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Mother Knows BestBy Lois B. Robbins April 26, 2007 Oxford Eccentric Ceramics that mimic abalone shells; walking canes inspired by bats wings, glue made by copying blue mussel slime – these new products are part of an emerging movement called Biomimicry, - scientists and engineers developing sustainable technologies by studying how Mother Nature does things, and then reverse engineering or copying it. She’s a good teacher. She’s been at it for a long time. For 3.8 billion years, through complex interactive natural relationships, Mother Nature has evolved exquisite designs and processes that make our “modern” ones look clunky and inefficient. Often these “miracles” are right in front of us. Take photosynthesis, for example, - green plants converting sunlight into energy. Now solar cells are being produced that mimic that process. Parking lots are being designed with rain gardens and bioswales to mimic natural hydrologic processes. Agricultural innovators are copying prairie ecosystems. Daimler Benz is developing products that offer safety, comfort and aerodynamic efficiency – all based on the boxfish. Result: A diesel car averaging 70 miles to the gallon (from Triple Pundit.com). In her book, Biomimicry, science writer Janine Benyus outlines Biomimicry’s principles - Nature: runs on sunlight; uses only the energy it needs; fits form to function; recycles everything; rewards cooperation; banks on diversity; demands local expertise; curbs excesses from within; and taps the power of limits. Many technologies are now following those principles. The social sciences are benefiting as well, with communities designed after the symbiotic interplay of plants, animals, insects, hydrology, and soils, found in natural communities. Corporations are learning to function the way redwood forest does. Now, educators are developing biomimicry curricula. The Biomimicry Institute*, “a digital zoo of design inspiration,” sponsors Biologist at the Design Table Trainings, K-12, and University Education. Instead of focusing on materials we can extract from nature, biomimicry focuses on what we can learn from nature, and, as Benyus suggests, can "change the way we grow food, make materials, harness energy, heal ourselves, store information and conduct business.” But Biomimicry can only go so far. When it comes to land-use, Mother Nature still knows best. Why destroy a mature forest to build a parking lot? Why pay designers and engineers hundreds of thousands of dollars to mimic nature with bioretention, pervious pavement, and green roofs? Why not protect the forest instead, and allow it to continue to cleanse, cool, and recharge the water, hold the soil, cool the air, and sequester carbon, - all for free? Why not set the forest aside with a land donation or a conservation easement to your local conservancy? For over 35 years the North Oakland Headwaters Land Conservancy has been stewarding forests, fields, wetlands and river systems. These will still be here generations from now. Biomimicry may be fine for industrial processes, but nothing can beat conservation for preserving what Mother Nature has already given us. Resources: Janine Benyus, Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, 1997,William Morrow bioinspired! Biomimicry newsletter
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