GreenWave, a nonprofit dedicated to the restoration of ocean ecosystems and job creation with coastal communities, is building a network of 3D ocean farms. The organization is the winner of the Buckminster Fuller Institute (BFI) 2015 Fuller Challenge and a US$100,000 prize to support the development of its ocean farming strategy.
“The Fuller Challenge was launched in 2007, and GreenWave marks the third winner that directly addresses urgent and complex issues related to our oceans,” says Elizabeth Thompson, Executive Director of BFI.
The annual challenge aims to support innovative solutions to humanity’s most pressing global problems, especially those related to ecosystems and resource regeneration. GreenWave’s winning proposal outlined a plan for scaling out a 3D restorative ocean farming model, which works to rebuild biodiversity and provide carbon sequestration through seaweed, scallop, mussel, oyster, and clam production. According to the project proposal, a single acre of 3D ocean farming requires no inputs of fresh water, and can provide a home for hundreds of wild marine and bird species.
“As a lifelong commercial fisherman, I could never have imagined being graced with the honor of being the 2015 Fuller Challenge recipient,” says Bren Smith, Executive Director of GreenWave. GreenWave is proud to take Fuller’s vision of ecological design into our oceans. We hope that our model of 3D ocean farming will be a catalyst for the restoration of ocean ecosystems, mitigating of climate change and helping feed the planet. The Fuller Challenge prize enables us to continue working to lay the foundation of a new blue-green economy.”
GreenWave will accept the prize at the 2015 Fuller Challenge Conferring Ceremony at the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn, New York on November 19, 2015. The event was developed in partnership with the Cooper Union Institute for Sustainable Design (CUISD).
