#80: AMANDA RAVENHILL | Beyond Buckminster Fuller’s Wildest Dreams

This episode of Nice Work! tackles systems change, trim tabs, and astronauts on planet earth.

Sometimes these are all the same thing

AMANDA RAVENHILL is the Executive Director of the Buckminster Fuller Institute (BFI if you like acronyms which lots of people seem to, which we think is slightly disturbing in that it’s another paper cut against full-throated language) + cofounder of PROJECT DRAWDOWN (PD), the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming.

Amanda is dedicated to actually SAVING THE WORLD. Today, not tomorrow. So, if that kind of big mission (BM) inspires you, listen in, listen up and listen closely.

Oh, if you don’t know who Buckminster Fuller was, a real quick synopsis: He was an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, and futurist and a lot more. A true polymath the likes of which we’ll be lucky to see and learn from again.

He’s been called the Benjamin Franklin of the Space Age and The Leonardo Da Vinci of the 20th Century. But that doesn’t really tell you very much of what there is to know about Buckminster Fuller. From drunk, jobless, and suicidal to a world-changing visionary that makes today’s tech titans look like schoolchildren … Buckminster Fuller is a Super Nice Hero for the Ages.

The mission of BFI is to continue the work of Buckminster Fuller. They ask, “If Bucky were alive today, what would he be doing?” Then they do that thing. Essentially, #WWBFD?

If you can’t solve a problem, enlarge it.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower

The conversation with Amanda moves quickly and we apologize if it’s a Cliff’s Notes approach for some very big topics, including but not limited to restorative agriculture, the relative scale of continents on the planet and how they are represented on maps, city planning, gestalt switches, a solar punk future, and the nature of time and space and our place in the universe.

Actually, we don’t apologize, because if this leads you down some dymaxion rabbit hole, we want to hear about it. And we want you to take us along with you. Email us nicework@superniceclub.com and let us know where you dug.

So this episode, like its inspiration, Bucky Fuller, has a little of everything. There’s even a shout-out to agronomist poet Wendell Berry, who you should definitely also dig a rabbit hole on. Enjoy

LINKS (L)

Buckminster Fuller Institute > https://www.bfi.org

Project Drawdown > https://drawdown.org/

Amanda Ravenhill > http://www.amandajoyravenhill.com

Regeneration Course > https://support.bfi.org/event/trimtab-space-camp-regenerative-agriculture/e352475

BFI on Instaham > https://www.instagram.com/buckyfullerinst

Amanda on Instasham > https://www.instagram.com/amandaravenhill

Project Drawdown on Instawham > https://www.instagram.com/projectdrawdown

350.org > https://www.350.org

Savory Institute > https://savory.global/

Biochar > https://biochar-international.org/

#solarpunk