NSF Convergence Accelerator: Workshop on Design for a Circular Economy from Molecules to the Built Environment

我们目前的经济模式是线性的;我们采取，制造和浪费产品。 这种“拿来制造废物”的模式导致了严重的环境问题，从使用太多的资源到制造太多的废物，包括大量的塑料废物进入我们的海洋。与“取废制废”或线性模式相反的是循环经济。 循环经济背后的理念包括保持产品的使用，通过设计消除浪费和污染，以及旨在帮助自然。 循环经济在欧洲和亚洲正在取得进展，但在美国进展滞后。 通过这个项目，我们正在举办一个研讨会，旨在为美国的循环经济设计创建一个急需的研究议程。 我们还致力于创建循环经济设计课程。目前，原材料提取、生产、使用和处置的线性消费模式主导着全球经济。今天，我们清楚地看到，这种线性模式导致了严重的全球性后果，从资源枯竭到全球浪费，跨越了从塑料到建筑环境的所有工业部门。与线性模式相比，循环经济旨在通过将产品和材料循环回生产，将经济增长与资源消耗脱钩，或者通过将材料返回生产新产品，或者通过降解向环境释放良性物质。为了实现--甚至开始实现--循环经济，需要采用一种融合的研究方法，因为化学、生物学、工程学、商业、经济学、社会科学和行为科学等多个学科需要为循环协同工作。我们的愿景是促进和促进从分子到建筑环境的循环经济设计。通过这个拟议的研讨会，我们的目标是制定急需的研究议程，从分子到建筑环境的循环经济设计。最终，从社会的角度来看，无论是在国内还是国际上，我们都要应对全球废物和资源消耗螺旋式上升的紧迫挑战。我们还旨在通过策划研讨会活动整合不同学科来解决NSF的增长融合研究，这是未来NSF投资的十大理念之一。我们的研讨会包括一个强有力的培训子主题，为我们的社区创建循环经济设计课程。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Our current economic model is linear; we take, make, and waste products. This take-make-waste model has led to serious environmental problems from using too many resources to creating too much waste, including vast amounts of plastic waste into our oceans. In contrast with the take-make-waste or linear model is the circular economy. The ideas behind the circular economy include keeping products in use, eliminating waste and pollution by design, and aiming to help nature. The circular economy is making progress in Europe and Asia, but progress in the United States is lagging. Through this project, we are hosting a workshop, aiming to create a much-needed research agenda for design for circular economy in the United States. We also are aiming to create a curriculum for design for circular economy.The current linear consumption model of raw material extraction, production, use, and disposal dominates the global economy. Today, we clearly see that this linear model has led to serious unintended global consequences from resource depletion to global waste, spanning all industrial sectors, from plastics to the built environment. In contrast to linear models, circular economy aims to decouple economic growth from resource consumption by cycling products and materials back into production, either by returning materials to generate new products, or by releasing benign substances to the environment through degradation. To achieve – or even begin to achieve – a circular economy, a convergent research approach needs to be employed as a multitude of disciplines -- from chemistry, biology, engineering, business, economics, social sciences, and behavioral science need to work in concert for circularity. Our vision is to foster and catalyze circular economy design from molecules to the built environment. Through this proposed workshop, we aim to develop the much-needed research agenda for design for circular economy from molecules to the built environment. Ultimately from a societal perspective – nationally and internationally, we address the pressing challenges of spiraling global waste and resource consumption. We are also aiming to address NSF’s Growing Convergence Research, one of the 10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments, by integrating diverse disciplines through curated workshop activities. Our workshop includes a strong training sub-theme for our community to create a curriculum for design for circular economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.