Two thousand years ago, someone scratched a web of lines into stone in a Roman settlement on the empire’s northern edge. Soldiers, traders, or locals passing time in Coriovallum, now Heerlen in the Netherlands, moved small counters across those lines in a tactical duel of blockade and entrapment.

The board survived but the rules did not. Now researchers believe they have them using artificial intelligence.

By simulating thousands of possible turn sequences on the carved network found at the site, archaeologists identified a ruleset that best matches the wear patterns on the stone: a two-player blocking game they’ve named Ludus Coriovalli, the Game of Coriovallum.

It belongs to the Roman family of line-movement strategy games that includes ludus latrunculorum, but with its own geometry and tempo.

For Green Prophet readers, this is familiar territory.

We’ve previously explored ancient games reborn from archaeology, from Mehen boards etched into ship planks to Egyptian Senet sets reconstructed from tomb art. These games are more than pastime, they’re ancient culture, revealing how people thought about territory, risk, and control.

Ludus Coriovalli adds a Roman frontier voice to that conversation.

What are the proposed rules of the game?

Two players use unequal numbers of pieces on a network of intersecting lines, with the larger force attempting to surround and immobilize the smaller force. Players take turns moving one piece at a time along the engraved lines to an adjacent intersection point. A piece (or group) is captured or neutralized when it is completely blocked so it cannot move along any connecting line. The larger side wins by trapping all opposing pieces, while the smaller side wins by evading capture or escaping the blockade.

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In the next wave of regenerative agriculture, the farm is no longer a grid of efficiency but a living circle—with the human spirit at its core. Instead of replacing the farmer, AI and robotics now orbit like silent companions, extending our hands rather than erasing them. A rotating robotic arm moves through the plot not as a master, but as an assistant, guided by ecological intelligence and human intuition. This is not automation for profit—it’s a return to sacred design, where technology becomes humble, circular, and in service to the soil, the grower, and the wider web of life.

During Covid, when the world lost its bearings and I feared the global food distribution system would snap like a dry twig, I did the only sensible thing a mother could do: I built a garden. Not a Pinterest garden, but a functional, wartime-style victory garden (download the original here), a mashup of raised Middle Eastern circular plant beds with permaculture herbs spiraling from the center, borrowing wisdom from desert farmers and American agricultural resilience manuals from the 1940s. We planted beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, molokhia (it grows faster than hemp), lettuce, zucchinis, melons and more.

The reward wasn’t just food security — it was witnessing life return. Birds began swooping low to take a peek and eat bugs during the day, chasing the pollinators that came to kiss the flowers. A watermelon I planted was one day the  size of an egg and then ballooned into a full, striped universe almost overnight, as if showing me how quickly life responds when humans step back and design with respect. Life happens!

Now, in a strange and beautiful echo of my inherited Dutch farming ancestry, a Dutch industrial designer, Floris Schoonderbeek, is proposing a new way to farm — in circles, not squares. They call it Circle Farming, an invention that I see it as a technological reverence for something ancient. Farming in circles in the Middle East isn’t new. Look from above and you will see circular crops irrigated in Libyan deserts. 

The Al Khufrah Oasis in southeastern Libya, near the Egyptian border (photo above is from 2004), is one of the country’s largest agricultural developments and a distinct geometric landmark of pivot irrigation is easily spotted by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Since only about 2 percent of Libya’s land receives enough rainfall for farming, the project relies entirely on fossil water pumped from a deep underground aquifer. In tandem, the Libyan government launched the Great Man-Made River project to transport these groundwater reserves to the coast to support population growth and industrial expansion.

Today, parts of the system are still functioning, but years of conflict. the death of Gaddafi, and lack of maintenance have reduced its reliability. While water continues to reach some agricultural and urban areas, the original vision of full capacity and expansion has largely stalled.

But the Dutch, famous for stubbornly living and growing on land that is supposed to be emerged are updating the instead of plowing rectangles with tractors, a robotic arm is fixed at the center of a 30-meter circle. It moves slowly, like a clock hand made of steel, pulling familiar agricultural tools behind it — for weeding, watering, even harvesting — except now without carving brutal tire tracks through the earth. The land between circles is left untouched — a commons for insects, wildflowers, birds, even humans to linger. Farming becomes a woven pattern instead of an industrial grid.

Each circular strip holds a different crop, creating a precision-farming mandala that’s both productive and biodiverse. Sensors and AI whisper data back to the farmer — moisture here, pest pressure there — giving advice like an oracle rather than a command chain.

Workers aren’t expected to bend and break their spines in the fields. Instead, they lie belly-down on suspended beds attached to the rotating arm, gliding over the crops with dignity — hovering like dragonflies as they weed, prune, harvest by hand. It turns farming from grunt labor into something closer to communion with the land.

This model is being designed for small peri-urban farms, the exact kind of places that struggle to compete with industrial agriculture but carry the soul of food sovereignty. It’s automation not as replacement, but as companion. A bridge for urban people longing for meaningful work, who might rather float over lettuce than sit under fluorescent lights answering emails for a salary that buys them tasteless tomatoes.

This is the new agricultural aesthetic: not tech versus nature, but tech in service to a more intelligent form of nature-culture. Circular design — which ancient farmers, Bedouins, and mothers like me already knew — is returning, this time with robotics and AI strapped in for the ride. What happens when farming becomes beautiful again? When robots don’t dominate, but make room for birds, wildflowers, kids, rest, and wonder?

Greenhouse farming which allows the farmer to adjust micro-specific conditions to the plant is a market dominated by Dutch and Israeli technology. Will the Dutch own regenerative farming? Given the history of farming and efficiency in both of these countries, it will be technology that will be available to all of humanity.

Read up on the history of Dutch irrigation farming

In Israel: Simcha Blass and the perfection of modern drip irrigation in Israel

::Circle Farming

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SOMBRA, a name fusing the Latin words for sun (sol) and shade (umbra), is more than a temporary pavilion—it’s a living laboratory. Shaped like a heliodon, the structure mimics how the sun moves through the sky, providing an intuitive experience of solar patterns.

It operates without motors, electronics, or external energy. Instead, it breathes, opens, and closes using only passive physical principles. A similar shade system was developed by Dutch engineers in the Gulf region — see the startup Airshade. And this group has partnered on the Venice exhibit.

Measuring just 30 square meters, SOMBRA is a compact marvel of climate-sensitive architecture. The pavilion’s six metal ribs, angled to correspond with the solar angles of the summer and winter solstices, support triangular shading panels made of perforated MD Formatura screens by Metadecor.

These panels respond autonomously to sunlight: opening when skies are overcast to maximize views, and closing during intense sunlight to offer shade.

The core innovation lies in the Airshade system. The pavilion hides small air canisters within its ribbed frame. When sunlight heats a canister, air pressure increases, inflating a miniature airbag. Inspired by soft robotics, the airbag acts like a muscle, countering the spring hinge to close the shading panel. As clouds pass and temperatures drop, the air deflates and the panel reopens.

This poetic movement mimics a living organism, giving the pavilion an animated presence as it reacts to its environment—without consuming any operational energy.

As MVRDV partner Bertrand Schippan explains: “With the climate crisis accelerating, it’s clear that we need new architecture that is more in tune with the environment. SOMBRA is a demonstration of one approach among many to this philosophy: an architecture that senses its environment and reacts to it in much the same way that plants do.”

SOMBRA’s narrative is layered in symbolism. Its circular floor plate is engraved with the polar sun path chart used to guide its geometry. Underneath the ribs, over 200 translations of the words “sun and shade” remind visitors that the sun connects all of humanity—a shared experience cutting across cultures, geographies, and languages.

::MVRDV

Credits and Collaborators
Architect: MVRDV

Founding Partner in Charge: Jacob van Rijs

Partner: Bertrand Schippan

Design Team: Yayun Liu, Alberto Carro Novo

Structural Engineering: Van Rossum Raadgevend Ingenieurs

Mechanical Engineering, Sunlight Studies: Arup

Bending: Kersten Europe

Ideation & Technology Partners:

Metadecor (engineering and fabrication)

Airshade Technologies (actuation, R&D)

AMOLF Institute (research)

Alumet (anodizing)

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Remember 15 years ago when cargotecture was the “thing” and our resident architect blew the lid off the premise of upcycled ship containers being safe and eco friendly? There is such a lag on the concepts of design and the time it takes to make a dream reality –- meaning we are still seeing new cargotecture concepts brought to life, even though, maybe, it wasn’t such a great idea in hot countries. And some of the containers contained hazardous materials that should not be in contact with people. But what about decommissioned wind turbines?

Time for a new eco obsession? How about living in a wind turbine blade that has fulfilled its purpose of collecting energy? A new report from the US Department of Energy, the DOE, outlines recommendations that could increase the recycling and reuse of decommissioned wind energy equipment and materials to create a more circular economy and sustainable supply chain.

The research reveals that existing US infrastructure could process 90% of the mass of decommissioned wind turbines. However, the remaining 10% will need new strategies and innovative recycling methods to achieve a more sustainable wind energy industry. This research will help guide over $20 million in investments previously announced from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to advance technologies that address this gap.

Looking for recycling innovators and funding them too

“The US already has the ability to recycle most wind turbine materials, so achieving a fully sustainable domestic wind energy industry is well within reach,” said Jeff Marootian, principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “Innovation is key to closing the loop, and this research will help guide national investments and strategies aimed at advancing technologies that can solve the remaining challenges and provide more affordable, equitable, and accessible clean energy options to the American people.”

The new Recycling Wind Energy Systems in the United States report provides an assessment of research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) needs and gaps in existing wind energy-related supply chains to support the transition to a more sustainable and circular US wind energy industry. This is research that could easily be applied to other wind energy markets.

A team of researchers, led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with support from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories, developed the report. The effective reuse and recycling of wind system components, parts, and materials will rely on a combination of measures, including:

• Improved end-of-life decommissioning collection and scrap sorting practices.
• Strategic siting of recycling facilities.
• Expanded and improved recovery and recycling infrastructure.
• Substitution of hard-to-recycle and critical materials with more easily separable and affordable materials, improved component designs and manufacturing techniques, or the development of modular system components.
• Optimized properties of recovered materials for second-life applications.
• Greater access to wind energy waste streams and the equipment required to disassemble wind energy components.

Towers, foundations, and steel-based subcomponents in drivetrains offer the greatest potential currently to be successfully recycled, whereas blades, generators, and nacelle covers are likely to prove more difficult. Unless you want to live inside a wind turbine nacelle?

A nacelle is a streamlined container for aircraft parts such as engines, fuel or equipment. You can see one above.

Recovering critical materials and alloying elements from generators and power electronics, such as nickel, cobalt, and zinc, will be crucial in establishing a circular economy for wind systems.

Short-term strategies for decommissioning include promoting blade production using more easily recyclable thermoplastic resins and reusing these resins in cement production, they write.

Thermoplastic-based blade recycling technologies, such as pyrolysis and chemical dissolution, could be viable medium- and long-term options. Other medium- and long-term solutions include high-yield techniques for separating compounds found in power electronics and hybrid methods for recycling permanent magnets.

Regional factors—such as material demand, disposal fees, transportation distances, and an available skilled workforce—will play vital roles in ensuring the success and cost-competitiveness of recycling wind energy components.

Funding for Wind Turbine Recycling

Research used to compile this report will be used to guide the development of the Wind Energy Recycling Research, Development, and Demonstration program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

DOE recently announced an investment of $20 million to improve the recycling of wind energy technologies. This effort, which focuses on enabling sustainable wind turbine components, enabling wind turbine material recycling and reuse processes, and qualifying recycled and recyclable material, will help increase the sustainability of wind energy materials and bolster the domestic supply chain. If you have a recycling solution, apply!

Applications are due on Feb. 11, 2025. You could make a new company out of a bold idea.

But let’s look at a consumer product for inspiration. Living in a wind turbine? As of today that’s possible.

The energy company Vattenfall and design studio Superuse converted a nacelle, the top part of a wind turbine, into a tiny house. This nacelle is 4 yards wide, ten yards long and three yards high and comes from a turbine that stood in Austria for 20 years.

With the tiny house, Vattenfall demonstrates how materials can be reused in innovative ways. The tiny house was on display during Dutch Design Week from 19 to 27 October.

Jos de Krieger, partner Superuse and Blade-Made: “At least ten thousand of this generation of nacelles are available, spread around the world. Most of them have yet to be decommissioned. This offers perspective and a challenge for owners and decommissioners. If such a complex structure as a house is possible, then numerous simpler solutions are also feasible and scalable.”

In collaboration with Reliving, the tiny house was furnished with sustainably produced and second-hand furniture, including a table made of circuform that incorporates material from a recycled wind turbine blade. The electrical installation was installed by Vattenfall subsidiary Feenstra.

The nacelle used for construction was taken from a V80 2MW turbine built at the Austrian Gols wind farm in 2005. During 20 years of faithful service, the turbine produced 73GWh of electricity, enough to power more than 29-thousand households for a year. The nacelle once stood at a height of 100 metres.

Dutch company Business in Wind decommissioned the wind farm and made the nacelle available for this project.

::Vattenfall

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The Dutch know greenhouses and the Israelis know tech. Future Crops, a Dutch-Israeli venture to grow crops in greenhouses on a soil-like substrate and not just water in classic hydroponics, announces a new investment round led by Tencent to accelerate growth.

Hydroponics, or growing plants without soil, was investigated by NASA in the 30s but really took off in the 80s when Canadian pot growers were looking to grow cannabis under the radar, in the winter. 

Since then the technology has been developed into a science and the mood has shifted from high quality crops such as medical marijuana to low cost food like lettuce – as the claims go by container farms still very much yet not able to prove their business model works. 

Seedo in Israel, for instance, seemed to manipulate some pump and dump scheme to raise investment and a business that never really panned out. They had planned a grow-it-all fridge for the consumer and then later claimed they would pivot to container farms, amassing an impressive C-suite team. 

InFarm, a group of Israelis in Berlin, have taken another approach, growig fresh herbs and plants inside grocery stores. Their last investment was $170M. 

Future Crops, we hope, has learned from the failures with their soil-like substrate in vertical farms to better reproduce the natural environment. The high-tech farm grows fresh, clean, ultra-sustainable, high quality crops at competitive price points. Researchers from Israel’s Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) were an integral part of the team that developed Future Crops’ cutting-edge technology. 

Some hydroponics growers mainly in cannabis already have used substrate such as coco coir for a couple of decades. Israelis have been using substrates like this in hothouses as well, basically demineralising soil and then adding nutrients back in using drip feed. The system relies on the petroleum industry and mining for NPK, and does overuse plastics and energy. But it might be a productive middle way until the world turns itself over to more small holder farming and regenerative agriculture.

Future Crops had already raised over $30 million USD in seed funding from the Lerman Family, leaders in the American steel  to finance the construction of their state-of-the-art facility and to build their team of experts. 

“We are tremendously excited about this investment,” says Gary Grinspan, CEO and Co-Founder of Future Crops. “Tencent’s investment reflects the company’s focus on sustainable innovations and support for technologies, like vertical farming, which can create clean, locally grown sustainable food while helping to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. We believe our soil-substrate-based platform is closer to nature and produces fresh, longer-lasting, higher-quality produce at improved yields, as plants grow best in soil”.

While Gary says the word “soil” he does not mean healthy living soil that one finds in nature, but rather soil stripped of its nutrients and supporting actors like micro-fungi, and diverse ecosystem while minerals like NPK are added back in. 

“Tencent supports companies creating solutions to the world’s most critical challenges, including technologies that can feed more people using fewer resources” said Ling Ge, Chief European Representative, Tencent. “Investments in sustainable agriculture technologies, such as vertical farm systems, aligns with our mission to apply technology for good.

About Future Crops

Future Crops has established a fully automated indoor vertical farm in Westland, Netherlands, known as the “greenhouse hub” of Europe. The facility is equipped with high-precision agricultural technology and creates optimal climatic conditions to suit each crop.

It markets fresh herbs grown and processed in a multistory indoor vertical farming system. The crops are grown in a soil-based substrate developed by the company to be as close as possible to nature. The platform can grow a comprehensive range of herbs and leafy greens all year long, without pesticides or biological substances, and in climate-protected conditions. 

Future Crops maintains a strategic partnership with Israel’s Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) and closely collaborates with Wageningen University – both among the leading global research centres in agriculture. 

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After a turbulent 2021, with increasing public attention towards the fragility of the global supply chain and shipping industry as a whole, companies are looking for a truly sustainable option to ship their products. Similarly, individuals are seeking environmentally-friendly travel experiences.

Both of which the Dutch-based EcoClipper can provide with sailing ships.

EcoClipper plans to launch retrofitted and purpose-built sailing vessels capable of carrying cargo and passengers on a variety of international routes.

The company has developed a series of shipping lines: Trans-Atlantic, Eastern, Trans-Pacific and Global. Recently, it was announced that EcoClipper will start operating on the North Sea – an attractive option which opens up sustainable shipping and travel from the UK to mainland Europe.

It takes substantial investments to build a global sustainable sailing ship fleet. However the strategy of EcoClipper is based on investing in one ship at a time.

As such, a series of investment tranches are offered through certificates in the EcoClipper Coöperatie U.A. The first tranche is aiming for €140,000, to purchase the first retrofit vessel. The second and third tranche will bring the financing to almost one million Euros.

Follow up rounds will become larger as the community of the company grows. Investments for the first tranche start at 50 certificates for a total price of €350. Investors in the early rounds purchase certificates for a discount, while also investing in the future growth of the company.

CEO and founder, Captain Jorne Langelaan says, “At the end of last year, during the climate talks in Glasgow, it became obvious again that if we want a livable future all our industries need an immediate and absolute transition to sustainability. With EcoClipper, words are put into practice and everyone is invited to join and invest in shipping propelled by the power of the wind.”

Another Dutch guy is aiming to clean up the plastics in the sea. He started when he was a teen. See our story on Boylan Slat’s Ocean Cleanup. 

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The path is less than a mile long, and was created using both glow-in-the-dark tools and solar-powered LEDs. Find it in Brabant, the Dutch county where Van Gogh was born and raised.

The Dutch, blessed with flat ground and a love for the simpler things in life, love cycling and sports like skating. Activities that get us to places in a very sustainable way. After Israel’s solar powered tree which lights up at night, we want to see more artists like this developing ways to make our travels more extraordinary!

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Crazy as it sounds, a Dutch man is building an ark, cubit by cubit, exactly as it’s written in the Bible and to scale – like the one Noah built, described in Genesis. He had the idea for some years now, and has financed the major undertaking through revenues earned by a smaller ark he charged admission to as it sailed through Dutch canals.

While only some animals like chickens are living in it for now, the ark is something that the builder Johan Huibers hopes will inspire people to “see God” as he put it, when they enter the ark. However, “unlike Noah, Mr. Huibers had to conform to Dutch fire safety standards,” reports the NY Times.

He also has to deal with neighbors complaining that the new ark in the ‘hood is obstructing the view to the river.

I see this ark more than a sign of faith, the same kind that Noah had thousands of years ago: as a Dutch girl, I was raised with the story of the Little Dutch Boy who averted disaster (and who was late for school!) by putting his finger in the leaking dyke to save his village.

Now with climate change, canal waters are rising, and the new ark could very well save this man Huibers, and his family, from great floods – possibly even of biblical proportion.

::NY Times

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When Dutch designer Naomi Maaravi moved to Tel Aviv a few years ago, she brought her “clothes with a story” and affinity for recycled fashion with her.  She began creating her upcycled, re-designed fashion pieces ten years ago, when she made her first piece for her daughter out of her husband’s worn out jeans. She’s since turned into a collaborator with Comme Il Faut, and has the skills to coach others on sustainable brand building and marketing.

Her line has since evolved into a recycled – albeit high fashion – line worn by Israeli celebrities such as Keren Mor (pictured above). Of her inspiration for turning the used into the new, Maaravi says that reusing was her father’s way.  “He never threw anything away, never ever,” she says.

“He created a new world out of items that had no value for anyone anymore.

“Milk-bottles became lamps, strings and ropes were made into carpets or seats.  Combinations of old bikes, appliances, garments became interesting new useful or lovable objects.”

Maaravi took these lessons learned from her father and brought them into her design work.

She says that “as a result of my father’s teaching, for me, every garment has a personality, something that makes it individual and precious.  I like to continue these stories.”

Her garments are fashioned from either her own collection of high end materials, or out of materials supplied by her clients.  “Memories, events, joy, happiness, sadness are all parts of the materials I use, blended to create a unique garment with a story on his own,” Maaravi says.

As a result, all of her garments are unique, one-of-a-kind, and infused with a lot of special attention.

:: Naomi Maaravi

Read more about sustainable, upcycling fashion designers:
Lebanese Designer Ziad Ghanem Creates Recycled Couture
“New Dress A Day” Blog Takes Consumerism Out of the Fresh Fashion Equation
EcoGir Flaunts Its Recycled Polyester Suits During New York Fashion Week

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