The Buckminster Fuller Institute, which seeks to instill in its students the same humanistic optimism of its namesake, recently announced the finalists in its aptly named "The Buckminster Fuller Challenge." The contest seeks contestants from all over the world to enter their ideas and designs for surmounting a certain problem that mankind faces. Entries range from alternative currencies to micro-remediation to local AIDs drug production in Africa.
Buckminster Fuller, advocate of renewable energy and designer of the geodesic dome, commited his life to the question: "Does humanity have a chance to survive lastingly and succesfully on a planet Earth, and if so, how?" His altruistic legacy has been passed down to the Buckminster Fuller Institute, and the finalists in the contest, the names of whom are listed below:
-YourOwnDemocracy.org, submitted by Gong Szeto
-Beyond the Petroleum Era: A Proto-Cooperative Means for Re-mineralizing Coastal Regions, submitted by Pliny Fisk III, Co-Director, CMPBS
-Sustainable Unit: An anticipatory approach to ecological living in the 21st century, submitted by Joao Amorim, PostModern Times
– (C)urban Ecology: Micro-remediation and The City Street of the Future, submitted by Commonstudio
-A Proposal for Bamboo Resource Systems for Social, Economic and Environmental Benefits in the Pacific Northwest USA, submitted by Jonathan Scherch, Ph. D.
-AIDSfreeAFRICA drug production in Africa, submitted by Dr. Rolande Hodel, AIDSfreeAFRICA.
-Architecture Beyond CAD, submitted by Martin Ravnikar, Architect.
-BerkShares local currency, submitted by Susan Witt, Executive Director, E.F. Schumacher Society.
-BK Farmyards, submitted by Stacey Murphy, Landmines Productions.
-Carnot-Equivalent Stirling Engine and Heat Pump, submitted by Berkana Technology Group (Berkana LLC)
-Civic Ads:Public Smart, submitted by Nathalie Rozot.
-Photic Climate Solutions Project, LLC, submitted by Tom Bowman.
-Cycle For Health, submitted by Joseph Agoada, Two Wheeled Foundation.
-DISCOVER Carbon Net, submitted by Hosung Chun, LEED AP.
-Dreaming New Mexico, submitted by Kenny Ausubel, Co-Founder, Bioneers.
-Ecocity Mapping for Urban Villages, submitted by Richard Register, President, Ecocity Builders.
-Green Flight World Link Initiative, submitted by Mike T. Voorhees, CEO, Skylite Aeronautics.
-Kickstart International: The Tools to Fight Poverty, submitted by Martin J. Fisher, Ph.D, co-founder and CEO of KickStart Intl.
-Machineless construction strategy based on least physical strain to build cyclone resistant women's centers in Bangladesh, submitted by Bonnie L Y Chu.
-Macrofacturing: Maximizing resources through distributed rapid manufacturing technologies, submitted by Jordan Brandt, Harvard Graduate School of Design.
-Mukuru BioCentres, submitted by Dyfed Aubrey, Urban Development Coordinator, GOAL.
-Operation Paydirt/Fundred Dollar Bill Project, submitted by Mel Chin, Artist and Project Director
-Sahara Forest, submitted by Charles Paton, Seawater Greenhouse, Ltd.
-SubEx: Moving Small Package Freight through the City City Subways, not City Streets, submitted by Bruce Cahan, Urban Logic, Inc.
-Sustainable Personal Mobility: The CityCar, the RoboScooter and Mobility-on-Demand Systems, submitted by Ryan Chin, Ph.D Candidate, MIT Media Lab.
-Tensegrity-based Structural Systems Development for Ecologically-regenerative Urban Development Along Tropical Coastlines, submitted by Center or Architecture, Science and Ecology.
-The Bamboo Institute, submitted by Kurt Przybilla, Inventor
-The GCH4, submitted by V.S. Gardiner, Industrial Designer.
-The SA Social Investment Exchange (SASIX) submitted by Carol Tappenden, Managing Director, GreaterGood South Africa.
-Water Harvesting to Promote Economic Sustainability, submitted by Roger Salway, Executive Director, Compatible Technology International.
-Watermill: Atmospheric Water Generator, submitted by Richard Weisbeck, Chief Technical Officer, Element Four
-World Game Beta, submitted by Katy Barkan, Harvard Graduate School of Design.
The winner will be announced at the Buckminster Fuller exhibit going on at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in early May, with the grand prize being $100,000 and an OmniOculi sculpture in true Fuller fashion.