embraces innovation, I submitted a shortlist
of 340 technologies to a team of corporate strategists, expert financiers,
investigative journalists, and public policymakers. This exercise happened
prior to the current recession, while the world was still building castles in
the sky with money that did not exist. Over a period of two years I met with
inventors and entrepreneurs in all four corners of the world. I held dozens of
meetings with financial analysts, business reporters, and corporate strategy
academics. This helped sharpen the logic behind the ultimate selection of
the 100 most remarkable innovations cataloged in Appendix One. Then,
the recession hit. At the end of 2008 when the United Nations announced
that the collapse of the financial markets had cost developing countries
over 50 million jobs, a sense of realism emerged. I could find no satisfaction
in matching a captivating photograph to a scientific explanation. I needed
to communicate something more than the inspirational brilliance of every
species we had examined.
A new team undertook a complete reassessment of all the information before
us and examined the dynamics of the current economic models demise in
the light of the innovations we had cataloged. We spotted the phoenix of
new growth that seemed to shift the logic of short-term results and bonuses
to one that gives a world constrained by limited resources the ability to
respond to peoples basic needs with what we have. I saw a clear model
emerging that could offer entrepreneurs around the world a unique window
of opportunity to change the dominant business paradigm. It was not about
cloning and genetic manipulation, protected by patents that appear closer
to bio-piracy than actual innovation. It was about the pervasive logic and
sensibility of ecosystems. This short list of 100 innovations drew inspiration
from the ability of ecosystems to always evolve to higher levels of efficiency,
to cascade nutrients and energy, to leave nothing to waste, to utilize the
abilities of all contributors, and to respond to the basic needs of all.
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Such insights into ecosystems logic have crystallized into the underpinnings
of this book, allowing me to establish the framework for a Blue Economy and
to realize that the current economic upheaval is a blessing in disguise. It may
be that we are finally calling a halt to the unrealistic consumerism that has
propelled the economy into insurmountable debt. Exhorting consumers to
spend more is a stereotype of the blind logic that cajoles citizens to buy their
way out of crisis by indebting all of us as well as subsequent generations,
beyond our capacity to ever repay. This unconscionable approach siphons
the entire worlds liquidity into an elite bankonomy, denying credit for
everyone else. Such actions are at the base of a bankrupt economic model,
a Red Economy model that borrows from nature, from humanity, from
the commons of all with no thought of repayment beyond postponement
to the future. Insatiable economies of scale callously search for ever lower
marginal costs for each additional unit manufactured, making dismissive
abstraction of all unintended consequences. The financial crisis of 2008
stemmed from bankers and corporate decision-makers embarking on
a merger and acquisition frenzy, leveraging assets and amassing such
enormous debt that the growth became self-defeating. Such is the tale of an
In-the-Red (debt) Economy that failed.
In comparison, a Green Economy model has required companies to invest
more and consumers to pay more, to achieve the same, or even less, while
preserving the environment. While this was already a challenge during the
heyday of economic growth, it is a solution that has little chance in a time
of economic downturn. The Green Economy, in spite of much goodwill
and effort, has not achieved the viability so greatly desired. If we shift the
spectrum, we see that a Blue Economy addresses the issues of sustainability
that go beyond mere preservation. A Blue Economy engages regeneration.
We might say that the Blue Economy is about ensuring that ecosystems
can maintain their evolutionary path so that all can benefit from natures
endless flow of creativity, adaptation, and abundance.
It is the young at heart who will seize upon the entrepreneurial opportunities
that emulate ecosystems and cascade energy and resources to add value
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and generate multiple exchange benefits, translating them into income and
employment. When we implement the concepts of a Blue Economy, the
decisions of millions of actors can supercede the dirigisme of a few market
makers, monopolistic companies, or state controls, and a powerful new
social and economic structure manifests. The engagement and commitment
of citizens is what will change the rules of the game and what will effect a
real shift. At a moment in history where peak oil and peak food are clearly
hovering, we can draw practical ideas and inspiration from ecosystems as
we witness their ability to apply creativity and evolution in overcoming
challenges to survival. This book aims to contribute to the design of a
new economic model that is not only capable of responding to the needs
of all but converts the artificial construct called scarcity into a sense of
sufficiency and even of abundance.
While the waste of material resources exemplified by modern landfills and
incinerators is to be deplored, the waste of human resources is absolutely
unacceptable. When the numbers of unemployed youth oscillate between
25% in industrialized countries and over 50% in the developing world, it is
easy to imagine what it means to our global society if its leaders consider
the next generation useless or even worse, if the young and disadvantaged
consider themselves useless. It is indicative of a system in severe decline,
a society in extreme crisis, underscored by mounting statistics of violence,
criminality, terrorism, drug abuse, illegal immigration, relinquished
education, and the deplorable treatment of populations or communities
already at-risk or underserved.
Abdul Samer Majali, who served as President of Jordan University as well
as Prime Minister, once said, Expose do not impose. If our aim is to
create a better world for all, not just a fuller bank account for a few, if we are
prepared to counter risk with gain, then thoughtful considerations, based
on solid science and documented illustrative cases, can help us envision
and achieve it. A strong platform for entrepreneurship could emulate the
success of ecosystems in eliminating waste and achieving full employment
and productive capacity. Multiple small initiatives around the world could
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provide the basis for new entrepreneurial opportunities that would permit
the shift to a macro-economic system. Instead of deferment as policymakers reach agreement, the direction we take is to expose individuals
everywhere to the open-source opportunities provided by nature.
It is amazing how little natural logic there is in modern society. To cool
a building, air-conditioning experts pump cold air up? To clean water
we dump chemicals in it to kill all life? Greenhouses heat the air, not the
roots? We pay upwards of $100 per kilowatt hour for electricity provided
by a battery that toxifies our environment? When we drink a cup of
coffee we give value to only 0.2% of the biomass while the rest is left to
rot, generating methane gas, or stressing earthworms, who suffer as much
from the neurotoxin called caffeine as we do. A hundred thousand tons of
titanium, mined and processed at high temperature, are flung into landfills
when we discard our disposable razors. Humanity makes excessive use
of energy, emits greenhouse gases beyond reason, and causes havoc in the
environment. We can hardly be surprised that we face climate change.
Indeed, the only excuse for what we do and the way we do it is that we are
ignorant about unintended consequences. Once we know, we not only have
the clarity needed to change, we are also empowered to consciously make
it happen.
Chido Govero, an orphan who lost her mother at the age of seven and never
knew her father, turned immediately from a young girl to the head of her
family with the responsibility to provide food for her grandmother and
little brother. Although such tragedy is real, it is far too common. There are
millions of people, many of them women and children, who must tolerate
abuse to guarantee a semblance of food, water, and shelter. As someone
who quickly learned how to survive for years on nothing more than a bowl
of peanuts a day, Chido also quickly learned to appreciate the generative
capacity of ecosystems. In Africa, these natural systems have been pillaged
by the irresponsible farming of settlers who brought their traditions from
temperate climates with four seasons, whose techniques not only denuded
the land of its natural vegetation but drastically eroded the rich topsoil.
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Yet Chido does not judge the errors of the past. She has grasped the
opportunity to redefine the potential of coffee-crop agro-waste to
achieve food and livelihood security for herself and her fellow orphans in
Zimbabwe. Given food and livelihood security, abuse both of young girls
and of natural systems can be eliminated. Chidos vision is to accomplish
this in her lifetime.
What more do you expect to achieve in your lifetime? Do you mind waiting
to answer until you have read this book?
Gunter Pauli
10th of January 2010
La Mioca, Columbia

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CHAPTER FIVE

NATURES MBA
(Mastery of Brilliant Adaptations)

How strange that Nature does not knock,

and yet does not intrude!
EMILY DICKINSON

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n MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree confers a status

to the holder that makes them desirable as business managers and
leaders. They have learned to analyze transactions and interactions
that help pinpoint cost reduction for labor and raw materials, maximize
cash flow, increase market share, and fine-tune supply chain management.
Unfortunately these experts, who are todays dominant business leaders,
seem on the verge of disconnection from the habitats and inhabitants of
our planet. Worse, their narrow focus on one core business blinds them
from recognizing viable opportunities outside their sphere of interest or
knowledge. Our production and consumption schemes are outdated,
incapable of responding to the basic needs of all. They must either evolve
or be replaced by ones that thrive by functioning harmoniously with all life,
promoting diversity, and fairly ensuring food, shelter, health, and livelihood
for everyone. It is with this conclusion that we turn our admiration and
attention to natures MBA Mastery of Brilliant Adaptations.
Ecosystems offer tremendous inspiration for devising economic models
capable of responding to the needs of all. Natural systems always change,
always evolve. That is their power and their beauty. When we attend to
natures MBA, we can begin to understand how to integrate innovations
into multifaceted models cascading nutrients and energy, supplying energy
from integrated and renewable sources, designing structures that capture
and utilize what is minute and transform it into what is grand, into networks
that become so efficient that nothing is wasted and we have a net energy gain.
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Industry is resistant to continuous change. Predictability is the name of

the game. The model of core business and core competence pursues
productivity in a manner that actually inhibits the natural path of evolution
and change. This is in fact the logic by which industry arrives at solutions
based on genetic manipulation. Once you know how to alter genes, you
believe you know how to predict their outcomes. Where industry leaders
prefer a predictable production system that uses harsh chemistry to
stabilize molecules forever, and genetic modifications that stifle natural
evolutionary tendencies, natural systems offer a different solution. Water is
the solvent; molecular bonds are temporary to permit high biodegradability,
so that molecules can be combined over and over again. Genetic
modifications naturally occur in the realm of bacteria as this is part of their
evolutionary pathway.
These differing frameworks explain why natural systems are always
changing while industrial systems are inherently resistant to change. To
avoid change and to provide more of the same, industrial systems create
global standards that apply everywhere, under the pretext that this reduces
costs. In contrast, ecosystems source everything locally. They satisfy their
needs with what is readily available. Since ecosystems thrive on local
biodiversity, standardization is of little use. After all, biodiversity is based
on as the word implies diversity. This helps elucidate why new business
models based on bundled portfolios of innovations will be implemented
through thousands of entrepreneurs, each of whom will find their niche and
their chance. Industrys desire is to control and standardize, to merge and
expand on the imaginary curve of economies of scale, externalizing all costs
outside their narrow focus. The fact that only a few varieties of tomatoes
and potatoes are commercialized, while there are hundreds of varieties, and
that our main crops are primarily wheat, corn, and soy monocultures, makes it
evident why soils are depleted and disease infestations meet little resistance.
If we observe nature we see that ecosystems evolve towards ever-higher
levels of efficiency and diversity thanks to contributions from all players.
A 500-year-old cedar tree and a majestically erect bear may be the most
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remarkable inhabitants we notice when hiking the Rocky Mountains, but a

closer look shows that millions of other species, mostly invisible to the eye,
are not only contributing but are critical to the whole system. Evolution
implies a constant trend towards greater efficiency and greater diversity. So
may it be with economies, shaped by entrepreneurs at all levels in business,
science, culture, and education.
As Fritjof Capra has pointed out, ecosystems are networks of networks. The
same management principles can be observed layered within each network.
Indeed, ecosystems are all about connecting, about allowing everyone to
contribute to the best of their abilities, while operating within clearly defined
boundaries where nutrients and energy are endlessly cascaded and the laws
of physics are followed without exception. Following a cascading model
and capitalizing on the principles of physics makes it possible to respond
to basic needs, in every location, with whatever is locally available. Instead
of contrived scarcity and shortages, what we see in a Blue Economy model
is abundance of food, energy, jobs, and revenue. How many communities
would oppose? Given the potential outcome, how many entrepreneurs
would refuse the risk of bringing such innovations to the market?
Everyone can also imagine what it means to have the benefit of a platform
technology that replaces chemicals with purely physical effects, as the vortex
has been documented to do. Everyone can understand what it means for
food security when coffee waste, or other agro-waste, turns into protein-rich
mushrooms, contributes income from both the waste and the mushrooms,
and provides high-quality animal feed from the spent mushroom substrate.
We are building up social capital and eliminating abuse. We are turning
a globally traded commodity like coffee into a resource for food security.
Surely everyone can understand such value.
EMPOWERING ENTREPRENEURS

The model for a Blue Economy is based on what is real. While job losses
and youth unemployment are dramatic in the industrialized world, the
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reality we must confront is that the present economic disarray leaves no

place for the one billion new arrivals entering the labor market, especially
those from developing nations. The incapacity to imagine meaningful jobs
and to provide worthy challenges to a whole generation equates to telling
the young that there is no future for them, that their generation is lost.
Every night over a billion people go to sleep hungry. Nearly two billion have
no access to safe drinking water. Worse, the current economic system is
based on the bankrupt notion of scarcity where growth is funded with debt
perpetually carried over to future generations. Shortages and deficiencies
are considered the logical base and a necessary evil from which a more
efficient allocation of resources will evolve. This same scarcity mentality
also foments debate and social resistance to innovation, because it portrays
such change agents as threats to job security, by proposing to replace labor
with no labor.
Thus it will require creativity and inclusiveness of the entrepreneurs in
science, social affairs, business, ecology, and media to move us toward a
Blue Economy. Natural systems can build local entrepreneurship much as
evolution embraced innovations through diversity. There may be no greater
power for change than the young at heart, ready and willing to assume
the risk. It requires as much clarity of purpose as it requires perseverance.
Fortunately, it does not require experience in a given sector, nor a lot of
money. It does require maintaining a solid ethical underpinning, and
knowing how to generate cash flow against all odds.
As we have noted, innovations outlined in this book may prove hard for
mainstream businesses to adopt. Big companies content with producing
more of what has proven successful may lack cutting-edge competencies, or
may be unwilling to commit the initial capital necessary for a new approach.
This is a major advantage for committed entrepreneurs. Basing their actions
on solid science and their vision on social and emotional consciousness, they
can implement and develop these innovations to create waves of change that
infuse every business sector, shifting entire markets towards sustainability.
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They will succeed by developing successful partnerships, taking advantage

of institutional aggregation, and achieving market viability by garnering
consumer support across a wide socioeconomic stratum. Market success
will stem from the availability of better products that cost less than
their competition.
A time of crisis, when market leaders are stressed, and some are even on the
edge of survival, is perhaps the best moment for the young and the young
at heart to set their minds on a new business model. Practically speaking,
there are not too many careers available when millions of jobs have been
lost and well-paid jobs for graduates are the exception rather than the
rule. As well, and contrary to expectation, the barriers to market entry are
actually lower in a downturn. In a relatively stable economy, innovations
do not easily find their way to market. However, when the entire economic
framework evidences turmoil, decision makers latch onto any object that
seems stable or that stands out. A major firm may be disposed to accept
products and methods with a fundamentally new or different approach.
The task of an entrepreneur is literally to coalesce something new into
being, to be the carrying force that brings an idea into substance, the
agent between thought and realization. Yet alone, even if well funded
and passionate, you are just alone. Market success often depends on
partnerships. One of the ways to succeed with the introduction of these
innovations is to build partnerships with change agents who have the power
to influence the market and tip the balance. Innovations do not necessarily
flow into the market, nor are company executives and investment bankers
the only players who shape the market. Often market breakthroughs are
brought about by change agents. Though numerous innovative consortia
exist (consider the role of media, grassroots activists, and NGOs), there are
established ways to create pressure effectively.
For example, insurance companies have the pulse of todays market,
tabulating trends in the world economy through the monies they must
pay out. Insurance companies are an obvious pressure point for change in
the market, especially when savings are substantial. They closely follow a
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wealth of statistics, which is one of their core competences. No one knows

how to crunch numbers better. In fact, a decision on their part to object
to business as usual is based entirely on the simple science of statistics.
Insurance companies, along with consumers, institutional investors, local
communities, and local governments, are the stakeholders who drive
decisions that stimulate innovation beyond the steady pace and comfort
zone of industry.
To illustrate this, let us consider how insurance companies earn money
offering fire insurance policies. When infant death by fire became a concern
based on statistical data, insurance companies and industry manufacturers
lobbied for the adoption of requirements specifying the use of fire and flame
retardants. The risk of fire damage statistically decreases when any fire and
flame retardant is used. A lower incidence of fire means an increase in
industrys profit. A few decades later, if their statistics indicate an increase
in male infertility, allergies, or even cancer at young age, and these statistics
can be scientifically linked to the fire and flame retardants in use, then the
insurance industry could once again stimulate change by urging lawmakers
to accept a new standard or a new solution, while restricting (even against
the will of the industry) the agents suspected of causing such conditions.
Insurance companies and their expert statisticians know all too well that
correlation does not prove cause and effect. Rather, it is the reversal of the
burden of proof that changes the business model. To achieve a secure angle,
the company must demonstrate that it has considered all options and has
concluded that negative effects could never occur. For change agents, it offers
another lever for securing faster acceptance of breakthrough innovations.
In our case in point, consider that insurers could earn multiple revenues
by selling product liability policies to the makers of toxic fire retardants. If
emerging evidence were to link a particular chemical to a specific illness,
the liability insurance premium would increase, perhaps to a point where
cost pressures would spur management to change even faster than legal
guidelines dictate. The cost of insurance and the reluctance of re-insurance
companies to cover the risks would force the company into action.
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Insurance companies could further augment their revenue potential by

integrating data from each of their separate risk businesses. This would
provide a formidable base of information with obvious pathways for shifts
in industry, encouraging innovations on the recommendation of insurance
companies. Health insurers could link toxicity beyond the Ames Test, which
assesses the mutagenic potential of chemical compounds. They could rank
the chemicals suspected to cause health problems, suggesting substitutes.
THREE LEVELS OF SUSTAINABILITY

All too often industry finds natural substitutes for effective but toxic
products, then manufactures the natural replacements in the traditional
heat and beat mode that is responsible for our excessive carbon footprint.
When industry finds solutions in biology, it reverts to cloning and genetic
manipulation to secure predictable results. Thus, the inspiration from
nature to find substitute molecules for the markets standard bearers
requires more than the simple shift from one molecule to another. The
molecule and the manufacturing system must be inspired by natural
processes to create the desired convergence toward sustainability. A Blue
Economy offers a blueprint that follows physics and nature in materials
selection and production methods. From this basis it initiates a generative
and regenerative cascade of implementable innovations. We thus have
sustainable product, sustainable manufacture, and sustainable whole
systems. In terms of business and economic benefit, this creates competitive
products, competitive processes, and competitive business models that go
far beyond core business practice.
Nature works at ambient temperature and pressure. Even abalone shells,
which are stronger than the bullet-proof ceramic KevlarTM, are methodically
assembled layer by layer. The shells are made from calcium carbonate and
proteins, materials that are completely locally sourced. The process is
sustainable. The ceramics manufacturer could argue that nature produces
too little, too slowly, and that industry standards require efficient, timely,
and predictable results. It is true that the time needed to manufacture
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ceramics in an oven at a temperature over 1000 is considerably less than

the time needed by the abalone. However, a ceramics company purchases
mined materials. These mines had to be discovered. A permit was needed
to exploit the resources. These materials must be shipped around the world,
processed (at high pressure and high temperature to speed and standardize
operations and product output), and delivered in the appropriate format.
When we take these factors into account, beginning with the search for
the mine to the arrival of the calcium carbonate at the ceramic production
facilities, the time and efficiency advantage is less obvious. It is worth
noting that whenever mining is part of the production process, natural
systems will perform faster and at a fraction of the energy cost.
ONE INNOVATION, MULTIPLE REVENUES

The innovations described herein clearly have the potential to generate

multiple revenue streams. The market turns around money; money is thus
a medium of exchange. Innovations that generate more market applications
have greater appeal, and are thus most likely to be embraced by established
businesses and entrepreneurs. The opportunity to generate multiple
revenues is a very attractive phenomenon since it mobilizes parallel
investments for several niche markets. This reduces the risk of innovation.
Nonetheless, these are still high risk investments. The terms may not be
appealing for the inventors but the need for cash may be so urgent that they
accept an investment agreement.
In a downturn, cash is king. Those who have billions to invest can easily set the
terms of the deal. The model of a core business with a single revenue stream
is often preferred by investors who want management to focus on the single
most promising application. Any investor will assess a new technologys
chances for success. Entrepreneurial companies wishing to raise venture
capital must reveal a very long list of things that can go wrong. At the
same time, hardened Silicon Valley venture capital companies will listen
to a presentation of one innovation with dozens of possible applications.
Without exception they will ask for the one application that guarantees to
gross $100 million dollars within three years.
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While risks are inherent to business, those associated with the majority of
the innovations considered and reviewed this book have been calculated,
mitigated, and are much lower than usual for the market. In fact, these
innovations can reduce risk because they alter the business model at its
core. The achievements of a platform technology where basic parameters
have been successfully applied clearly reduces risk and offers potentially
better returns than funding a narrowly defined niche. Such a vast potential
for sales implies that investors reassess the risk in light of these multiple
revenues. This is the key advantage to nearly all the top innovations
we describe.
We need not look far to demonstrate this fact. For example, there are
37 known commercial applications for the vortex. There are over 20 for
seaweed furanones that control the proliferation of biofilm by jamming
bacterial communication (see Chapter 8). Savings are hard to miss in
replacing a $50,000 surgery with a $500 non-surgical intervention that
provides permanent heart monitoring without batteries and at a lower
cost. Instead of selling a pacemaker one million times per year, the medical
industry can sell monitoring patches a billion times a year.
The silk polymers developed by Oxford Biomaterials (see Chapter 7)
are already under development in five different companies, each with
separate financing. Pax Scientific has opted for the same approach, raising
financing in five separate fields of application for its insights on how nature
moves water and air with less friction. Biosignal, the Australian startup
developing antibacterial applications for furanones (see Chapter 8), had a
comparable strategy of spinning off potential applications for agriculture,
consumer, industrial, medical equipment, and therapeutic markets before
its technology portfolio was merged with another company. Each of these
in turn might raise diverse funds for mobilizing niche solutions such as
anti-corrosion in oil and gas, antiperspirants, or a potential cure for cystic
fibrosis. All derive from the same platform technology. Watreco, the startup company built around Curt Hallbergs mathematical interpretations of
a vortex, brings solutions to the market as varied as saving energy in ice
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making, speeding percolation on golf greens, de-scaling pipes, and pumping

air into fish farm tanks. These venture companies exemplify entrepreneurs
who are ready to move businesses forward.
The power of these technologies to provide multiple cash flows through
multiple applications reduces risk and dramatically increases the value
of the intellectual property, potentially allowing inventors to sub-license
technological applications and focus on what drives their interest and
simulates their curiosity. The power to overcome obstacles requires
partnerships. Although inventors and marketers have different goals, a
winning coalition can begin with solid leading-edge science and build on
the sharp competitive analysis of entrepreneurs. The world of risk capital is
ready to finance people with good ideas. What is needed now is the capacity
and willingness to bring innovations to the market.
Innovations with the potential to generate multiple revenues in
diverse markets are attractive. If these cash flow generators change the
business model, then businesses that develop these innovations not only
meet an important need, they will be pursued as investment and
entrepreneurial opportunities.
CASCADING RESOURCES IN A COMMUNITY

Such innovations can also empower communities to respond to their own

needs, especially in societies under major stress. They offer the foundation
and the means to grow initiatives into movements, achieving market share
despite adverse conditions. Communities that have neither money to trade
nor capital to invest are often regarded as less responsive to the introduction
of new ideas. Yet the achievements of Father Godfrey Nzamujo in Benin,
Chido Govero in Zimbabwe, and Paolo Lugari in Colombia demonstrate
that this is not true. The design and implementation of these integrated
biosystems have converted nonviable communities into economic successes
where money flows and capital grows. Half of the worlds human population
lives in rural or agricultural settings. Developing nations with rural and
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agricultural populations can greatly benefit from integrated biosystems

complemented with bio-refineries, such as the method of conversion used
in Las Gaviotas for collecting resin from harvested trees, locally processed
with renewable energies from the region into nine different products, with
all waste from the process used in the production of construction materials.
Integrated biosystems will also permit industrialized nations to dramatically
reduce their ecological footprint and increase their material efficiency.
REAL OPPORTUNITIES, REAL SOLUTIONS

This shift in business model that is becoming more evident and necessary
develops from our growing understanding of natures MBA how natural
systems rely on the forces of physics, rather than consuming the resources
of the planet and the very things needed to maintain survival. The
impact is surprising. The results are compelling. There are vaccines that
need no refrigeration, heart rhythm devices that need no surgery, vortex
technologies that de-scale water pipes without chemicals, algae that defeat
bacteria by deafness, or silk that cuts with razor-sharpness the list is
long! The replacement of something that is chemically toxic and clearly
unsustainable with what is nothing more than a natural process may well
help solve the biggest challenges of our time, while opening a window of
opportunity for a portfolio of completely new products and services.
This opportunity to replace something with nothing to replace a toxic
or non-renewable material or process with one that relies merely on physics
and natural processes is particularly exciting. The capacity to reduce risk
by generating more cash flow makes products and services competitive.
This is where it will foster a new wave of entrepreneurship. This is how
millions of sustainable jobs will be created, fundamentally shifting old
model products and by-gone production methods to innovations and
processes based on the scientific understanding of already benchmarked
solutions that encourage the next generation to become innovators. The
billions of years of experience accumulated in the evolution of ecosystems
and species do count when it comes to perfecting solutions and providing
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alternatives for different environments. These are proven solutions that

evidence resilience and flexibility.
In past decades the goal of sustainability required everyone to pay more
and invest more to save the environment or reduce pollution. Few were
prepared or willing to adopt this means to effect that goal. Even government
tax levies and fines for polluting practices did not noticeably promote
stewardship. Now we can achieve better results and create multiple revenue
sources while building social capital and community resilience. Those
who profited in the past from poor choices can now rationalize investing
in new solutions that will strengthen economies and communities from
the roots upward. The driving force of success could well be thousands of
entrepreneurs whose boundless enthusiasm and commitment more than
compensate for any lack of capital or experience. Moreover, innovations
with the greatest market success will be those that address basic needs.
This is what management wizard Peter Drucker claimed in the 1980s:
The needs of the poor are opportunities waiting for entrepreneurs.
When manufacturers choose to replace a toxic process with a less toxic
alternative, they are simply doing less bad. That is the option taken when
billions of dollars are poured into less toxic though longer lasting batteries.
These batteries still rely on mining, smelting, and harsh chemistry with an
overwhelming majority ending up in landfills that pollute the environment,
poisoning ecosystems while posing a long-term health hazard to us all.
Many will argue that a halfway measure is at least on the right track. Yet
this is nothing short of a duplicitous moral standard. We all have the urge to
do more good. Let us not accept that doing less bad is good enough.
Current scientific literature offers insights into thousands of possible
breakthroughs inspired by ways that natural species have solved
challenges to procurement and survival. Though fewer have revealed the
entirety of their process, the possibilities remain and the mysteries can
be solved. Time will permit us to understand and implement innovations
that will dramatically shift our methods of production and consumption
toward sustainability.
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In the next chapters we will further explore the framework of the

Blue Economy from the basis of existing contributions and solutions that
are at work right now. A Blue Economy is what will apply the achievements
of ecosystems to economic systems. Indeed, implementing a Blue Economy
will ensure that human systems, in fact all living systems, can attain the
stability and security that will safeguard and maintain their evolutionary
and regenerative path.

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THE BLUE ECONOMY

10 YEARS
100 INNOVATIONS

100 MILLION JOBS

GUNTER PAULI
The Blue Economy began as a project to find one hundred of the best nature-inspired technologies that
could effect the economies of the world, while sustainably providing basic human needs - potable water,
food, jobs and healthful shelter. Starting with 2,231 peer review articles Dr. Pauli found 340 innovations
that could be bundled into systems that function the way ecosystems do. These were then additionally
reviewed by a team of corporate strategists, expert financiers, and public policy makers. Further
meetings with entrepreneurs, financial analysts, business reporters and corporate strategy academics
reduced the list to one hundred. These are listed in an appendix of The Blue Economy.
Many of the innovations inspired by nature are so interesting by themselves it is easy to forget that the
key to the book is their integration with real world economies as ways to provide sustainable benefits to
the commons. The Blue Economy is presented in fourteen chapters, each of which investigates an aspect
of the world's economies and offers a series of innovations capable of making aspects of those economies
sustainable. Following are "in-a-nutshell" descriptions of the chapters with very brief examples. Please see
the Table of Contents (upper right column) for further details.
CHAPTER ONE - TIMELESS RESOURCES FOR THE CHALLENGES OF OUR TIMES
Chapter 1 makes the point that nature works with physics, with immutable laws that have the inherent
advantage of requiring no externally-provided energy. The central principle of The Blue Economy is the
idea of cascading nutrients and energy the way ecosystems do. A cascade is a waterfall. It requires no
power, it flows with the force of gravity. It transports nutrients between biological kingdoms - absorbed
minerals feed microorganisms, microorganisms feed plants, plants feed other species, with the waste of
one being nourishment for another. Cascading energy and nutrients leads to sustainability by reducing or
eliminating inputs such as energy and eliminating waste and its cost, not just as pollution but also as an
inefficient use of materials. In ecosystems there is no waste because the by products of one process are
inputs to another process.

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CHAPTER TWO - EMULATING ECOSYSTEMS FOR A BLUE ECONOMY

Chapter 2 discusses how to achieve true economic sustainability. The solution rests with linking
processes into whole systems. For example, at Picuris Pueblo in New Mexico cascading nutrients and
energy produces income while preventing the forest fires that so often devastate the western landscape.
"Slash" (the small diameter wood that intensifies fires) is usually removed with machines that do their
own ecological damage. Instead, fire prevention is integrated into a whole systems model that is
compatible with Native culture.
Slash in not burned but chipped into mulch. Some of the mulch made from the removed wood is
inoculated with local, native mushrooms and spread on the tracks left by the equipment used to harvest
the slash. In as little as two years, the forest floor is restored. The bulk of the wood is dried and preserved.
However, it is preserved without using a polluting, chemical approach. Instead, the fumes created by the
incomplete combustion of charcoal production are used to preserve the construction grade lumber. The
chips that remain after the process of collection, carpentry and charcoal, are inoculated with native
mushrooms obtained from a tissue culture. After harvesting the very marketable mushrooms, the spent
chips used as the growth substrate are fed to the newly introduced bison herd. Something is replaced with
nothing and produces sustainable forests, wood for construction, food for people and animals. There is
no waste.
Father Nzamujo at the Songhai Center provides food security, jobs and health care from slaughterhouse
waste. These are real results, the results of today not tomorrow or in some unspecified future when
enough corporations have spent enough on greening their factories. Paolo Lugari at Las Gaviotas secures
drinking water and renewable energy, jobs, biofuels and food where there was once only dry, useless land.
Cascading nutrients and energy to attain clear objectives like food, water and energy is the norm in
nature. However, sustainable production systems such as those where Nzamujo and Lugari have
succeeded, also generate multiple benefits beyond the principle aim of their design. These additional
benefits provide additional positive cash flows, reduce material intensity and energy costs. This rise in
integrated cash flow is the logic that supports, and the strongest argument in favor of, this new approach
to business.
CHAPTER THREE - NATURE'S RESOURCE EFFICIENCY
Chapter 3 describes how to resolve the complex problems we are confronting, both in our individual
domiciles and our greater domicile, our Earth. Successful future industries will reexamine the basics of
science and seek inspiration for innovative solutions that apply physics first and chemistry second. If we
consider the underlying forces and the systemic conditions that predict the results prescribed by physics,
then we will understand why chemistry in nature differs markedly from the chemistry that dominates our

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lives today. The few molecules retained in natural products and production processes reflect the best
possible use of physics.
A gravity driven vortex device will eliminate air from water with out any additional energy input. If you
make ice, you are freezing both water and air. Air is an insulator and the expensive energy needed to
freeze and maintain the ice in hockey rinks and ice arenas is thus dependent on the amount of air in the
water. By eliminating the air, the energy savings reduce production cost, decreasing the effect on climate
change by eliminating the greenhouse gases produced by the 100,000 kW hours per year of electrical
generation required to maintain ice arenas. Yet, as is shown by the green movement's largely unsuccessful
efforts, reducing the inputs to climate change does not inspire businesses to risk their capital. Additional
advertising revenue, on the other hand, inspires everyone. Ice without water is clear. At the level of
professional hockey, clear ice permits using the rink for team branding and television advertising. At the
local skating arena, it does the same for local businesses. Save some, earn more, the key to sustainability.
CHAPTER FOUR - LEADING THE WAY FOR MARKET LEADERS
Chapter 4 we learn how standard "MBA" analysis makes it impossible for large companies to innovate
because of the "inside the box" thinking demanded by corporate systems and the many, sometime
conflicting interests of management and shareholders. In essence, corporations are locked out of
sustainable advances by the logic of their decision making process. One of these principles is known as
"supply chain management." This describes a company's efforts to control the supply, cost and timing of
the materials it needs for the items it produces for sale.
One successful innovation discussed in Chapter 4 shows how to use this to advantage by integrating a
sustainable technology into an existing supply chain. Natural enzymes can sequester carbon dioxide,
making it available for other processes that require it such as the carbonic gases used in the production of
construction materials. Industry has resisted even more conventional scrubbing technologies because of
their cost. However, when Canadian entrepreneurs devised a means of using enzyme sequestration
directly in the existing scrubbing systems of coal fired power plants and cement factories, even the least
progressive management can be inspired to invest. The fact that the sequestered carbon dioxide can
create additional revenue may be inspiration enough. All too often breakthrough innovations require
scrapping existing facilities. That makes it hard for even the most progressive companies to adopt
innovations; however, no or low additional cost to provide an additional income stream can motivate
everyone.
CHAPTER FIVE - NATURE'S MBA (MASTERY OF BRILLIANT ADAPTATIONS)
Chapter 5 expands upon The Blue Economy approach to planetary sustainability. The objective of
introducing innovations is to better respond to basic needs. Replacing a toxic process with a less toxic
alternative is "doing less bad." That is exactly the approach that sees billions of dollars invested in less

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toxic and longer lasting batteries. Yet, even less toxic batteries will still rely on mining, smelting and toxic
chemistry. They will do less bad but not enough good. The vast majority of batteries are not recycled but
are dumped into the environment, toxifying our ecosystem and posing long term health hazards. Is it
enough "to do less bad?" While we agree that a thief is a thief when stealing less; companies get
environmental awards for polluting less -- even though they are still polluting!
A thief claiming to steal less will never earn a reprieve from the judge; he simply cannot steal. We must
adjust our thinking and increase our ambitions. Under the old business model a company polluting less,
reducing its release of toxins into the environment, our homes, and especially into childrens' bedrooms,
might even get an environmental award! In contrast the innovation described in The Blue Economy
replaces "bad with good." For example, fire and flame retardants produced from food grade ingredients.
These can accomplish the necessary protections without endangering peoples' food supply and health.
CHAPTER SIX - CASCADING MODELS, MULTIPLE CASH FLOWS
Chapter 6 describes how at a time of upheaval positive minds look for solutions, wherever they can.
There are always pockets of growth even when the overall economy is considered to be in decline. Health
care, nutrition, and the environment are the three areas where experts anticipate increased expenditures
even in rough times. Few markets better exemplify growth potential than the burgeoning worldwide
demand for tropical mushrooms. Ever since a middle class with purchasing power emerged in China,
demand for the fruiting bodies of shiitake and the like has been explosive. Double digit growth rates have
been the norm for over two decades. Europe and North America are also discovering the enoki, maitake
and reishi as healthful, protein-rich foods.
What if coffee shop chains systematically converted all their waste from brewing coffee (and tea) into
growing mushrooms through inner-city production centers? It can and has been done. The same can be
even done with abundant orchard prunings. This would stimulate further entrepreneurship like that in
the San Francisco Bay Area. Two college graduates grasped the opportunity and started collecting coffee
grounds from shops at 6:00AM. They then seed them in a warehouse. Their dynamic start was quickly
followed by a similar initiative across the bay in Marin City. There, children grow mushrooms on
nothing less than the biomass of removed invasive species blended with coffee grounds.
CHAPTER SEVEN - SPINNING A SILKEN TALE
Chapter 7 discusses silk as a replacement for Titanium. Titanium is the ninth most abundant element in
the Earth's crust and the seventh most abundant metal. The production of titanium consumes large
quantities of magnesium, chlorine and argon gas as well as vast amounts of energy. Titanium must be
welded in an inert atmosphere to protect it from contamination with oxygen, nitrogen or hydrogen. Both
the energy inputs and the use of scarce and mined resources are extremely high. Yet, even those

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customers who are prepared to pay the price and ignore the environmental damage will adopt a new
product if it is compatible to their use, meets their production criteria, and cost less.
The University of Oxford, Department of Zoology, Silk Group directed by Prof. Fritz Vollrath is a
creative resource for biocompatible polymers. While working in Panama for the Smithsonian Tropical
Research Institution, Prof. Vollrath encountered the "golden silk orb weaver" spider. By studying how
this spider composed and recycled its silk, and its three dimensional spinning techniques, this group is
able to produce equipment and processes to manufacture silk tubes and filaments as a conduit for nerve
regeneration, medical sutures, medical devices to regenerate damaged cartilage and bone tissues, as well
as substituting for titanium in products as various as airplane parts and razors. If we compare a life cycle
analysis of titanium with the simplicity of converting mulberry leaves to silk and controlling spinning
pressure and moisture at more-or-less ambient temperature, we quickly understand how we can move
towards sustainability
CHAPTER EIGHT - FROM THE MIGHTY TO THE MINUSCULE
Chapter 8 tells the story of Dr. Jorge Reynolds, one of the original inventors of the pacemaker. Anyone
studying the heart must be fascinated by the whale's heart, and Dr. Reynolds is no exception. Through
extensive studies of living whales he learned that whales have channels of cells dedicated to guiding
electric currents in and around their hearts. These currents coordinate the cardiac rhythms. Dr. Reynolds
realized that these cells can adjust their pathways to bypass damaged tissue. The whales' regulating
currents are produced by the blending of potassium, sodium and calcium at the molecular level. To
understand how these electric currents were produced without either metals or batteries, Dr. Reynolds
reconstructed the whale heart beginning with the embryo at the time of conception. What he learned
made him rethink pacemaker fundamentals.
Today pacemakers prolong millions of lives by replacing the natural capacity to generate electric currents
with a battery-powered device that connects deep into the heart. Recalls in the hundreds of thousands
have lately plagued these devices. Inspired by the whale, Dr. Reynolds recreated the cell-thin tubes to
improve the distribution of current throughout the heart and developed a nano-scale pacemaker. Instead
of replacing the natural function of the heart, it channels current from healthy to damaged tissue. While
medical devices take years of pre-approval testing, the potential contribution of this innovation to
sustainability and health is immense. A $100,000 surgery, expensive drugs and continuing care could be
replaced with a $500 outpatient procedure. Indeed, imagine that one day every electrical device operates
without small batteries that are difficult to recycle and often so small that their metals are never
recovered. Eliminating the adverse environmental impact these tiny power sources have on the health of
the planet will relieve the ecosystem on which we depend for life-important services like drinking water
and fertile soil.

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CHAPTER NINE - A RAINBOW OF POSSIBILITIES: REMAKING COLORATION AND

COSMETICS
Chapter 9 rethinks coloration. Sometimes new applications find their way to the market in a most
surprising manner. The wings of a dragonfly have a unique ability to concentrate sunlight. In Japan
where dragonflies symbolize new light and joy, this ability caught the attention of those studying how to
generate renewable energy so efficiently that it makes the coal fired power station look like a dinosaur.
This dragonfly technique for concentrating light is what we need to shift from generating electricity with
silicon, a highly polluting process, to generating electricity with a steam-powered turbine, a well-known,
well-understood, technology for which engineering knowledge and manufacturing access are readily
available.
Solar power concentration is already an emerging and proven industry in Spain. Concentrating solar
power (CSP) uses mirrors to focus sunlight onto water, very much as does the dragonfly. Heated water
can power a generator, a technology that is easily implemented. By 2050 annual Concentrated Solar
Power investments could exceed $100 billion, creating almost two million jobs and saving 2.1 billion tons
of CO2!
CHAPTER TEN - ENVISIONING NEW ENERGY OPTIONS
Chapter 10 asks "How does the coconut fill with water?" There is no pump. Neither does it absorb
rainwater. How do trees build giant structures overcoming gravity? Where does osmosis in plants derive
its power to override gravitational forces? Osmosis and CO2 bubbles in capillary veins push juicy
nutrients upward. There is interplay with surface tension. Indeed, how can we neglect the power of that
grand force of gravity, the attraction of the moon? It is responsible for tidal ebb and flow, another very
predictable force to be reckoned with. There are many forces that are exploited in great detail by natural
systems and at minute levels to insure that everything has power whenever it is needed. This stands in
stark contrast with the industrial solutions we have invented and financed.
Thermoelectricity is the conversion of temperature differentials to electricity. In the future, many
instruments will work without a battery or power from a wall socket. For example, electronic equipment
might draw power from the warmth of the human body. In Germany, the Fraunhofer Institute for
Physical Measurement Techniques has developed a way of harnessing natural body heat to generate
electricity. The difference between the temperature of the human body and the surrounding hot or cold
environment is enough to generate electricity. Normally, a difference of several tens of degrees is
required to generate enough power but the differences between the body's surface temperature and its
immediate environment is only a few degrees. "Only low voltages can be produced from differences like
these," explains Peter Spies, the project manager at the German research institute. Since these, like cell

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phones, create a significant portion of the demand for polluting batteries, that will be enough to help
sustain the planet.
CHAPTER ELEVEN - TRUE GOLD: MINES AS PLATFORMS OF HEALING
The purpose of Chapter 11 is to discuss one of humanity's most aggressive interventions: mining. Armed
with dynamite, consuming massive amounts of water and energy, minute concentrations of gold are
extracted from the depths of the earth. Could this ever emulate natural systems? Lichens are great miners,
capable of extracting specific inorganic molecules like magnesium from rocks. Bacteria are known to
selectively separate metals through chelation but none in nature ever uses such brute force to acquire
such minute amounts. It is impossible to undo the errors of the past, thus the question is: "can we do
better in the future?" Although we may not be capable of converting mining into a benign operation, can
we at least design a strategy that can undo the environmental and social pain that mining has inflicted?
Mines need massive amounts of electricity to pump water and air, to produce ice to cool the shafts, and
to transport ore. It makes a lot of sense to explore opportunities to save energy. This is the ideal
environment for the Fibonacci code to leave theory and enter reality. The mathematical model inspired
Jay Harman is a the root of the innovations by his Pax Scientific companies. Could the Nautilus shell
provide insights how to cut energy costs by twenty to thirty percent? This opportunity is not limited to
Pax. It is also an opportunity for Watreco's technology based on the pioneering work of Curt Hallberg,
the vortex expert from Sweden. The ice making machines in the deep shafts necessary to control
temperature must cope with water containing so much air that removing the air would reduce the energy
cost by ten to fifteen percent using only the force of gravity.
CHAPTER TWELVE - BUILDINGS DESIGNED BY FLOWS
Chapter 12 investigates buildings. Each of us has an opportunity to create our own little cosmos at home,
at school or at work. Even though the air outside is polluted and acidic, there is no reason to suffer the
same assault inside. On the contrary, the design of our buildings could be so sophisticated that the
interior naturally evolves to a slightly alkaline habitat comparable to the small intestine. It is fine that the
stomach is acid but the engine of life where a major portion of the immune system resides is alkaline. By
analogy, the bedroom of your house compares to the small intestine and should also be alkaline. Starting
at home, we should use our understanding of the flows of air and matter to create an environment
conducive to life. We need to design homes and schools, offices and care centers, with the same logic as
our bodies have evolved while remembering that life in the ocean thrives on alkalinity.
Anders Nyquist from Sweden convinced the local authorities responsible for the Laggarberg School in
Tinr by Sundsvall to convert an old school building while adding a new wing to the school facilities. He
designed a temperature control system driven by natural airflows that continuously refresh the air. Guess
what happened when the positive health statistics and the low rate of absenteeism became known?

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Families started moving to the neighborhood to insure that their kids would be educated in the healthiest
environment of modern times. When parents are happy, children study better. When children study well
and are healthy, their parents are happy. This is not difficult to understand. The same happens in
ecosystems, once nutrients and energy flow, more species join and evolve, converting a perceived scarcity
to a happy and beautiful environment.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - CASCADING A BLUE ECONOMY
Chapter 13 notes that ecosystems are all about connecting, creating networks of networks, allowing
everyone to contribute to the best of their abilities, while operating within clearly defined boundaries
where nutrients and energy are endlessly cascaded as defined by the laws of physics. Within each of these
systems, which can be as diverse as a desert, an alpine mountain range, a wetlands or a tropical rainforest,
the same management principles apply. Traditional business thinking asserts that an increase in
productivity is only possible by shedding jobs. Nature knows better. At a time of crisis, with millions out
of work, and hundreds of millions of young people suffering from a sense of uselessness, our opportunity
to put "the blue job machine" in motion and to shape the blue economy is very encouraging. Natural
systems can unleash local entrepreneurship much like evolution embraced innovations through diversity.
There seems to be no greater power for change than youth prepared to take the risk.
EPILOGUE - REALIZING A DREAM
Inspiring success stories from Zimbabwe, California, and a look to the future by Gunter Pauli.
APPENDIX 1 - A TABLE OF 100 INNOVATIONS INSPIRED BY NATURE
This appendix demonstrates the foundation of The Blue Economy's subtitle - "100 innovations, 10 years,
100 million jobs." It presents a synopsis of each innovation and an estimate of the jobs it could create.
These estimates are based on Dr. Pauli's study of the industry effected. This is an entrepreneur's dream.
Some of the innovations are proven in the real world, some are bench marked in pilot implementations,
some are estimations drawn from peer reviewed science. All can change the world in their own way.
APPENDIX 2 - 100 INNOVATIONS INSPIRING COMPETITIVE BUSINESS MODELS
This appendix provides descriptions of the innovations that have a bench-marked ability to create jobs by
producing competitive businesses. Each is accompanied by an estimate of the jobs created, and a
description of the cash flow potentials
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
INDEX

T H E B L U E E C O N O MY

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Contact Dr. Gunter Pauli:

Zero Emissions Research Initiative (ZERI):
info@zeri.org
Further information related to THE BLUE ECONOMY:
www.zeri.org
www.blueeconomy.de
www.TheBlueEconomy.com
Order copies of THE BLUE ECONOMY:
www.paradigm-pubs.com/catalog/detail/BluEco
By Mail:
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