ZERI Learning
Science has proven that fish is healthy and helps to reduce lipid levels in the blood. Humans want and ought to eat fish. But the fishing industry is facing two key challenges. On one hand a large part of the world's oceans is already practically depleted from fish, and on the other hand, heavy oil as ship fuel is a massive polluter.
The French company Marethix, founded by Eric Le Quéré, is offering a sustainable solution for the fishing industry designing catamarans as factory ships which are solely powered by renewable energy from the sun, the wind and sea currents. Additionally the catching method is specialised on sardines, leaving all other maritime species free to roam. The emission-free operation of the vessel makes it possible to acquire carbon credits, thus securing further income.
There is one more positive aspect: eating small fish is not only healthier due to a comparatively low accumulation of heavy metals, but also ecologically more reasonable than the consumption of farmed salmon which has to be fed with small fish.n of farmed salmon which has to be fed with small fish.
For more information, please visit blueeconomoy.de.
The traditional way of beer brewing is considered a craft and strictly regulated by the German Purity Law. However during the past decades a few multi-national companies have emerged competing with each other in mass production and cutting costs wherever possible. They introduced chemical processes and even substitute barley with rice, which is cheaper. Now that cost cutting has come to its limit, it is time to look for new opportunities integrating new flows of income.
Brewmaster Jim Lueders proposes to use all resources which enter the beer brewing processes in order to produce more food, energy and jobs. The high amounts of spent grain are suitable as an ingredient for bread dough as well as substrate to cultivate mushrooms. These mushrooms can be used, for example, to prepare vegetarian sausages.
Beer, bread and healthy sausages - now just add some good mood and you have all you need for a real Bavarian party!
For more information, please visit blueeconomy.de.
Have you ever wondered what to do with that old, half-broken armchair up in the attic? Please don't throw it away, think first about how it can be given a new utility. In the end, wood, metal and textiles are raw materials and too good to be dumped on landfills or incinerated.
Everywhere in the world there are formal and informal enterprises of reuse turning unwanted materials and objects into highly prized products, even to be sold in designer stores in London or New York. With little financial means, but a huge imagination, these creative minds turn plastic bottles, banana boxes or broken glass into jewelry, furniture or even installations for leading art exhibitions. Antonia Edwards from Britain is running an online magazine featuring a series of these "upcycled" products and initiatives in order to spark anybody's inspiration and show that what people throw away can be still good enough for showing off on the red carpet. It is an open access platform to share sustainable ideas, very much like the Blue Economy Community.
So have a look at your garage and if you do not know what to do with your old tyres by yourself, offer them to a sculptor...
For more information, please visit blueeconomy.de.
As we are facing climatic changes due to excessive CO2 emissions, forests may be a major solution with trees sequestering greenhouse gas. However, forests are considered a limited economic source because the trees need a long time to grow and apart from timber (which means them to be cut down) hardly provide any short-term benefits.
Javier Herrero from Mallorca, Spain, has developed "edible forests", a concept of a micro-forest to be planted in an urban environment which carries fruits all year long. His aim is to make them available for all school children so that they can learn about combining sustainability with food security within daily lessons. In a world of either hungry or overweight children, edible school forests can make the difference and provide access to knowledge and healthy nutrition.
Food security, education, carbon sequestering and added value for land means multiple benefits from a single innovation like the edible forests by Javier Herrero: a fine example for the Blue Economy.
For more information, please visit blueeconomy.de.
One of the most urgent needs in the developing world is the access to an appropriate sanitation for a large part of the population. Still there is a lack of half a billion toilets. At the same time, existing sanitary technology wastes drinking water and overloads the sewage plants.
In India Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak has installed separation toilets for private as well as public use. These systems work perfectly without being connected to sewage plants. If they are installed in public places, they can be connected to biogas plants because there is enough methane gas produced to justify this additional investment.
These Sulabh toilet installations work even more profitable if managed within a franchising system and combined with facilities for bathing and washing clothes. These supplemental offers also motivate the users to maintain the place tidy themselves. Water ca be used several times within a cascading system and the environmental impact can be further controlled by distributing soap in a centralized manner. This is a business with several benefits, very much according to the principles of the Blue Economy.
For more information, please visit blueeconomy.de.
Airships should not only recall nostalgic episodes from the beginning of aviation. A closer look on this technology will make us aware that they can be an environmentally friendly and cost efficient alternative to planes, especially within cargo traffic.
Apart from their stunning efficiency in fuel consumption and contrary to common planes, dirigibles do not need any long and smooth runways for takeoff and landing. Instead of huge areas covered with cement, it is enough to have a pole or mobile mooring post on a meadow the size of the airship itself. This makes them especially attractive for remote areas with a poor or inexistent infrastructure.
Recently a few resourceful entrepreneurs revived the airship technology. In California, the startup company Airship Ventures operates a zeppelin for research which is financed by sightseeing flights for passengeras and rental for camera teams. On the other hand, the Canadian enterprise Aviation Capital has invested into the development of cargo airships with a carrying capacity of up to 100 tons, in cooperation with the aircraft company Lockheed Martin.
For more information, please visit blueeconomy.de.
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