Starting with an Idea
Thanks to the thousands of people who took the time over the past decade to meet, discuss, disagree
and dialogue the concept of zero emissions; thanks to the ecosystems on five continents which shared their desire for live and their capacity to thrive even in the harshest conditions with little or nothing; we have now reached the moment to distill the next ten years from all these experiences. This reflection is not to be the privilege of the one who started this, but rather has to be the responsibility of all those who share the desire to pursue this venture.

It all started over a decade ago with an string of ideas: (1) we wish to respond to all the basic needs of all living species on Earth with what we have; (2) we wish to find creative solutions to the pressing problems of our time; (3) the way forward was first and foremost to convert waste into nutrients and energy for another. “Nature does not know the concept of waste; the only species capable of making something no one desires is the human species”. This became guiding and starting principle of the ZERI program. The research and the initiatives that emanated from that vision were to be built on this design principle of nature.

There was time to observe nature, just look and see how well it works even if you are in the Namib Desert or in the Amazon jungle. There was time to admit failures in assessment, just rethink, accept mistakes and do better. Soon that guiding light on zero waste and zero emissions evolved in the 5 Design Principles of Nature. Action and reflection over the next ten years will thus benefit from a better understanding of how natural systems work, and this is only the very beginning of something none of us can conclude. We start having a better understanding based on the premise that this learning system is an never-ending process. So within another decade we may well have more principles and better insights to work with.

We now benefit from a more solid starting point, i.e. the Five Design Principles (anno 2005):

Whatever is waste for one is a nutrient or food for another species belonging to another kingdom;
What is a toxin for one organism, is a nutrient or neutral for another belonging to another kingdom;
Whenever highly complex ecosystems operate, viruses to remain inactive and even disappear without causing harm passing through at least 2 other kingdoms;
The more local, the more diverse a system, the more productive, the more resilient; and,
Whenever species of 5 different kingdoms live and interact in an autopoetic system, they can integrate and separate all matter at ambient temperature and pressure.

Thanks to thousands of people who spared time and energy, it has been possible to learn and see, return to the original question “can we create a society or an industry without any waste” and rephrase the intentions, ultimately reshaping that same vision. ZERI would not exist today if it were not for some 100 individuals (36 are featured in the profiles of the network of scientists) who really have offered more time, effort and inspiration than anyone else. They somehow became the mentors of this initiative. Perhaps some have not even any clue they did so. The thinking and vision today is the symbiosis of all these visions and experiences. This permitted us to move from a fantasy, to a process of trial and error, ultimately arriving at the creation of a new reality. Now time has come to envision how ZERI can go beyond whatever has been achieved today over the next decade (2005-2014).