Rob Han is a social entrepreneur focusing on sustainability education and consumer behaviour. He’s the founder of Refuture, a social enterprise that makes tools for sustainable living, and co-founder of Chirpary, a software platform that helps university students get their first job. Rob also leads the OpenIDEO Shanghai Chapter, which is an open innovation platform that focuses on the world’s toughest social issues. Originally from Australia, Rob believes it’s necessary to intersect business, design, and technology together to create sustainable impact. In this presentation, Rob will talk about circular economy.

1. The world isn’t flat.
But is it actually round?
Copyright. © All Rights Reserved. by Rob Han

2. Fuck the trees.

3. Ignore the animals.

4. Forget the oceans.

5. Stuff the climate.

6. Screw the planet.

7. “Damn, I’m getting fat. I need to
exercise more so I can eat more.”
— Nicholas

8. Imagine if you had a stomach that
never gets full, a body that never
gets fat, and there was unlimited
food, how much would you eat?

9. Naturally, our bodies tell us when
we’re doing too much of the
wrong thing. It sends us signals.

10. Got pain in your stomach?
Calm down on the donuts.

11. But, how about our economies?
Do they send us signals when
things are going wrong?

12. Originally, in our economies, just
in like our bodies, we consumed
things to survive and be happy.

13. But in reality, these days the
goal of economies is to grow.
Every year. Forever.

14. People. Resources.

15. We are 7.3 billion people.
We grow at 1% per year.

16. There would be 1 person for every 1 square meter
of dry land on the planet in 300 years time.

17. If humanity’s history of 200,000 years
was condensed to a 2 hour movie, then
300 years away means 11 seconds away
from the end of the movie.

18. One hour of sunlight hitting
the planet can power the entire
world economy for one year.

19. In 400 years, we’d use all
sunlight hitting earth.

20. In 1400 years, we’d use all
sunlight from the entire sun.

21. In 2500 years, we’d use all
sunlight from the entire galaxy.

22. Obviously, just like our bodies,
economies consuming and
growing forever is impossible.
At least physically.

23. So is there a limit to
human activity?

24. Why aren’t there billions of
elephants in Africa?

25. Carrying capacity: The maximum
number of a species an environment
can support indefinitely.

26. r-species. k-species.

27. r-species. k-species.
time time
population
population
carrying capacitycarrying capacity

28. But why is there even a limit at all?
Can’t we be more efficient and use tech
to innovate ourselves out of these limits?

29. Answer is no. Why?
Physics.

30. There’s a wheel and you spin it with your arm once.
Why does it not keep spinning forever?

31. There’s a 100kg block of wood. You use a saw to
cut it in half. How many kilograms is each half?

32. So the bigger something is, the
more you need to maintain it.

33. Just like our bodies send us
signals when we do the wrong
thing, so do our economies.

34. The problem is we don’t
recognise the signals.

35. The signals are the trees,
animals, oceans, climate,
planet, etc.

36. So what do we do?
We build a circular shit.

37. Replace
Repair
Reuse
Reduce
Refuse
Recycle
Rethink

38. Fairphone Modular Smartphone
Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle

39. Furnishare Renting Furniture
Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle

40. Google Self Driving Car
Rethink, Refuse, Repair

41. Rent The Runway Renting Clothes
Rethink, Reduce, Reuse

42. Caterpillar Remanufacturing Machines
Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle

43. Economics becomes redundant if it can
rationalise an exchange that sells the
future of humankind. — Andrew Simms

44. Sustainability isn’t charity,
caring about nature, or being
a good person.

45. Sustainability is making sure
that humanity survives. And,
hopefully, thrives.

46. thankyou.
Rob Han
rob@refuture.co
Copyright. © All Rights Reserved. Refuture. refuture.co