ASKNATURE
N. 20
The Biomimicry Institute has created a database where one can enter a search word on practically any theme and access thousands of ways that nature has created elegant solutions to various challenges.
People of different ages, interests, professions and skills are using this resource for inspiration and also forming communities (hosted on the website) to exchange ideas, collaborate and invent employing these lessons from nature to create a healthier more sustainable world.
Apart from doing a general search, one can use the website in a number of specific ways. Looking at the various options at the top of the page you can search by: ‘biological strategy’ (for eg. ‘get, store or distribute resources’; ‘protect from harm’; ‘maintain community’; ‘process information’); ‘living system’ (for eg. ‘plant’, ‘mammal', ‘bacteria’, ‘insect’ etc); ‘collection’ or general theme (for eg. ‘how does nature protect from pathogens’, ‘how does nature encourage resilience’; ‘how does nature sustain community’ etc.); and ‘inspired ideas’, ideas of biomimicry that are already operational or under development (for eg. floating ‘coconets’ that capture plastic pollution in rivers, ‘vibrowind’ wind harvesting without the turbines)
Janine Benyus, co-founder of the Biomimicry Institute, biologist, and author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature has defined biomimicry as the “conscious emulation of life’s genius.” That is:
“Conscious”: being intentional
“Emulation”: learning from living things, then applying those insights to the challenges humans want to solve.
“Life’s genius”: recognizing that life has arrived at well-adapted solutions that have stood the test of time, within the constraints of a planet with finite resources.
Janine writes: “Biomimicry offers a chance to make things right — to embrace a systems view of our world and begin living within planetary limits. Biomimicry recognizes that we are surrounded by millions of organisms and ecosystems that have something to teach us about surviving and thriving on Earth. They face many of the same challenges that we do—they need to stay warm, filter water, obtain energy, and so on—all while conserving precious resources and without harming their own environments.
With care and focus, we can learn to emulate nature’s successful strategies. Now is the time to begin creating designs, materials, and technologies of our own that are not only sustainable, but also regenerative and restorative—supporting the fabric of life on Earth.
In the practice of biomimicry, we set our sights on an audacious goal: to build a more life-friendly world–one in which human technologies meet the same ‘design constraints’ that the rest of life on Earth works within. Of course, we can’t create that perfect world overnight. But when we pay close attention to how nature works, and learn how we can emulate its genius in ways that enhance, rather than detract from, our planet, we can take steps toward significant change. Over time, all of those steps can add up to a system shift, a better way to fit into our world.”