Trimtab Vol. 18 No. 9 | The Buckminster Fuller Institute

BFI Updates

BFI is thrilled to be hiring a new San Francisco Bay Area-based Operations Manager. We are looking for a passionate, meticulous, and results-oriented professional with experience in operations and project management. A deep interest and appetite for learning about Fuller’s design science principles and “how to make the world work for 100% of humanity” are musts. Please help us spread the word by sharing on Facebook, or forwarding this link.

2017 BFC Celebration

Please join us in New York City on November 10-11 to celebrate ten years of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge (BFC). The events will include the 2017 prize conferring ceremony and a day-long symposium gathering past BFC winners and design thought leaders. For location, schedule, and registration information, visit this page.

Announcing the 2017 Fuller Challenge Finalists

The Buckminster Fuller Challenge recently announced six finalists for the 2017 program cycle. The six proposals now under consideration for the 2017 grand prize have undergone a rigorous, multi-stage review process for adherence to the entry criteria by the Fuller Challenge Review Committee, a diverse group of advisors and experts led by a seasoned review team. Read more about each of these incredible initiatives on BFI's website.

Trends + Perspectives

Commoning as a Transformative Social Paradigm by David Bollier

In Commoning as a Transformative Social Paradigm, David Bollier extends this logic even further. He contends that the commons paradigm fundamentally reorients perceptions and understanding about the realities of market ownership and the value of commoning. Citing land trusts, peer-to-peer production, buying clubs, cooperative guilds, and other practical examples, Bollier makes a compelling case that commons-based models are key to course-correcting the market “externalities” at the root of numerous social, economic, and ecological crises.

Being a process, and seeing in relationships

In this excerpt from his book Designing Regenerative Cultures, Daniel Wahl muses on the implications of Fuller’s oft-quoted maxim immortalized in the title of his book, I Seem to Be a Verb - weaving together similar insights from Alan Watts, Gregory Bateson, David Abram, and others...

This Is Your Brain on Regeneration

Gregory Landua, from Terra Genesis International, eloquently describes regenerative principles for business based on a living-systems framework. The Lift Economy Podcast with Andrew Baskin has a stellar line-up of today’s leaders who embody Fuller’s philosophy, including Carol Sanford, Daniel Goleman, Marjorie Kelly, and Fuller Challenge Winner Bren Smith.

Resources

Equator Initiative Winner, Case Studies, and Media

The Equator Prize has celebrated its 2017 winners, highlighting groups around the world that take an integrated approach to increase biodiversity, reduce poverty, and enhance conservation efforts. These local and indigenous groups are exemplars of a holistic approach to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Deep Time Walk

The kinetic Deep Time Walk is now available for iOS and Android. This walking audiobook enables anyone anywhere in the world to experience a history of the living Earth. The transformative walk combines science with humanities to help people gain a somatic perspective of the immense age of the Earth, learn about key evolutionary events that occurred across deep time, experience our interconnected ancestral heritage with all life, and understand the geological impact of humanity in the current era of the anthropocene.

New Satellite Dymaxion Folding Globe

A new satellite version of the Magnetic Folding Globe is available from Areaware. In 1946, Buckminster Fuller patented a map of Earth which presents geographic information without breaks in any of the continental contours, or any visible distortion of the relative shapes or sizes of the land masses. In 1954, the Dymaxion Projection (also known as the Fuller Projection) as we know it today was hand drawn by architect, Shoji Sadao, the cartographer and collaborator behind the map. Designer Brendan Ravenhill has configured Fuller’s projection as a magnetic folding globe, a representation of Earth that easily transitions from flat to three dimensional. Fold it to form a geometric globe or unfold to reveal our flattened planet.

Upcoming Events

SOCAP SOCAP17 takes place Oct. 10-13, 2017, in San Francisco, the 10th convening at “the intersection of money + meaning,” as its website reads. Join more than 3,000 changemakers, impact investors, social entrepreneurs, and thought leaders at the world’s largest conference dedicated to increasing the flow of capital toward social good. From emerging leaders to established players, SOCAP brings together global innovators, investors, foundations, governments, institutions, and social entrepreneurs to build the world we want to leave to future generations. This is the last chance to SAVE an additional $250 on SOCAP17 tickets using discount code NP_BFI. Discount codes expire on September 29, 2017, and will not be extended.	Register for the 2017 Bioneers Conference For the past 28 years, Bioneers has organized a summit of scientists, activists, journalists, artists, entrepreneurs, and other thought leaders and visionaries to highlight solutions to some of the world's biggest challenges. The 2017 Bioneers Conference takes place on Oct. 20-22, 2017, and we're excited to share this special 15% discount opportunity with you. Get your tickets today; prices go up on October 1st.	Hack4Climate- Blockchain Meets Environment Hack4Climate will coincide with the COP23 UN Climate Conference in Bonn, November 12-17, 2017. Hack4Climate will unite climate change experts with blockchain developers to create new strategies to address climate change. Participants will explore how using distributed ledgers can enable new ways of storing and tracking climate-related information in a trusted way. Apply today for an all-expense paid journey to Germany.
Tokyo Global Design Call for Design Teams The Tokyo Global Engineering Corporation (TGEC) warmly invites the BFI family and friends to join. TGEC is a free, problem-based learning and education-services organization based on peer-to-peer pedagogy that provides capstone learning programs to undergraduate and graduate students studying engineering, design science, and relevant subjects. Students from universities around the globe work in design teams in groups of five to ten for five months, via Skype and e-mail, after which they present design proposals, via the same media, to a panel of professors and other experts. During the sixth month, such students produce a journal published in English and their primary languages. Students can receive academic credit via their schools, where permitted.

From The Idea Index

Catalyst Program Project: Mobile Lotus

WY-TO has designed the Mobile Lotus as a holistic space that addresses the issues of environmental degradation, inadequate healthcare and social isolation that currently affects the remote floating villages of Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake. Easily constructed of locally-sourced materials, the mobile structure offers a community platform that has traditionally never been available to these remote areas. The project was selected for the Catalyst Program, representing the top 20% of entries in the 2017 Buckminster Fuller Challenge program cycle.

From the Store

Limited Edition Portfolio available on BFI's online store

A Limited Edition print portfolio of new works was created to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Buckminster Fuller. Published by The Buckminster Fuller Institute in 2015, the portfolio includes ten giclee color prints by artists Mel Chin, Fritz Haeg, Matthew Day Jackson, Helen + Newton Harrison, Maya Lin, Mary Mattingly, Pedro Reyes, Tomas Saraceno, and Stephen Talasnik. The portfolio is now available on BFI's online store for a discounted price. All purchases directly support the non-profit institute.

About Trimtab

Trimtab is BFI's monthly email newsletter service, bringing you BFI programming updates and news from around the world related to "humanity's option for success" and comprehensive design solutions.

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