Trimtab Vol. 19 No. 3 | The Buckminster Fuller Institute

BFI Updates

We invite you to join your fellow astronauts in charting a course for Spaceship Earth, to make the world work for 100% of humanity. Fifty years ago, Buckminster Fuller anticipated the need for a design science revolution in his groundbreaking book, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth. Today, his insistence that “we are all astronauts” is more relevant than ever. Spaceship Earth Day is BFI’s annual celebratory event to connect the community of design science revolutionaries and those committed to creating a world that works for all. Though the work ahead of us is serious, joy puts the solar winds in our sails. More details here.

Jay Baldwin ~ An Appreciation

Jay Baldwin, a colleague and friend of Buckminster Fuller and a beloved longtime associate of the Buckminster Fuller Institute, passed away on March 2, 2018. Born James Tennant Baldwin, he is affectionately known as Jay. He is survived by his wife, Liz Fial, son Aaron, his grandchildren and hundreds of appreciative students and colleagues to whom he was an inspiration. Bonnie DeVarco has written this appreciation of Jay’s extraordinary pattern integrity.

BFI Board transitions

BFI is delighted to welcome Sarah Brooks to our board of directors. Sarah embodies the practices of comprehensive design, bring with her a deep history of experience as a leader in the design field. She has a lifelong relationship with the ideas of Buckminster Fuller, serving as a bridge builder and dot connector to professional design association communities such as AIGA, Global Service Design Network and the EPIC Design Ethnography network. BFI would also like to also thank Mark Beam and Jim Fournier for their many years of service as they step down from the board after their completed terms.

Trends + Perspectives

BFI Board Member Jonathan Marvel Wants to Rewire Puerto Rico with Solar

Resilient Power Puerto Rico is a new project of Jonathan Marvel, BFI Board Member and Great-Nephew of Buckminster Fuller. He and a team of others are following in Fuller’s footsteps to create a holistic electrical plan for the island. “Architecture is a profession that sees things holistically, that sees things along the lines of systems dynamics, where everything is interrelated,” Marvel says. It has installed six community center arrays so far—20 panels each, with two Tesla batteries (one for backup), each capable of supplying 5 to 6 kWh. More on the micro-grid enabled solar plan can be found here in an article from Wired.

MONKEY BUSINESS Re-designing Money for 21st Century Primates

Presented by John Wood, Monkey Business eloquently outlines the history of money and the potential for a new paradigm that would enable synergy to replace profit. “As Buckminster Fuller has argued, we should 'reform the environment' instead of trying to change human beings. I discussed the fallibility and potential of human beings in evolutionary terms, suggesting that a radical re-design of money should aim to bring out the best, rather than the worst, in us.”

Resisting Reduction: A Manifesto

Joi Ito's manifesto explores how bridging the "two cultures" of the sciences and humanities is more important than ever: "We should learn from our history of applying over-reductionist science to society and try to, as Wiener says, “cease to kiss the whip that lashes us.” While it is one of the key drivers of science—to elegantly explain the complex and reduce confusion to understanding—we must also remember what Albert Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” We need to embrace the unknowability—the irreducibility—of the real world that artists, biologists and those who work in the messy world of liberal arts and humanities are familiar with."

Resources

Polypoly The 21st Century Economic World-building Game

Polypoly is a new board game that mimics monopoly but with positive-sum game rules. “Polypoly (noun): An economic term for a marketplace with many buyers and many sellers.” Rather than a goal of bankrupting your peers, this game aims to create a “closed loop” economic system that strives for the highest quality of life for all. Inspired by the Commons and systems thinking, gameplay helps players rewire their thinking to 21st century ideals of abundance and mutualistic value creation.

Third Industrial Revolution

In this new VICE video, Jeremy Rifkin describes many aspects of what he calls the Third Industrial Revolution. Rifkin's work illuminates many aspects of the emerging world anticipated by R. Buckminster Fuller over 50 years ago, including technological ephemeralization, accelerating acceleration of many global trends, regenerative consumption, education automation, networked spontaneous cooperation, distributed/decentralized energy infrastructure, and increasing recognition of the critical importance of humanity's common wealth.

House of Tomorrow Movie Features the Legacy of Buckminster Fuller

The House of Tomorrow, a coming-of-age film directed by Peter Livolsi, is coming soon to theaters on April 27th, starring Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream), Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Asa Butterfield (Ender’s Game), Alex Wolff (Patriots Day), Maude Apatow (This Is 40). 16-year-old Sebastian Prendergast has spent most of his life with his Nana in their geodesic dome home tourist attraction where she raises him on the futurist teachings of her former mentor Buckminster Fuller in hopes that one day Sebastian will carry Fuller’s torch and make the world a better place. But when a stroke sidelines Nana, Sebastian begins sneaking around with Jared, a chain-smoking, punk-obsessed 16 year old with a heart transplant who lives in the suburbs with his bible-thumping single father Alan and teenage sister Meredith. Sebastian and Jared form a band and with his Nana’s dreams, his first real friendship, and a church talent show at stake, Sebastian must decide if he wants to become the next Buckminster Fuller, the next Sid Vicious, or something else entirely.

Upcoming Events

Global Solutions Labs with Medard Gabel

The 15th Annual Global Solutions Lab will take place from June 17–25, 2017, at the United Nations in New York and Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, PA. Participants from around the world will be briefed by, interact with, and question UN experts (from UN Habitat, UN Development Program, UN Environmental Program, UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO, FAO and other UN agencies). They’ll work collaboratively in small teams to develop designs, programs and strategies that deal with critical problems facing our world's urban environments. The work will be presented to a group of UN, corporate and foundation leaders at the end of the program and published in the Global Solutions Lab book, Designing A World that Works for All. For more information click here.

ReGen18 in San Francisco

How can we build regenerative systems that work for all people and the planet? Join in this conversation at ReGen18, May 1 – 4 at Impact Hub San Francisco. Focusing on regenerative agriculture, urbanism, networks, and innovative finance – ReGen18 will explore shifts in thinking and practice that can transform our organizations, our communities, and our world. Save 30% by using code R30_BFI when you register. ReGen18 is an action-focused event, bringing together the best minds in the global regenerative movement. Share and learn with practitioners, researchers, and theorists. Environmental investors and social investors will come together to blend ideas and create transformative new partnerships. Together we can create unprecedented change.

From The Idea Index

Sistema Biobolsa and the Circular Economy in Kenya

2017 Fuller Challenge Finalist Sistema Biobolsa is contributing to the circular economy for farmers in developing countries around the world. Recent coverage highlighted a success story in Kenya. Sistema Biobolsa produces and distributes affordable, state-of-the-art biodigesters that convert farm and household waste into resources. In Kenyan farmer Kimani's case, the Sistema Biobolsa biodigester closes the loop of his production cycle, and his award-winning coffee beans become a localized case study on the circular economy. Check out this recent account of how an elegantly simple technological intervention can help one farmer transform his production system.

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 available for purchase through BFI. 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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