ASABE Receives Over $500,000 to Organize CBSI Workshops
There is an immediate need to transition to circular bioeconomy systems that promote responsible and cyclical use of resources and whose main objective is to couple economic growth with sustainable resource use. Past practices using fossilized materials and Earth’s natural resources took a path of “take-make-use-waste”, resulting in linear economy systems that focus on technological advances to increase productivity and economic profitability. These practices have been highly successful considering increased production and profitability; however, they have unintentionally led to wasted or under-utilized resources, degradation of natural resources and the environment, and loss of economic sustainability.
Food, agriculture, socio-economic, and natural systems are complex, interwoven multi-dimensional systems of systems. The Circular Bioeconomy Systems Institute’s (CBSI) multidisciplinary 25-member Working Group 3 (WG-3) concluded that one of the most impactful actions that can be taken now is to increase systems thinking and approaches and forge an alliance of disciplinary professional societies and stakeholders for transdisciplinary use-inspired research and innovations.
As a first step towards building partnerships, CBSI is organizing eight workshops where 30 leaders representing multiple disciplines and stakeholders will engage in two-day intensive brainstorming and educational activities that explore needed knowledge, techniques, and skills for transforming linear systems to more sustainable circular systems.
These workshops have been planned to gather information from invited thought leaders across multiple disciplines for planning an open Circular Bioeconomy Systems Summit to facilitate collaboration across multiple professional societies and stakeholders that can effectively address complex bioeconomy systems solutions. The outcomes from these initial workshops will be made widely available with plans to organize the Summit that will be open to participation by anyone who is interested. Further, the CBS Day 2024 (July 28 in Anaheim, CA) will devote ½ day to discussing outputs from the workshops and will be open for attendance by anyone who is interested.
The selected workshop topics broadly cover constituent value chains (from pre-production to consumer) within the food and agricultural systems of systems. The Workshops’ outcomes will be available for sharing at 2024 professional society meetings and elsewhere to help jointly plan a Circular Bioeconomy Systems Summit in 2025 for developing a long-term path for circular sustainable innovations in food and agriculture. See below for a list of workshops being planned and their lead organizers.