Richard Buckminster Fuller

R. Buckminster Fuller

Today is Sunday, June 5, the 156th day of 2011. There are 209 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On June 5, 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel after claiming victory in California’s Democratic presidential primary. Gunman Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was immediately arrested.

On this date

In 1884, Civil War hero General William T. Sherman refused the Republican presidential nomination, saying, “I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected.”

In 1916, the Arab Revolt against Turkish Ottoman rule began during World War I.

In 1933, the United States went off the gold standard.

In 1940, during the World War II Battle of France, Germany attacked French forces along the Somme line.

In 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall gave a speech at Harvard University in which he outlined an aid program for Europe that came to be known as The Marshall Plan.

In 1950, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Henderson v. United States, struck down racially segregated railroad dining cars.

In 1967, war erupted in the Mideast as Israel raided military aircraft parked on the ground in Egypt; Syria, Jordan and Iraq entered the conflict.

In 1976, 14 people were killed when the Teton Dam in Idaho burst.

In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control reported that five homosexuals in Los Angeles had come down with a rare kind of pneumonia; they were the first recognized cases of what later became known as AIDS.

In 2004, Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, died in Los Angeles at age 93 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Ten years ago: Tropical Storm Allison made landfall on the Texas coast (the storm resulted in severe flooding and tornadoes blamed for 41 deaths). Senate Republicans spent their last full day in power before turning control over to Democrats, a change that came about because of a decision by Vermont Sen. James Jeffords to leave the GOP and become an independent.

Five years ago

More than 50 National Guardsmen from Utah became the first unit to work along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of President George W. Bush’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Serbian lawmakers proclaimed their Balkan republic a sovereign state after Montenegro decided to split from a union and dissolve the remnants of what was once Yugoslavia.

Harnessing the Multiplier Effect: The Buckminster Fuller Challenge ...

We often hear that the world's problems compound themselves: chronic poverty leads to political destabilization; inadequate education can contribute to gender discrimination. But what if the opposite were true as well? What if teaching women to read could also fuel local economies? What if habitat preservation could lower unsustainable birthrates?

This idea—that targeted investment in one area could catalyze a chain of ameliatory effects—was among the most important legacies of late Richard Buckminster Fuller, one of the best-known thinkers of the early twentieth century. In an increasingly interconnected world rife with inequality and scarcity, he reasoned, it is both possible and critical to enact solutions with a holistic appreciation of the environment in which you operate.

Today, Fuller's approach is being put into practice by a number of organizations around the globe, through strategies as diverse as social networking and satellite GPS mapping. Four of those groups were recognized last Friday as finalists for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge, an award of $100,000 granted to a sustainable design project whose benefits carry beyond its immediate objectives.

"Our call for proposals is very broad,” said Elizabeth Thompson, Executive Director of the BFI. "We don’t define the problem space, the geographic region, or the nature of the solution. We invite entrants to make a case for why their solution a key leverage point to turning the system around - or at least playing a pivotal role in transforming that system.”

This year, the prize was awarded to Blue Ventures , a marine conservation organization working with fishing communities along the coast of Madagascar, where rapid population growth has prompted chronic overfishing . Four years ago, Blue Ventures began working with a single village to develop a system of rotating marine sanctuaries in which octopi and fish are give time to repopulate. Today, the system has spread along the coast to over a dozen villages. But the project didn't stop there.

"The enclaves created by the the coastal communities have become a draw for ecotourism, which funnels much-needed cash into the villages," said Al Harris, the organization’s founder, during his acceptance speech. The communities have also expanded the model to create land-bound sea-cucumber sanctuaries, he said, adding that the cucumbers fetch a good price as aphrodisiacs in certain international markets.

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