The zeronauts
"In the last century, astronauts (meaning space sailors) launched into the heavens, in search of new worlds to colonize-their adventures helping to catalyze the evolution of everything from non-stick frying pans and minicomputers to satellite telecommunications. Their work forced our species to recognize that our Earth is a very rare planet indeed and our only home for the foreseeable future. Now a new wave of explorers, adventurers and entrepreneurs is pioneering novel ways to create wealth in tune with the twenty-first century reality of a human population pushing towards ten billion people by mid-century and with key elements of the planet's biosphere already coming apart at the seams. These are the Zeronauts. Featuring contributions by twenty-five of the world's leading innovators and drawing on interviews and surveys of many more, the book showcases the pioneers that are at the cutting edge of the global sustainability movement, which the author, John Elkginton, has helped create and lead over several decades. Elkington introduces the emerging disciplines of zero-impact design, engineering and management-through the personal experiences and reflections of the leading practitioners putting us on a path to a zero impact economy: zero risk zero emissionszero pollution and wastezero biodiversity losszero population growth.Leading Zeronauts explain how they came to wake up to the challenges they speak about the mistakes they have made along the way and the lessons they have learned in the process offering their advice on how we can get others to the same point in terms of thinking and action. From this, Elkington distils a concise set of rules for success. Concluding with recommendations for governments, investors, innovators and educators, the book shares the lessons learned from scores of people worldwide who are helping define the scale of the challenges our species now faces and, crucially, developing and deploying at scale some of the solutions that will provide the building-blocks of tomorrow's economies and the foundations for some of the future's greatest fortunes. "-- "A world of 9 billion people by mid-century will demand fundamental changes in our mindsets, behaviors, cultures and paradigms. Just as our species broke the Sound Barrier in the 1940s and 1950s, a new breed of innovator, entrepreneur and investor is lining up to break the Sustainability Barrier. In this book, John Elkington introduces The Zeronauts; a new breed of innovator, determined to drive problems like carbon, waste, toxics and poverty to zero . As well as creating the first Zeronaut Roll of Honour, spotlighting 50 pioneers in the field of Zero. Zeronauts are innovating in an astonishing range of areas, tackling hugely diverse economic, social, environmental and governance challenges. To give a sense of progress to date, we zero in on five key challenges (the 5Ps): Population Growth, Pandemics, Poverty, Pollution and Proliferation The Power of Zero has been trumpeted, notably in relation to Zero Defects. This book spotlights key lessons learned in the field of Total Quality Management--and introduces a 5-stage 'Pathways to Zero' model, running through from the Eureka! discovery moment to the point where a new way of doing things becomes endemic in the economy. To move from incremental to transformative change, we must embrace wider framings, deeper insights, higher targets and longer timescales. The book investigates some ways in which leading Zeronauts are pushing change in relevant directions, with cases drawn from a spectrum of human activity--from water profligacy to human genital mutilation. If we learn from these pioneers, the twenty-first century could be our best yet"--
