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The Blue Economy

The Blue Economy · Gunter Pauli · ZERI

Reconciling Ecology and Economy,in service of the common good.

An economic model inspired by Nature, where nothing is wasted and life's necessities become free, produced locally from what is available. Imagined by Gunter Pauli and the ZERI network.

Understand the Blue Economy

The Blue Economy doesn't recycle, it regenerates!

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The movement is moving forward: new books, innovations deployed, projects in the field.

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Cassowary egg

It is unethical to settle for doing less bad.

Gunter Pauli

If you were promised you would be robbed a little less over the next ten years, you would be outraged: you do not want to be robbed at all. The same is true for the planet: it is no longer about doing less harm, it is time to do good.

Neither red, nor green. Blue.

The Blue Economy as defined by Gunter Pauli is the regeneration of ecosystems in a logic of abundance and autonomy.

Red economy

Destructive · Linear · Dependence

Green economy

Protective · Circular · Less harm

Blue Economy

Regenerative · Ecosystemic · Abundance

Understand the Blue Economy

Nature knows no waste, and everyone has a job.

Gunter Pauli, The Blue Economy 6.0, chapter 1

The guiding principles

The Principles of the Blue Economy

The guiding principles behind every Blue Economy project. Not a utopia: a way to move from scarcity to abundance, from what is already available, right here before our eyes. Gunter Pauli keeps them evolving from edition to edition.

Axis 01

Be Continually Inspired by Nature

Natural systems cascade endlessly, and the term waste has no meaning: whatever seems worthless to one is a desired item for another. Once we truly embrace Nature as our inspiration, we see the opportunities that were right in front of us.

5 principles

Axis 02

Change the Rules of the Game

The Blue Economy does not merely embrace change, it designs for continuous change for the better. Multiple interconnected revenue streams shift competition to the level of the system, rather than the individual product or service.

7 principles

Axis 03

Focus on What is Locally Available

Whenever a problem emerges, the reflex is to bring in solutions, materials or products from elsewhere. Here it is the last option: aid and imports create dependency, while what is locally available creates autonomy.

7 principles

Axis 04

See Change as the Only Constant

The principles are only the beginning. The Blue Economy has no dogmatic axioms and no trademarked concepts: its practitioners embrace change as the only constant, and are prepared to unlearn what they have learned.

Explore the Principles

Since the 1990s · more than thirty years in the field

Where no one believed life was possible

A desert that harvests water from the air. Coffee grounds that feed whole families. A barren savanna turned back into forest. The Blue Economy is not a theory: it is a collection of proof gathered in the field, from the Andes to the Pearl River delta.

100,000 tonnes of spent coffee grounds become 10,000 tonnes of mushrooms, 50,000 tonnes of feed for chickens, and 1,000 to 2,000 jobs. Nothing is lost: everything cascades.

112
documented cases
Source · theblueeconomy.org
200+
projects · over $5 billion invested
Source · The Blue Economy 6.0, epilogue
3
unicorns born from the projects
Source · The Blue Economy 6.0, epilogue

Mushrooms on coffee grounds

Growing mushrooms on the cellulose left in spent coffee: demonstrated by Shuting Chang, carried forward by Chido Govera. Thousands of women trained, from Zimbabwe to India.

Source [EB5.0 p.150-156]

Las Gaviotas

On the Vichada savanna, in Colombia, the forest replanted since 1984 protects the soil, recharges the water table and brings the rain back. A process that is physical before all else.

Source [EB5.0 p.447-448]

Songhaï Centre

Founded in 1984 by Father Godfrey Nzamujo in Porto-Novo, Benin: wastewater, biogas, plankton and fish in cascade. 450 jobs created.

Source [EB5.0 p.62]

El Hierro

Full protection of a spawning area, inside the island's biosphere reserve, restored the fish stocks in five years.

Source [EB5.0 p.140-141]

All the case studies

Gunter's Fables

Passing it on to children

365 fables to learn the economy of life: more than 17 million copies distributed around the world, and one fable, The Strongest Tree, available in more than 100 languages. Each fable develops the child's five intelligences.

A whale and a dolphin playing together, illustration from Gunter's Fables
A playful mushroom surrounded by fish on a coral reef, illustration from Gunter's Fables
Cover of the fable "Take care of corals", Gunter's Fables
A sea turtle balancing on a barracuda, illustration from Gunter's Fables
The "Emotional intelligence" teaching page from Gunter's Fables booklet, full text in French and English
A beach lined with palm trees, tropical scene from Gunter's Fables

Original Fables artwork · guntersfables.org

The Blue Economy around the world

The interactive map

Hundreds of actors and initiatives, geolocated and linked to the principles they apply. A living view of regeneration, continent by continent.

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The whole ecosystem

Knowledge, proof, actors and transmission: a single universe, all connected.

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