The Global Significance of the Growing Dome?

On giving this question a lot of thought I came to the conclusion that the Growing Dome is a profound demonstration of the direction we need to move as inhabitants of this planet.
Firstly intelligent use of resources is a prime value, as we realize that the earth is a finite system with finite resources.
The Growing Dome also demonstrates energy efficiency, and with the looming energy crisis due to the upcoming or even current Peak Oil situation this efficiency is more and more needed.
The dome shows the use of naturally occurring energies: the sun, conduction, convection and radiation as natural methods of heat storage and transfer.
The use of alternative energy sources, eg solar panels to generate power is also modeled.
There is increasing concern about the vast distances food is being shipped, using large amounts of fossil fuels and creating increasing amounts of greenhouse gases. Local food production becomes increasingly more sensible. The Growing Dome enables the individual to accomplish this even in harsher climates with minimal use of fossil fuel energy for heating or cooling.
Fresh organic produce is being increasingly seen as a preferred alternative to food grown using pesticides insecticides and artificial fertilizers that continue to pollute our environment, waterways and aquifers.
I believe Buckminster Fuller would have been delighted to see the Growing Dome as a direct outgrowth of his vision and foresight in caring for "Spaceship Earth".

Udgar Parsons, Founder of Growing Spaces

The Inspiration of Buckminster Fuller

The first, of course, must be to honor one of the great mentors for humanity, who was little understood in his time, but is and was a direct root system to our existence as a company, Buckminster Fuller. What I have to say can only be an introduction to a bigger writing, but I must begin.

Bucky Fuller was in his wisdom years when he mentored the Windstar community in Snowmass. We have wonderful pictures from those days; in the 70’s as he helped the students there build geodesic structures and begin the first Bio-dome, which was the mother of our Growing Domes. His example then was beyond the complex scientific brilliance of a man before his time. His time in life and his personal journey contributed to the loving support he offered for innovation and a new sense of hope about change. My friends who knew him remark about this and it is this quality that I wish to focus on today.

Kenny Ausubel, the Founder of Bioneers says that “Biologists say the surest way to heal an ecosystem is to connect it to more of itself. Together we are changing the world by changing the story, from fear to hope, from apocalypse to restoration.” This is the spirit we hold dear at Growing Spaces.

Bucky Fuller’s stature had grown out of the humility of life experience and loss, and his participation was a heartfelt “showering” on all who knew him. He was free of social conditioning and could allow himself the empowerment of his truth as it flowed through him. His stage of life allowed a kind of seeing that is relevant to today. Very basic principles were the foundation for his generosity and enthusiasm.

1. “We can do more with less.”
2. “It is possible to feed the world.”
3. “We are a world community totally interdependent with nature.”

According to him, our challenges can be exciting motivation for the growth of new cultures, principles and designs based on this understanding. In an article in Kosmos Journal, by Susan Trout, Ph D. (called “If We Build It”) she quotes Fuller: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, BUILD A NEW MODEL that makes the existing model obsolete.”

Our legacy, as the roots of the Growing dome came from his vision includes a wholistic view, an element of wisdom that is beyond the knowledge and practicalities needed to create this product and offer it to the world. It is informed by a love of life, and a regard for all living things. Therefore, we are a part of a new business culture devoted to the recognition that we must now repair the damage our collective assumptions have done to life as we know it.

Life continues to refine our rough edges in its own perfect way. We can count on that. The movie, “The Eleventh Hour” hosted by Leo Di Caprio, beautifully portrays the challenges of our time. One of his speakers, Tom Lindsey, shocked and motivated me in it with his statement “We don’t have thirty years” to turn things around to balance global climate change. But to return to Bucky’s inspiration and flow, the gift of these times may well be that “we get to re-imagine every single thing we do.” (Paul Hawkin)

-- Puja Dhyan