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；我们获取、制造和浪费产品。这种“取-制-废”的模式导致了严重的环境问题，消耗了太多的资源，产生了太多的废物，包括大量的塑料废物进入我们的海洋。与取-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制定一个急需的研究议程。我们还打算开设一门循环经济设计课程。目前，原材料开采、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，这种线性模型已经导致了严重的意想不到的全球后果，从资源枯竭到全球浪费，跨越所有工业部门，从塑料到建筑环境。与线性模型相反，循环经济旨在通过将产品和材料循环到生产中，将经济增长与资源消耗脱钩，要么将材料返回生产新产品，要么通过降解将良性物质释放到环境中。为了实现——甚至是开始实现——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众多学科需要协同工作，实现循环经济。我们的愿景是促进和催化从分子到建筑环境的循环经济设计。通过本次研讨会，我们的目标是从分子到建筑环境发展循环经济设计急需的研究议程。最终，从社会的角度来看-国内和国际，我们解决全球废物和资源消耗螺旋式上升的紧迫挑战。我们还致力于通过策划研讨会活动整合不同学科，解决NSF的“日益融合研究”，这是未来NSF投资的十大理念之一。我们的工作坊包括一个强大的培训子主题，为我们的社区创建一个循环经济设计课程。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

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.