The Blue Economy 3.0: The Marriage of Science, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Creates a New Business Model That Transforms Society

by Gunter Pauli

The Blue Economy cites a new business model in China
where novel paper production turns crushed rocks, including
mining waste that has piled up over centuries into sheets
for printing, writing and packaging without the use of water, without
cutting down a tree, and recyclable forever. It details how thistles,
considered a weed, is turned into a plastic, a lubricant and a herbicide
converting an old petrochemical plant into a biorefinery.

Genres: Economics, Ecology, Sustainability, Entrepreneurship, Environment, Business

291 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Gunter A. Pauli (1956–) es un emprendedor belga, autor del libro La Economía Azul. Actualmente vive desde 1994 en Japón. Esta casado con Katherina Bach, y tiene cinco hijos y su hija adoptada. Habla siete idiomas y ha vivido en cuatro continentes.

Como presidente de la asociación estudiantil AIESEC conoció en 1978 a Aurelio Peccei, el fundador y anterior presidente del Club de Roma. En 1979 siguió a su invitación al encuentro anual del Club en Salzburgo (Austria). Aurelio Peccei se hizo su mentor y encargó a Pauli el desarrollo del programa juvenil del Club, el cual se conoció bajo el nombre de Forum Humanum.
En 1984, Gunter Pauli fue invitado por el Dr. Bruno Kreisky a hacerse miembro de la Comisión Kreisky por el Empleo en Europa.
En 1991 Pauli organizó con gran éxito el año de Mozart en Bélgica y Japón y por ello le fue otorgada la “Goldene Medaille des Landes Salzburg”.
Más adelante, Gunter Pauli fundó varias empresas, vivió en Francia, Suecia, los Estados Unidos y Japón y fue activo en todo el mundo. En 1994 inició, con el apoyo del gobierno japonés y la United Nations University en Tokio, la Zero Emissions Research Initiative. Desarrolló un modelo de negocio en el cual se podrían producir menos desechos de los que ya se establecieron como estándar en Japón. Las reflexiones teóricas, las cuales fueron aprobadas por casi cien profesores, más tarde han podido ser suplementadas por proyectos pilotos que comprobaron la utilidad de cada una de las propuestas.
Durante los últimos cuatro años, Gunter Pauli se concentró en la identificación de innovaciones que tienen el potencial de modificar los modelos de negocios existentes. Por medio de una amplia selección de iniciativas empresarias se ha podido desarrollar un macro-modelo económico para los siguientes diez años, el cual genera puestos de empleo, establece capital social y guía a la economía y la sociedad hacia la sostenibilidad.

Reviews

[Tauri Talve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kogu sinise majanduse mõte on teha asju efektiivsemalt. Kui ma peaksin ühe lausega raamatu kokku võtma, siis: “Sinise majanduse efektiivsus tuleneb sellest, et võetakse eeskuju looduselt ning tehakse asju mitte praeguse mastaabisäästu mudeli järgi vaid luuakse töökoht kõigile ja kõigele.”

Autor toob raamatus välja palju erinevaid näiteid ja reaalseid projekte, mille käigus on ära kasutatud praeguse ärimudeli mõistes “tootmise käigus tekkivaid jäätmeid” ning rakendades sinise majanduse ärimudelit ja mõtlemist, tehtud samadest jäätmetest kvaliteetset toorainet, mis on kasumiga maha müüdud, loodud sadu või lausa tuhandeid uusi töökohti ja samas parandatud kogukondade elu ning kõige olulisem - seda on tehtud kohapeal tekkivatest jäätmetest.
Esimest korda lugesin raamatut kiirelt ja lohakalt, kuid tundsin, et sellega jäi palju seoseid kokku viimata ja jäid teatud asjad segaseks. Otsustasin lugeda ka teist korda ning soovitan ka lugeda antud raamatut rahulikult ja teha ka taustatööd, otsida ja lugeda nende projektide kohta rohkem, kuna me võime ju raamatut lugeda ja öelda: “Jah, me peaksime midagi muutma” aga muutus algab alati iseendast.

[Tomasz Waraksa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very positive, optimistic and down-to-earth book. My only reservations are about author's too optimistic vision that business leaders will be eventually persuaded to change their ways, simply by being presented with economic benefits of this new business model. I think this is unrealistic to expect. They won't have much incentive to change, until they have to bear the full costs of their extractive, exploitive, socially and environmentally-damaging activities. Promising them more profit is simply not going to work. Taking their wrongly-earned profit must happen first. We're talking here about costs of cleaning up the pollution, land recovery, full costs of additional healthcare. And it's not just sweat shops in poor countries. For example, nobody ever talks about corporations bearing full costs of psychological damage and burnouts caused by aggressive workfloor practices and inhumane work atmosphere created by sociopathic MBA alumni.

Businesses eager to reap profits but forgetting about compensating for the damage they caused, cannot be convinced to be better by nice words and promises of better profitability, simple as that.

[Nico Beukema · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dit boek las ik ter inspiratie. Twee lessen neem ik ook zeker mee. 1). De gangbare productie van goederen leidt tot veel te veel restafval waarmee niets wordt gedaan. Het is echter geen afval, maar vaak prima bruikbaar voor andere doelen. We moeten vooraf goed nadenken over het volledig gebruik van grondstoffen en ons niet blindstaren op dat ene product en restanten op de koop toenemen of negeren. 2). Het dierenrijk kent door evolutie veel oplossingen die wij als mensheid goed kunnen imiteren. In plaats daarvan zijn wij verslaafd aan petro-chemische oplossingen die leiden tot veel vervuilende restproducten. Hou daarmee op!
Tot zover de inspiratie. Het boek zelf was dat verder nauwelijks. Het is een brij talloze, zichzelf vaak herhalende, voorbeelden. Niet fijn geschreven. Deze boodschap verdient een beter boek!

[Lieselotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has a good and clear storyline: innovation is very important!

The facts and figures however are presented not so clearly (and are not always explained thourough enough) so that there is jumped very quickly to conlusions. This includes numbers of revenues and available jobs that are a bit ‘too approximately’ calculated.

However the case studies themselves are very insightful and provide a great background for your personal enrichment.

Conslusion: What is effectively realised is very helpful, the speculations are a bit short sighted.

[Ana Popescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are interested in innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability then this book will be inspiring. The examples and the principles presented might just open your might to new possibilities and make you want to get involved.
Unfortunately the writing still I would to be a bit repetitive.. which actually makes it harder to read (for me). Worth it anyway!

[Miko Kallas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vaieldamatult üks silmi avamaid raamatuid, mida ma lugenud olen.

[Shelhorowitzgreenmkt · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can termites show us about zero-energy air conditioning and heating, or zebras about keeping cool outside on a hot day by turning themselves into air current machines?

How can coffee farmers create a new high-protein, high-profit crop that regenerates forests, protects oak trees, and has an economic return far greater than just the coffee bean—from the 99.8 percent of the plant that’s usually thrown away?

How can mosquitos teach the medical world how to make injections painless?

These are some of the many questions Pauli asks and answers in his amazing book. Pauli’s solutions are rooted in both biomimicry—learning from the plants, animals, fungi, microbes, and even rocks around us—and replacing invasive chemistry with eco-friendly physics. And he has decades of practical experience designing, funding, and implementing these systemic, holistic solutions and helping small communities build whole new economies from these insights. I heard him speak at a conference about 20 years ago and was blown away, so I was thrilled to get my hands on his book.

Right from the beginning, pages 2-3, he lays out four principles (with several subsections):

1. Be Constantly Inspired by Nature
2. Change the Rules of the Game
3. Focus on What is Locally Available
4. See Change as the Only Constant

Taking inspiration from nature starts with understanding nature’s own principles: everything has at least one purpose—and usually several purposes, nothing is wasted, solutions are very efficient and use the least possible energy and materials, everything is interdependent and part of a complex ecosystem with many parts, and course-correction happens automatically.

Pauli’s solution set—much of it tested in real-world projects—includes circular systems where “residue” (he prefers not to think of it as waste) becomes input for the next link in the loop. So the 99.8 of the plant that coffee processors now pay to get rid of becomes fertile ground to grow shitake mushrooms (p. 10, p. 135, and many other references) as well as provide several other benefits including odor control (pp. 137-138); medical supply companies can mimic the mosquito’s conical penetrator to reduce injection pain; HVAC designers can copy termites’ ancient zero-energy temperature control for buildings (pp. 53-56)—or the way zebras’ stripes create convection currents and vortices that keep them cool outdoors in the hot African summers (pp. 56-57). Architects can design inexpensive earthquake-proof bamboo homes and regenerate the bamboo far more quickly than a forest (pp. 253-255).

Pauli envisions a world where we no longer need toxic batteries, health-hazardous radio-wave-based Internet (he prefers to use light), or even solar and wind farms. Innovations with cascading benefits across multiple industries will make them obsolete while raising living standards, health outcomes, local self-reliance, and connection with community. And much of this is stuff we already know how to do. Three among many examples:

- Seaweed-based (p. 112) or even maggot-based antibacterial protection (p. 162) can replace
antibiotics
-Tomato processing residue can be turned into sunscreen and lipstick (pp. 181-182)
- Mining, that traditionally dirty industry, can create paper from stone tailings (pp. 214-215), as
well as pure drinking water as a byproduct while chelating bacteria can detoxify the metals that
used to pollute that water (pp. 218-19).

He’s posted 109 more at https://www.theblueeconomy.org/en/pro...
Pauli says we humans were designed to live in alkaline environments, yet many human constructions create an acid world that’s not healthy for us. Since this was the first time I encountered this idea, I checked with Terry Cline of Dwellright. Terry is an architect and Feng Shui practitioner who pays a lot of attention to the interaction of human factors with spaces. He and I are each other’s clients and friends. Terry agrees that our lives would be better if they were more alkaline.

One caution: while Pauli’s ideas are brilliant and his/his colleagues’ implementations are astonishing, his writing is less approachable than it could be (one more pass by a skilled editor would have helped a lot). He’s Austrian and he writes with the dense syntax of his first language (German). He’s also a non-linear thinker, so the book’s organization is a bit rough (and made worse by the lack of an index in a book that cries out for one). And I wish he would not revisit the same examples over and over again. But it’s worth the struggle. I took 9 pages of notes and feel that my life is better for reading it.

[Clyve Westerlund · Rating 5 out of 5]

You Want to Add Value Your Community and Your Earth. The Blue Economy is the Way!

I have always been plaqued by unending and nerve wrecking questions and uncertainties, especially when it comes to the rules of the economics we use to structure the way we do things. There are so many issues in the world that ‘seem’ to all conspire to the absolute corruption and breaking down of our societies and humanity. With some existential threats such as the un-sustainability of our daily lives due to our energy usage ways and the issue of development and security in all forms in poorer regions; having more threatening weighting than others. With such forces describing a bleak and harmful setting for everything about our pale blue dot.

It is not to sound alarmist and controversial, but rather to define and set and articulate that the way we currently govern and run our economies which in turn run our entire lifestyles as a global society is clearly having unintended consequences, with most being extraordinarily negative. These issues are so ingrained, it really does seem like there is little hope for the majority and future generations to continue this grand phenomenon in which we call Life. But the Blue Economy approach offers solutions and a new paradigm in the way we think about things and can do things with continuation, especially our economics. It offers value in things we dismiss so quickly and profound emphasis on sustainability. We can do more with less, we just need to rethink and redesign.

To say that the things are the way they are and cannot be changed is an inexcusable depiction of human ego. We Can Do Better!. It just takes a decision to do so. The current rules that govern economics need to be restructured and redefined. This is not an academic posit. It’s proven real world applications. The fact that we cannot get over ourselves for a better world eludes me. I hope this reading and what it’s about make it to the power brokers and the real decision makers of our species. So that they can understand and work towards a Blue Economy.

Reading this book (on top of other books as well) will lead one to finding the space in which to imagine another world, even another way of life, and then to harnessing the energy to continue reflecting on it, and from there to embracing action. This may sound somewhat ambitious – but why would we settle for anything less?

I realise now that I do sound rather biased and absurd, and so I cannot offer anything else but to say, it’s the truth. It’s at least my truth and I know this one is real. Please consider. Comprehend and evaluate this topic (the Blue Economy) yourself. And this is only the first statement, the potential is countless.

[Madara Dobele · Rating 3 out of 5]

G.Pauli ideja par vērtību kaskādi kā galveno priekšnoteikumu ilgtspējīgai attīstībai ir nenovērtējama. Tāpat kā viņa skaidrie norādījumi, ka "darīt mazāk slikti, tik un tā nozīmē darīt slikti". Zilās ekonomikas grāmata apkopo ne mazums piemēru un arī vēl tikai ideju, kā veidot jaunas vērtību kaskādes, sākot ar resursu patēriņu, beidzot ar enerģijas ražošanu un sabiedrības kopējo veselību. Šī grāmata ir nenoliedzams un cieņpilns apkopojums gan paša G.Pauli, gan viņa domu un pasaules uztveres līdzgaitnieku idejām, inovācijām un arī paveiktajam. Tomēr grāmatu lasīt ir sarežģīti. Kaut gan autors to ir strukturizējis 14 nodaļās, idejas starp tām ne reti "mētājas" un "ceļo". Ne vienmēr ir nojaušama robeža, kad autors raksta par eksistējošiem biznesa modeļiem, kad par zinātniskiem pētījumiem, bet kad vēl tikai par teorētiskām idejām. Iespējams, ka G.Pauli "zilās ekonomikas" pieeja ir vienīgā, kas nodrošina veidu, kā mēs varam stabilizēt savu attīstību un tai patērētos planētas resursus. Bet grāmata, lai arī bagāta idejām un visnotaļ vērtīgas un vajadzīgas (!) pārdomas radoša, ir sarežģīta lasījumā un ik pa brīdim rada apjukumu, jo ir grūti atbildēt, kāds tieši ir autora mērķa lasītājs. Vērtīga - ļoti. Bet no lasīšanas viedokļa - noteikti ne tā saprotamākā.

[Sarynette Guzman · Rating 5 out of 5]

How to truly scale up sustainability into industry

Gunter Pauli in this book shows you have to take the ideas of sustainability from the level of a garden: where there is composting, chicken raising, etc. into industrial level macro economic level, where these same principles help large scale farms turn waste into energy to generate electricity for cities, for just one example. He shows how these industries can build on each other to create mass economies where not only sustainability is the goal, but where people can find satisfying employment, and live healthier lives. These ideals almost seem dreamy except they are all already taking place now and only need the rest of to see how we can join in to scale this process up, and he gives plenty of examples that are practical on how! Enjoy this eye opening and inspiring book!

[Kaia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Päris OK, huvitavad näited praktilistest ettevõtmistest, kus kasutati ära tooraine ja selle jäägid igas astmes, nii et polnud tavapärast raiskamist ja saastet. Ideaalis tõeline intelligentne teadmuspõhine majandus.

[Faristamo Eller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it several years ago and found it to be a very important book to read for everyone. The most important message from it is that garbage is something that should not happen at all - everyone who is creating something should create it in a way that nothing is waste.

[Maurits Roodhuijzen · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 stars for the content. What an incredibly inspiring collection of practical examples for how we can improve our products, our environment, and in general the world around us.

It’s a shame that how the book is set up, as well as the writing style do not amplify the message, but even do it harm.

[Lianne Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book. Interesting case studies and a great read.

[Aboud Laila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great amount of ideas, not specially concepts but kind of way of thinking

[Jana Valliste · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raamat aitab avardada maailmavaadet ning annab uskumatuid lahendusi ja võimalusi luua uusi ärimudeleid. Kuidas paberit valmistatakse kivijääkidest, kus leiavad rakendust kohvipuru jäägid jne. Ühe ettevõtte jaoks näiliselt väärtusetu asi, on vajalik kellegi teise jaoks ning raamatus on palju näiteid, milliseid uusi ettevōtteid saab selle baasil luua. Soovitan!

[Cédric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concept brillant et séduisant pour une lecture fastidieuse.
Quel dommage! Ce livre est bourré d’idées intéressantes et excitantes mais son manque de structure le rend ardu.