The blue economy

The Blue Economy is a concept based on the research project "Nature's 100 Best", which aims to protect the earth's ecosystems and at the same time create jobs.

Origin of the term

The trademarked name The Blue Economy aims at a further development of the basic ideas of the “ Green Economy ”, whereby “Blue” refers to the color of the sky, the ocean and the planet as seen from space.

Starting in 2009, a team of initiators in Berlin developed the vision and the brand name Blue Economy. The term was first used in the book The Blue Economy - 10 years, 100 innovations, 100 million jobs published by Gunter Pauli in 2010 . which was adopted as a report to the Club of Rome . The global Blue Economy campaign started at the same time. A total of 340 “blue” innovations were identified as business models for the areas of water, energy, construction and nutrition, around 100 of which are presented on the website as “Blue Ideas”.

background

Already since the 1970s there have been currents in the environmental movement that demanded a holistic view of nature, man and economy, for example Arne Naess (Deep Ecology) or Lynn Margulis (Five Kingdoms of Nature). During the 1980s, Fritjof Capra shaped many people with his systemic approaches, while Robert U. Ayres tried to show the complexity of the relationships through “Industrial Metabolism”. The 1990s, on the other hand, were dominated by the efficiency discussions (driven mainly by the Wuppertal Institute, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek ). In the 2000s, bionics , i.e. the implementation of natural solutions in products, also moved into the focus of the economy.

Against this background, from 2006 to 2008, ZERI Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives and Gunter Pauli worked together with Janine Benyus and the Biomimicry Institute on the Nature's 100 Best research project. After the project was completed, two modes of interpretation developed: Janine Benyus communicated the results at asknature.org , while the blue economy focuses more on business models.

Principles

The principles are mainly based on the functional laws of natural ecosystems. They form the basis for the blue economy concept, which understands emissions and waste as misdirected resources. Locally available, renewable resources should be used as effectively as possible through innovations and entrepreneurial initiatives. The waste from one product automatically forms the starting material for a new product.

See also

• Corporate social responsibility
• Circular economy

Web links

• German side of the Blue Economy brand owner
• English page of the Blue Economy brand owners
• Blue Economy page by Gunter Pauli
• The fabulous Mr. Pauli , by Dirk Böttcher , Brand eins, issue 09/2015

Individual evidence

1. ^ UNEP: Entrepreneurs of the Natural World Showcase Their Groundbreaking Solutions to the Environmental Challenges of the 21st Century , press release of May 28, 2008.
2. ↑ Brand number EU: 009899931 - Blue Economy .
3. ^ From Deep Ecology to The Blue Economy . Archived from the original on March 22, 2011 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved March 18, 2011.  
4. ^ Jui Sha: The Emerging Blue Economy: Its Development and Future Prospects . In: Liberal Studies . tape 4 , no. 1 , June 30, 2019, ISSN  2688-9374 , p. 61–79 ( indrastra.com [accessed May 2, 2020]).
5. ^ ^{A b} The Blue Economy on Paradigm Publications , Paradigm Publications . April 2010. 
6. ^ The Blue Economy on Google Books , Paradigm Publications . April 2010. 
7. ^ The Blue Economy German edition by Konvergenta , Konvergenta Publishing . May 2011. Archived from the original on May 1, 2015 Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved January 19, 2013.  
8. ↑ youth-leader.org: Nature's 100 Best Initiative: Biomimicry Design ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 28, 2008. 
9. ↑ asknature.org . 
10. ↑ The principles of the blue economy . Archived from the original on November 1st, 2014 Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved December 2, 2013.