The Buckminster Fuller Institute is pleased to announce that Comprehensive Design for a Carbon Neutral World: The Challenge of Appalachia submitted by Dr. John Todd has been selected as the winner of the 2008 Buckminster Fuller Challenge.

“Dr. John Todd’s comprehensive design strategy to bring about a carbon neutral world, in the opinion of this jury, best embodies the bold, visionary approach to large scale societal transformation pioneered by Buckminster Fuller. Dr. Todd’s proposal sets forth a profound vision to heal the environmental and economic scars of the Appalachian region and a detailed strategy to build a dynamic sustainable economic basis for lasting renewal,” said the Buckminster Fuller Challenge jurors in a statement about their decision.

“Dr. Todd’s vision sets forth a new theory of ecological design weaving together a set of processes - from restoration of land to geo-sequestration of carbon, to community involvement, to long-term economic vitality - to create a blueprint for a future for Appalachia that envisions a harmonious self-sustaining community. This is one of the only true whole systems projects that is place based but widely applicable.” Click here to download the full statement from the jury [pdf].

Allegra Fuller Snyder, Fuller’s daughter, remarked, “My father identified himself as a Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Scientist. Each word is essential to understanding in what way he felt an individual must be competent to be effective in fully implementing constructive visions for our collective planetary future. John Todd’s response meets that Challenge, literally and figuratively. My father, who knew, and admired, Dr. Todd’s work in the 1970s, would certainly agree.”

Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe
on view June 26, 2008-September 21, 2008

R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was one of the great American visionaries of the 20th century. Best-known as the inventor of the geodesic dome, Fuller devoted much of his life to resolving the gap between the sciences and the humanities, which he believed was preventing society from taking a comprehensive view of the world. His theories and innovations traversed the worlds of architecture, visual art, literature, mathematics, molecular biology, and environmental science and have had a deep impact on all of those fields.

In addition to the Whitney Museum show, there will be a number of exciting events throughout June in New York City. We will announce the details as they become available.

For more information about the Whitney show, please visit: http://www.whitney.org/www/exhibition/upcoming.jsp

To download the Whitney Museum's press release about the show, click here [pdf]