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What
is 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, creative and intelligent use of resources is a prime value,
as we realize that the earth is a finite system with finite resources.
The Growing Dome is a model for this and also demonstrates energy
efficiency; 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
As the Green wave hits the mainstream, it is important to honor and
reflect upon the wisdom of many who have contributed to our awareness
over the years. I will offer these in book reviews or little stories
about wonderful people doing wonderful things, and offering help toward
the shift in awareness needed for creative changes to take place.
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 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, and 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 Hawken)
-- Puja Dhyan
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