A team of Western Michigan University students has big plans to build a "local loop farm," converting more than 28 tons of food waste into 1.35 tons of fish feed, producing 19,000 heads of lettuce and 997 pounds of tilapia, and composting 100 tons of agricultural waste, all on a weekly basis. The farm will use water 90% more efficiently than other farms by using hydroponics, and will fuel its water heater with compost.
The two-acre farm, the size of a city block, will be one contribution to the creation of a "circular economy," where waste becomes fuel for the next round of production.
The circular economy concept comes easily to Max Hornick, a member of the student team which won the second annual Wege Prize, a cross-disciplinary design competition focused on solving "wicked problems." Wicked problems are defined as problems where solutions tend to create other problems--so they must be tackled by thinking about the whole system the problem is a part of.
"The circular economy, which I wouldn't call a new concept, redefines our approach to systems and helps frame the future direction of our economy," says Hornick. "This is a valuable paradigm shift. We need to think about how we promote community investment and enhance the quality of life." Hornick is an undergraduate majoring in public relations, and is employed as an aquaponics (that means fish farming and growing plants in water) intern at WMU's sustainability office, where she first heard about the Wege Prize.
If every university ran Wege Prize competitions, the millennial generation would solve all our problems practically before graduation. Max Hornick is right: we need a paradigm shift.
Baby boomers grew up in a world about winning wars and conquering economic space through consumption, investment, competition, and growth at any cost. Millennials are thinking differently. They are growing up in a world they understand to be fiercely unequal, polluted, running out of resources, and with leadership that disappoints.
Here are a few things I am learning from them:
- Think of problems as opportunities.
- Think circular. Develop products with their end of life in mind, so they can be recycled or repurposed completely, with no residual waste. Think about how much profit or cost savings you could make out of a future second life of your product.
- Collaborate. Build on different skill sets from different disciplines. Go out and find partners with skills you don't have.
- Think in systems. Draw pictures on a big piece of paper with lots arrows pointing out how things affect other things.
The Wege Prize competition began in 2014 as a regional competition, went national this year, and next year plans to go international. Teams must be composed of members from different disciplines and from different colleges (though the colleges can be part of the same university, as in the case of the Western Michigan University team this year). The competition is organized by the Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University for the Wege Foundation and is, in fact, a design competition. That's because the solutions needed today are nothing short of whole systems' design solutions.
No mention of the circular economy would be complete without a nod to Ellen MacArthur, the British woman who sailed solo around the world (setting a world record), thought a lot about the efficient use of resources while on her voyage, and now dedicates herself to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation working in education, business innovation and analysis to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.
According to the Foundation: "A circular economy is one that is restorative by design, and which aims to keep products, components and materials at their highest utility and value at all times, distinguishing between technical and biological cycles. "
Could anything be more important than this?
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