Shark skin, butterflies, and biomimetic genius

"Quieting our human cleverness...respecting nature's guidance"

Janine Benyus is a brilliant scientist and evangelist of biomimetic and beautiful design ...and she just walked on stage with an iPhone. :)

Ok, back to the substance of things.

She notes that as the market falls, the old paradigm is falling. She was flying over Iceland (literally, in a plane) as it was going bankrupt. But she looked down from the window of the plane and saw an abundant land. Nature is abundant. Nature is abundance.

Western industrial culture is catching on and using the designs offered by nature. And the Biomimicry Guild is writing a new book listing 2100 great ways to mimic nature to solve some of the world's most pressing problems. Thank goodness! Here are just a few:

• Dyesol: Leaf inspired thin-film solar
• Whalepower: Wind turbines with better turbulence management
• BioPower: Learning how to harness wave energy the way kelp does
• Scientists at Yale are working on eel-inspired electricity
• Shark inspired thermoelectric effects
• Bioluminescence inspired by jellyfish
• ARUP: Termite inspired cooling for buildings
• Regen Energy: Bee inspired energy management
• Cornell: Root inspired water distribution for buildings
• The Land Institute: Ecosystem inspired agriculture
• Ecosystem inspired economy: Learn from the food webs of a mature forest--who eats who? Nothing is lost.

And so many more examples! Life is hugely abundant! We are not bankrupt yet!

How to be a biomimic:

1. Quiet human cleverness.
   
2. Listen to nature.
   
3. Emulate nature.
   
4. Say thank you. Save the habitats that inspire.
   

"Life's most innovative design is that it creates conditions conducive to life."

And there's a really awesome web site forthcoming from Benyus and E.O. Wilson: www.asknature.com. Check it out in November.

And tuck in your kiwi.