The Biomimic's Worldview

Described as both a science and an art, the field of Biomimicry offers much more than practices and processes for the innovation of a sustainable global human community. The shift to relating to Nature as our Model, Mentor and Measure offers us something we really need right now - the choice of a new, sane and hopeful worldview.

Biomimics are changing the way we do things by asking questions about how Nature does things, and then emulating the genius of Life's designs. It's hard to argue with the rationale - Life has 3.8 billion years of experience of sorting out what works and what doesn't, what lasts and what doesn't.

In contrast, the human species has had much less than even one blip's worth of experience in finding sustainable solutions to Life's challenges on Earth. The human 'genius' that we've become so enamoured with is ridiculous in comparison. In the face of a teeming mass of sustainability problems, we might well find that investing our energies in the myriad of well-proven, long-term solutions offered by Nature is a chance to make the first monumental display of our actual intelligence.


As we learn of more and more ways that Biomimicry is being used to develop new, sustainable human products, processes and systems, we are also gaining insight into the Biomimic's worldview. It is a substantial shift from the stress and pessimism of delusion into the calm, optimism of reality. It provides us with a new story of ourselves and our place in the Community of Life on Earth.

With Nature in the respected role of Model, Mentor and Measure we align ourselves with the truth that we are but one, short-lived species amongst multi-millions, over billions of years. It calls on us to reassess our fond perceptions of our "success" as a species. It gives us another perspective on the attitude that just because, for a nanosecond in the history of Life on Earth, we colonized just about everywhere and held the fate of so many other species in our hands, that we are extraordinarily powerful. Extraordinarily stupid might be closer to the mark!

At this point, all our technological genius has failed to make us independent of arable soil, fresh water and clean air. In fact, our technologies have increased our dependence on Earth by fostering addictions to other non-renewable, finite resources such as oil; all the while severely depleting and degrading the stocks of land, water and air. We are as deeply embedded in the biosphere as we have ever been. Like any other species, if we push past Nature's limits we will fail.

In an illuminating conversation with founder of the Biomimicry Institute, Janine Benyus, which can be found here http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/about-us/what-do-you-mean-by-the-term-biomimicry.html - she talks about the need for our species to evolve from a pioneering, weed-like niche to filling the ecological role of a mature, hardwood forest. Key to this will be our capacity to respectfully adhere to Life's Principles in everything that we do from now on.

Eco-literacy underpins our success in creating a sustainable world. We have to understand how Life works before we can know our limits. When we live within Nature's limits we will shift harmoniously into optimising our eco-system by being a participant in creating conditions conducive to more Life. Biomimicry invites us as individuals to get out into Nature, to start learning, and be inspired...

Find out more about Biomimicry at:
http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/
http://www.asknature.org/

Read: Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine Benyus

Sweetening The Place Where You Live

Many of us feel a huge and hopeless heart wrench at the prospect of wild tigers, polar bears and orang-u-tans disappearing forever - and these are just the "poster-species" for the massive amount of biodiversity we stand to lose in the next 30 to 50 years. It may seem like there is nothing we can do to stop the downward slide to mass extinction - but there is something that every one of us can do.

Nature writer and Biomimicry expert, Janine Benyus calls it "sweetening the place where we live"- what a great line. It reminds us that Nature relentlessly keeps on creating more and more conditions conducive for more and more Life. It's not simply great numbers that sustain Life, but also a wealth of diversity - multitudes of different forms of Life.



Disconnection from the Natural world fosters behaviours such as eradicating the creatures that live around us instead of celebrating them. We grow alien plants instead of indigenous ones. We poison the places where we live instead of sweetening them. We can change this, and when we do, we abandon an artificially imposed sterility and embrace the abundance that is utterly natural.

Love the Life around you. Know it's name. Be proud to foster as much biodversity as you can. It does make a difference. If you live in a city, even in a high-rise apartment, you can still do something to sweeten the place where you live. I recently read about a project encouraging urban-dwellers on the North American butterfly migration route to grow indigenous butterfly food plants not just in their suburban gardens, but on city rooftops, window-sills and balconies with the aim of providing a continuous source of food for the travellers. If you know your place, you can sweeten it so well. It's the kind of small action in the big picture that feels really good.

Anyone can be a champion of biodiversity:

• Regard the place where you live as an ecosystem and foster its health and robustness
• Grow native plants and trees that can support other native Life
• Avoid poisons - if necessary, use only natural pest control strategies until you achieve a self-regulating ecological balance
• Strive for your environment to provide as much opportunity as possible for as many different living organisms
• Enjoy your abundance

Looking Deep into Nature

Look deep into nature,

and then you will understand everything better.

Albert Einstein

The exciting field of Biomimicry gives me hope for the future.

Imagine a world where everything that humans design - everything, from water waste systems to sunglasses - is based on the principle of creating conditions conducive to Life.

Nature already has solutions to all our design problems. Life is billions of years old, and the millions of organisms on Earth right now embody perfect designs for enduring Life. As leading Biomimcry advocate, Dr Janine Benyus points out, the essential mind shift that needs to happen is for humans to change from learning about Nature to learning from Nature.

Biomimicry upholds Nature as Model, as Mentor, as Measure...

When we learn from Nature, we can create colour from structure instead of using toxic chemicals and dyes...
We can build homes that maintain a near-constant internal temperature using vents and tunnels, as termites do...
Like a lotus leaf, we can make self-cleaning surfaces that require no harmful chemical maintenance whatsoever...

Biomimicry offers us a myriad of inspiring opportunities to redesign, recreate and remake our human environments so that we can live well, wisely and respectfully within the bounds of Nature.

It's irresistible...

Read: Biomimicry Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine Benyus
Watch: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/janine_benyus_shares_nature_s_designs.html
Visit: http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/