S3.E5: The Boom of Biofabrication: Growing Bricks, Clothes, and Meat Artwork

Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement

Join me, Prof Wayne Visser, for inspiring conversations with leaders in the breakthrough movement to regenerate nature, society and the economy. Thriving is about going beyond sustainability to a net positive agenda of innovation and regeneration. Each episode is a dialogue with thought leaders and pioneering practitioners, capturing their perspective on the six great transitions to thriving: how to go from degradation to restoration of ecosystems, from depletion to renewal of resources, from disparity to responsibility in communities and workplaces, from disease to revitalisation of health, from disconnection to rewiring through technology, and from disruption to resilience in infrastructure and institutions. We also explore what kind of leadership are needed to create a thriving future, and how organisations can take action to integrate thriving into their strategies, products and services. This is not about false hope or blind optimism, but we actively focus on innovative solutions and positive tipping points for change. The podcast builds on the foundations of my bestselling book "Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy." I look forward to having you join the movement for thriving and welcome your suggestions for who I should feature as invited guests on the podcast. Credits: Host: Wayne Visser. Podcast music: Amil Raja

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Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement

S3.E5: The Boom of Biofabrication: Growing Bricks, Clothes, and Meat

August 13, 2026 • Wayne Visser • Season 3 • Episode 5

0:00 | 27:38

Episode 5 is based on "Renewal" (Chapter 4).

Core Theme: Redesigning the economy to mimic nature’s zero-waste cycles.

Borrow, Make, Use, Return: Shifting from the linear "take-make-use-lose" model to a circular economy where every output is a nutrient for another process.

Bio-loops vs. Techno-loops: Understanding the vital distinction between products designed to return to nature (like compostable phone cases) and those that must be recycled by industry (like ocean-plastic sneakers).

Urban Mining: Treating our "e-valanche" of electronic waste as a resource goldmine rather than digging new holes in the ground for finite metals.

Sponge Cities and Pocket Forests: Designing urban landscapes with terraced wetlands and dense mini-forests that passively absorb rainwater and grow 10 times faster than conventional woods.

The Boom of Biofabrication: "Growing" the products we need—from bricks and clothes to leather—using living cells like mycelium (fungi), bacteria, and algae

Season 3 is an experiment. It features an AI-generated dialogue that deep dives into each chapter of the book, Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy. Let me know what you think!