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Introduction to Biomimicry, Select Notebook Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

EXCERPTS FROM:

Biomimicry Resource Handbook: A seed bank of knowledge and best practices

Recommended Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A Biomimicry Primer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tips and Ideas for Reconnecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Life’s Principles Diagram and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Biomimicry.net | AskNature.orgRESOURCE HANDBOOK

• The Way Nature Works. Ed. Jill Bailey. 1992. Drawing on a series of questions that children might ask, a team of scientists proposes answers in this manual for adult readers. They address large issues such as atmospheric phenomena, ecosystemic relationships, and animal communication with brief essays, each well illustrated with charts, diagrams, and photographs.

• Weird Nature. John Downer. Firefl y Books. 2002. Some of the most fantastic behaviors of real animals are explored in this beautifully illustrated companion volume to a BBC/Discovery Channel series.

How humans are integrating biology into design?

• Biomimetics: Biologically Inspired Technologies. Ed. Yoseph Bar-Cohen. 2005. Explores biological models useful to engineering and the challenges awaiting future research

• Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. Janine Benyus. 1997. Demonstrates how nature’s solutions to survival needs have been the creative jumping-off points for individuals seeking solutions to human challenges, developing, or simply revitalizing processes or products.

• Biomimicry and Architecture. Michael Pawlyn. 2011. Explores the application of biomimicry to architecture; rich with examples and possibilities for a bio-inspired future of architecture.

• Bionics in Action: The Design Work of Franco Lodato, Motorola. Jens Bernsen. 2004. Franco Ladato, a designer whose career includes work for DuPont, Gillette, and now Motorola, has studied bionics and natural design and it has infl uenced his designs. This book is fi lled not just with produce images, but also photos and sketches of nature.

RECOMMENDED READING STARTER LISTAre you interested in...

Great sources for natural inspiration?

• Animal Architects: Building and the Evolution of Intelligence. James R. Gould & Carol Grant Gould. 2007. Not only delving into how animals such as birds and beavers build, this book also explores links animal architecture with associated behavioral data.

• Exploring the Way Life Works: The Science of Biology. Mahlon B. Hoagland., et. Al. 2001. Comprehensive overview of the natural world from patterns in life to energy and evolution.

Life’s Devices: The Physical World of Animals and Plants. Steven Vogel, Rosemary Calvert. 1988. This is an entertaining and informative book that describes how living things bump up against non-biological reality.

• The Extended Organism: The Physiology of Animal-Built Structures. J. Scott Turner. 2000. Can structures be called “living”? These structures, after all, do many of the same functions such as capture and channel energy for the creatures. In this book, Turner explores how animal architecture functions as external organs for the inhabitants.

• Extreme Nature (Smithsonian Institution). Mark Carwardine. 2005. Interesting facts and fi gures about some of the most interesting natural phenomenons on earth. From the “most devious plant” to the “strangest nesting material” this book is packed full of interesting information about both common and uncommon organisms.

• The Hidden Powers of Animals. Carl P.N. Shuker. 2001. A fascinating look at the astonishing behavior and super-human abilities of animals, from kings of the jungle to household pets. This book reveals incredible truths about animals and their remarkable sensitivities, skills and strengths.

Recommended Resources: Highlights

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

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• The Sand Dollar and the Slide Rule: Drawing Blueprints from Nature. Delta Willis. 1995. Exploring the relationship between natural forms and human design, Delta Willis’ book examines topics such as wings and fl ight, economy of motion and divine math.

• Secret Design Rules of Nature (Optimum Shapes without computers). Claus Mattheck. 2007. This gem looks at the rules implicit in nature’s solutions to design problems. Aimed at the craftsman as much as the builder or engineer, he demonstrates using simple graphical methods how the rules underlying appropriate shape and form in the natural world can be applied to man-made designs.

(Re)Connecting with Nature

• Listening to Nature: How to Deepen Your Awareness of Nature. Joseph Cornell. 1987. This gem contains photos of nature, inspirational poetry and exercises for reconnecting with nature.

• The Practical Naturalist: Explore the Wonders of the Natural World. Chris Packham. 2010. This beautifully illustrated book gets you outside and gives tips for experiencing the wonders of the natural world. “Inspirational, informative, and educational.”

• Reconnecting with Nature: Finding Wellness Through Restoring Your Bond with the Earth. Michael J. Cohen. 2001. Comprehensive overview of the natural world from patterns in life to energy and evolution. Devoted to the wonder and unity of the natural world.

• Bulletproof Feathers: How Science Uses Nature’s Secrets to Design Cutting-Edge Technology. Robert Allen. 2010. Overview of research in biomimetics; includes materials, robotics, and architecture.

• Cat’s Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People. Steven Vogel. 1998. Investigates whether nature or human design is superior and why the two technologies have diverged so much.

• Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice. Paul T. Anastas, John Charles Warner. 2000. Overview of the design, development, and evaluation process central to green chemistry. Explores alternative solvents and catalysts, benign syntheses and biomimetic principles, among many other topics.

• Inspired by Nature: Animals: The Building/Biology Connection. Alejandro Bahamon. 2009. focuses on specifi c analogies, comparing and contrasting techniques and materials used in animal constructions with examples of human architecture.

• The Gecko’s Foot: Bio-inspiration, Engineering New Materials and Devices from Nature. Peter Forbes. 2005. Presents technologists’ pure research into nano-anatomy, followed by their applied and, as many entrepreneurs hope, commercial mimicry of nature’s ingenuity.

• Nature Design: From Inspiration to Innovation. Angeli Sachs. 2007. Almost completely fi lled with photographs, this book explores the discovery of nature in the Art Nouveau period from the 1930’s to the 1970’s.

• Nature Got There First: Inventions Inspired By Nature. Phil Gates. 2010. Nature is full of amazing designs and ‘mechanisms’ that appear to have inspired the engineering and technology we use today.


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• Ask a Biologist Q&Aaskabiologist.org.ukVisitors can pose a question to a biologist and get a well-written response, or can peruse previous questions.

• EOL: Encylopedia of Life eol.orgThis is Edward O. Wilson’s dream of providing information on every organism on earth, and includes descriptions, photos, natural history, and more.

• Critter Chemistrypubs.acs.org/cen/critter/critterchemistry.htmlThis is about nature’s chemistry, and provides summaries of research, some of which has been

reported on Chemical & Engineering News.

COMMON SEARCH TERMS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

biomimicry | biomimetic | bio-inspired | bionik biosphere | ecodesign | emulating naturemechanism | green technology | industrial ecology nature inspired | innovation | natural strategynatural capitalism | sustainability | holisticsustainable development | systems thinking

JOURNALS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

• Biomimetics & Bioinspiration • New Scientist• Natural History• Zygote Quarterly• Design and Nature Conference Proceedings

TOP TEN FABULOUS WEBSITES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

• Biomimicry 3.8Biomimicry.netInformation about K-12 education, University education, biomimetic product case studies, resources, AskNatureTweets twitter feeds, upcoming collaboratories, certifi cation programs, events, and more.

• AskNatureAskNature.orgA database of 1500 nature’s strategies, organized by functions of interest to designers, and provides photos, the biological principle, and links to experts and references.

• BioInspiredBioInspired.sinet.ca An archive of quarterly newsletters over the last decade on bio-inspired related topics, case studies, and interviews.

• Biomimetics3000swedishbiomimetic.comA consortia interested in promoting research and development of bio-inspired technologies.

• Biomimicry Newsbiomimicrynews.com Current news on recent case studies as well as biological discoveries with potential for inspiration. Register to receive email updates.

• Center for Biologically Inspired Designcbid.gatech.edu Georgia Tech’s collaboration of labs devoted to research and teaching in bio-inspired design.

• Centre for Biomimeticsrdg.ac.uk/Biomim/UK-based consortia of universities with research departments focused on biomimetics.


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A Biomimicry Primer

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?The fi rst time I explained biomimicry to a stranger was not in a talk or a workshop but in a big-box bookstore just after Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature had come out. I was searching the shelves for the spine, always a breath-held-in moment for a writer. I checked the nature section, environment, design, and engineering, but it just wasn’t there. Before I could slink away, the bookseller appeared, and I asked him where it might be shelved.

He came back with a perfectly normal but impossible question: “What’s it about?”

After you fi nish a book, a pack of ideas race to your lips, nipping and barking to be the fi rst one out. It’s hard to choose. “OK. It’s about looking to nature for inspiration for new inventions,” I blurted. “It’s learning to live gracefully on this planet by consciously emulating life’s genius. It’s not really technology or biology; it’s the technology of biology. It’s making a fi ber like a spider, or lassoing the sun’s energy like a leaf.” The growing alarm on his face confi rmed it; I was postpartum and probably shouldn’t be out.

Then he lifted his palms as if weighing two packages and said something I will never forget. “Look lady, you’ve got Nature and you’ve got Technology; you’ve got to choose one.” He was referring to the category scheme in the store, but I realized that the deep, deep separation between those two ideas in our culture was why biomimicry was squirming to be born.

The fact that you are reading this means you already suspect that organisms are the con-summate physicists, chemists, and engineers, and that ecosystems are economies beyond compare. You’re on your way to becoming nature’s apprentice, learning from and emulat-ing life’s designs to solve worthy challenges. Around the world, biomimics like you are consulting life’s genius to create new products, processes, and policies—new ways of living—that are well adapted to life on earth over the long haul. They’re learning to grow food like a prairie, adhere like a gecko, sequester carbon like a mollusk, create color like a peacock, and run a business like a redwood forest. As appren-tices, they, you, all of us are birthing what will

By Janine M. BenyusBiomimicry 3.8

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be biomimicry’s greatest legacy—a profound and deepening respect for the natural world.

The respect at the heart of this fi eld is what differentiates biomimicry from past efforts to dominate, domesticate, or steal nature’s secrets. Biomimicry ushers in an era based not on what we can extract from nature, but on what we can learn from her. This shift from learning about nature to learning from nature requires a new method of inquiry, a new set of lenses, and above all, a new humility.

Biomimicry ushers in an era based not on what we can extract from nature, but on what we can learn from her. � is shift from learning about nature to learning from nature requires a new method of inquiry, a new set of lenses, and above all, a new humility.

So, given its depth and breadth, how does one categorize biomimicry? Is it a design discipline, a branch of science, a problem-solving method, a sustainability ethos, a movement, a stance toward nature, a new way of viewing and valuing biodiversity? Yes, yes, and yes, which is why biomimicry is an idea that acquires people, a meme that propagates in our culture like an adaptive gene. Biomimicry captures our imagi-nation because of its promise, because it is at once pragmatic and culturally transformative. At its most practical, biomimicry is a way of seeking sustainable solutions by borrowing life’s blueprints, chemical recipes, and ecosystem strategies. At its most transformative, it brings

us into right relation with the rest of the natural world, as students learning to be a welcome species on this planet.

Your own understanding of biomimicry is bound to expand as you practice, but as a starting point, here’s something of a more formal defi nition:

bi•o•mim•ic•ry Biomimicry is learning from and then emulating natural forms, processes, and ecosystems to create more sustainable designs.

[ ]

Biomimicry is studying a leaf to invent a better solar cell or a coral reef to make a resilient company. The core idea is that nature has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with: energy, food production, climate control, benign chemistry, transportation, collaboration, and more. Mimicking these earth-savvy designs can help humans leapfrog to technologies that sip energy, shave material use, reject toxins, and work as a system to create conditions conducive to life.

WHAT BETTER MODELS COULD THERE BE?For designers, architects, engineers, and inno-vators of all stripes, the answer to the question “What would nature do here?” is a revelation. There’s not one new idea, but millions of ideas evolved in context, tested over eons, and proven to be safe for this generation and the next. This trusted source of inspiration arrives just as our species is counting the casualties of our industrial crash.

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Yearning for something that works for instead of against life, professional innovators are heading outside to see how other species have managed to survive for 3.85 billion years. Their models are organisms that manufacture without “heat, beat, and treat,” and ecosystems that run on sunlight and feedback, creating opportunities rather than waste. The resulting designs are functional, sustainable, and not surprisingly, beautiful as well. Beauty is a large part of why biomimicry resonates. Our search for mentors brings us back into contact with the living world, a place we were tuned to appreci-ate. Having spent 99.9% of our planetary tenure woven deep into the wild, we humans naturally admire the weaverbird’s nest, the conch’s shell, the scales of a shimmering trout. In fact, there are few things more beautiful to the human soul than good design.

Beauty is a large part of why biomimicry resonates. Our search for mentors brings us back into contact with the living world, a place we were tuned to appreciate. Having spent 99.9% of our planetary tenure woven deep into the wild, we humans naturally admire the weaverbird’s nest, the conch’s shell, the scales of a shimmering trout. In fact, there are few things more beautiful to the human soul than good design.

When it is good in all aspects—stirring to the senses, fi t for its function, elegant in its material choice, and gentle in its manufacture—we can’t help but feel delight and the desire to do at

least as well in our next design. That’s what biomimics feel each time they see a swift slice blue sky, or a butterfl y fl oat to a fl ower in full bloom—a desire to be more like the organisms we admire.

The twin emotions of admiration and awe are as useful as they are powerful. Social reference theory predicts that the fastest way for us to change is to pick a new mentor—to change whom it is we admire and want to emulate. When the young entrepreneur who has always modeled himself after Donald Trump suddenly compares himself to the founder of the city food bank, it’s a potent life-shift. It’s the same with biomimics. When we compare our human-made technologies not with those of other humans but with those of other species, we are humbled and inspired to move to a new design ethic. The Gandhian act of being the change we want to see in the world begins with fi nding a mentor who represents that change. For us, that mentor is nature.

At the cusp of every design decision, biomim-ics have 30 million elder strategists to advise them. Rather than fl ipping through a catalogue of human inventions, or going on a retail safari, biomimics turn to nature for inspiration. Their mentors are the bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals of this planet, the organisms that clothe the landscape, cycle the nutrients, cleanse the air, sweeten the water, and create soil from rock. They are beings that can fl y around the world without an engine, dive down ocean Everests without a tank, drink luxuriously from a wisp of fog, or shelter a beach dune from a hurricane gale. They surf the opportunities in their habitat while respecting the limits, and in that frame, they perform what seem to us to be technological miracles.

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Upon closer inspection, organisms manage these feats with a beguilingly simple set of common raw materials, procured locally, manufactured at body temperature and pressure, and processed silently in water. At the end of their useful life, these materials are regathered and reconfi gured by other organisms, upcycled again and again with the energy of the sun. These tightly knit forests, prairies, coral reefs, tundras, and grasslands are the envy of all of us who thirst for a sustainable and equitable world. As a community, they not only create but continually heal and enhance their places. Our places, too. What better models could there be?

HOW BIOMIMICRY FITS INTO OTHER DESIGN PARADIGMSBecause of its broad range, biomimicry contributes, both practically and philosophically, to many of the eco-design paradigms devised in the last 30 years, including the Natural Step, Natural Capitalism, Cradle to Cradle, Ecological Design, and Living Building Challenge. Biomimicry is what you do on Monday morning when you’ve committed to a sus-tainability framework like LEED or carbon footprint reduction, and now it’s time to actually reinvent what you make and how you make it.

The biomimicry approach seeks nature’s advice at all stages of design, from scoping to creation to evaluation. Working with “biologists at the design table,” innovators explore the true functions they want their design to accomplish, and then ask: what organisms or ecosystems depend for their survival on performing those functions? An “Amoeba through Zebra” survey of the biological literature reveals dozens of inspiring models, complete with physical blueprints, chemical formulae, process descrip-tions, and community strategies. To infuse life’s systemic wisdom into the design of everything

from carpets to cities, a list of Life’s Principles serves as an overarching scoping and evaluation tool—nature’s own eco-design checklist.

But products and processes are not the only human designs infl uenced by biomimicry. As more people see nature as a teacher rather than a warehouse, biomimicry is prompting policies that restrain our powers and allow us to say “thank you” by stewarding wild habitats. In this way, bio-inspired design is a sister meme to policy-making efforts like Biodiversity Protocols and the Precautionary Principle.

Biomimicry was lucky enough to come on the scene after dozens of sustainability pioneers had framed the problem space and built conceptual pathways through this evolutionary knothole. Nature-inspired innovation is but one of the solution-seeking paradigms in a “human immune system” pulsing with good ideas. Our hope is that it serves and complements these kindred movements.

INSIDE THE PHRASE “THE CONSCIOUS EMULATION OF LIFE’S GENIUS”In 1990, when I had to name the very fi rst fi le folder to house a journal article on artifi cial photosynthesis, I was at a loss. What was the mega-category that would encompass all instances of nature-inspired innovation? I turned to Webster’s to fi nd bios, which is Greek for life, and mimesis, which means to imitate. Biomimicry seemed a more melodious term, so I scrawled it on the tab, and from that moment, you might say, the idea acquired me. When I began to write and speak about the subject, another phrase became very important to me, because it captures both the letter and the spirit of biomimicry practice.

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Biomimicry is the conscious emulation of life’s genius. The word “conscious” refers to intent—it is not enough to design something without nature’s help and then in retrospect say, “This reminds me of something in the natural world.” That’s called convergent evolution, but it’s not biomimicry. Biomimicry implies conscious fore-thought, an active seeking of nature’s advice before something is designed.

The nature of the consultation is also important. Seeking nature’s blueprints and recipes is only part of the process; the intent should be to create products, processes, and policies that fi t seamlessly within the larger natural system, that embody Life’s Principles. This ensures that our designs are not shallow in their mimicry but rather as fully life-inspired as they can be.

The word “emulation” is also carefully chosen, because it is more nuanced than mere copying or slavish imitation. Biomimics may study a spider to learn about sensing, fi ber manufac-ture, adhesion, or tensegrity, but we are not actually trying to recreate the spider. What we’re trying to emulate are the design prin-ciples and living lessons of the spider. How a spider meets its needs while helping to enhance its habitat is as important to a biomimic as how it spins its silk.

“Life’s genius,” a term rendered more contro-versial in the age of intelligent design, is also carefully chosen. It refers to the fact that these technologies are more than simply clever—they have the spark of true insight because they’ve evolved in response to Earth’s mandates. Life’s true genius is in how its technologies contrib-ute to the continuation of not just one life but all life on Earth. Gleaning that kind of wisdom takes more than just recording the size and

spacing of a whale’s tubercles. It means con-templating the daily life of the marine denizen in its habitat, including its physiological, behav-ioral, and community strategies, all of which make it a net contributor to its habitat. To move from shallow to deeper biomimicry requires us to engage in an ongoing conversation with the organism, and to mimic what we learn on at least three levels.

THREE LEVELS OF BIOMIMICRYThe fi rst level of biomimicry is the mimicking of natural form. For instance, you may mimic the hooks and barbules of an owl’s feather to create a fabric that opens anywhere along its surface. Or you can imitate the frayed edges that grant the owl its silent fl ight. Copying feather design is just the beginning, because it may or may not yield something sustainable. Deeper biomimicry adds a second level, which is the mimicking of natural process, or how a thing is made. The owl feather self-assembles at body temperature without toxins or high pressures, by way of nature’s chemistry. The unfurling fi eld of green chemistry attempts to mimic these benign recipes. At the third level is the mimicking of natural ecosystems. The owl feather is gracefully nested—it’s part of an owl that is part of a forest that is part of a biome that is part of a sustaining biosphere. In the same way, our owl-inspired fabric must be part of a larger economy that works to restore rather than deplete the earth and its people. If you make a bio-inspired fabric using green chemistry, but you have workers weaving it in a sweatshop, loading it onto pollution-spewing trucks, and shipping it long distances, you’ve missed the point.

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If you make a bio-inspired fabric using green chemistry, but you have workers weaving it in a sweatshop, loading it onto pollution-spewing trucks, and shipping it long distances, you’ve missed the point.

To mimic a natural system, you must ask how each product fi ts in—is it necessary, is it beautiful, is it part of a nourishing food web of industries, and can it be transported, sold, and reabsorbed in ways that foster a forest-like economy? If we can biomimic at all three levels—natural form, natural process, and natural system—we’ll begin to do what all well-adapted organisms have learned to do, which is to create condi-tions conducive to life. Creating conditions conducive to life is not optional; it’s a rite of passage for any organism that manages to fi t in here over the long haul. If we want to keep coming home to this place, we’ll need to learn from our predecessors how to fi lter air, clean water, build soil—how to keep the habitat lush and livable. It’s what good neighbors do.

Creating conditions conducive to life is not optional; it’s a rite of passage for any organism that manages to � t in here over the long haul.

HOW DOES BIOMIMICRY DIFFER FROM OTHER BIO-APPROACHES?One of the most important ways to understand this meme is to understand what it is not. Sometimes people say to me, “Oh, I’m doing biomimicry! I just put cork fl oors in my house.” Or, “I clean my wastewater with bacteria.” To clear up the confusion, we introduced the concepts of bio-utilized and bio-assisted, which are quite different from bio-mimicked.

Bio-utilization entails harvesting a product or producer, e.g., cutting wood for fl oors or wildcrafting medicinal plants. It is also distinctly different than bio-assisted technologies, which involve domesticating an organism to accom-plish a function, e.g., bacterial purifi cation of water or cows bred to produce milk. Instead of harvesting or domesticating, biomimics consult organisms; they are inspired by an idea, be it a physical blueprint, a process step in a chemical reaction, or an ecosystem principle such as nutrient cycling. Borrowing an idea is like copying a picture—the original image can remain to inspire others.

For those of us in western industrial culture, looking to nature for advice marks a new way of viewing and valuing other organisms. When we begin to see nature as a source of ideas instead of a source of goods, our respect for life and its adaptive ability grows. As more people practice biomimicry and realize what we might learn from living systems, the argument for conserv-ing biodiversity becomes self-evident.

Finally, learning from instead of just about nature calls for a fundamentally different scientifi c approach, involving the study of an organism, a subsequent attempt to emulate, and often a return to the organism with a

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new set of questions. This has been called “a deepening conversation with the organism” by plant geneticist Wes Jackson, who studies prairie patterns to come up with a more robust type of agriculture. This shift in stance, from conqueror to student, marks a new relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world.

There’s nothing like trying to emulate a leaf to make you tremble every time you walk through a forest. To learn the ropes of being an earthling requires that we choose nature not just as model, but also measure and mentor. Learning from life’s genius involves these ques-tions: What would nature do here (nature as model), what wouldn’t nature do here (nature as measure), and why or why not? (nature as mentor).

� ere’s nothing like trying to emulate a leaf to make you tremble every time you walk through a forest.

NATURALIZING BIOMIMICRY IN THE CULTUREWhen I fi rst met Paul Hawken, the author of classics like Ecology of Commerce and Natural Capitalism, he asked me a shocking question: “What do you think you’re doing?” and I answered just as surprisingly, “Waking Sleeping Beauty.” By that I meant that biomimicry was not new to the human species; in fact there was a time when our very survival depended on noticing and mimicking successful organisms. What I meant was that this latest appearance of biomimicry is not an invention, it’s a remembering.

We fell asleep, or as Thomas Berry says, became autistic to the living world, perhaps because we felt we could take it from here, that we no longer needed nature’s help. Well, we’re awake now, and the question is how do we stay awake to the living world? How do we make the act of asking nature for advice a normal part of everyday inventing?

... we’re awake now, and the question is how do we stay awake to the living world? How do we make the act of asking nature for advice a normal part of everyday inventing?

We can look at history to fi nd examples of times that biomimicry emerged in the culture, usually in the form of a single inventor, like Leonardo da Vinci, Frank Lloyd Wright, Frei Otto, or Buckminster Fuller. Unfortunately, these were isolated instances but not the start of a succession. There was no body of work, no scholarship, no cohorts of students trained to be nature’s protégés. And so biomimicry went dormant again.

I don’t think that is going to happen this time. When you Google biomimicry or its related terms, such as biomimetic(s), bionic(s), and bio-inspired, you get over 28 million hits and it’s growing daily. The process of borrowing nature’s blueprints is enjoying a resurgence due in part to our search for more sustain-able methods of agriculture, manufacturing, chemistry, energy generation, health care, and business. Also contributing are the amazing lab techniques and imaging technologies that allow us to more fully characterize how nature’s

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materials, processes, and ecosystems work. At the same time, our ability to mimic life’s devices, especially at the nano and micro level, makes emulation more possible.

According to a study by Richard Bonser, the number of global patents containing the term “biomimetic” or “bio-inspired” in their title increased by a factor of 93 from 1985 to 2005, compared to a factor 2.7 increase for non-biomimetic patents. Industry is accelerating this trend by seeking the consulting services of biologists like those in Biomimicry 3.8. Industrial networks such as BIONIS (UK) and BIOKON Bionics Competence Network (Germany) are also catalyzing commercial interest in Europe. The big change that I’ve seen in the last 20 years is in who is funding biomimicry. In the decades before the 1990s, the lion’s share of the research was in academia and government agencies, and the funding was primarily from space, defense, and departments of energy. Now we see the meme jumping to industry R&D labs and private design, engineering, and architecture fi rms.

As the approach gains recognition, new interdisciplinary centers are forming, includ-ing the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard, the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, the Center for Biologically Inspired Design at Georgia Tech, the Center for Biologically Inspired Materials & Material Systems at Duke University, and the Swedish Center for Biomimetic Fiber Engineering, which is comprised of collab-orative groups from the Royal Institute of Technology, Umeå Plant Science Center, and the R&D company Innventia. Further signs of the maturing of the discipline are an increas-ing number of annual conferences (such as our

own Biomimicry Education Summit), technical books, and journals such as Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, Journal of Bionic Engineering, and Journal of Biomimetics, Biomaterials, and Tissue Engineering.

What will fi nally naturalize biomimicry in our culture? My hunch is that the tipping point will come only as people try biomimicry and realize that it actually works—when they consult nature and get a new insight, a new model, a new way out of the box canyon of their thinking. What I see again and again among biomimetic inventors is “once a biomimic always a biomimic”—once successful, every one of their innovations is bio-inspired. Asking nature becomes second nature. Our efforts at Biomimicry 3.8 are guided by this belief, and our non-profi t and our for-profi t arms work together as an ecosystem to provide training, tools, and ethical leadership for biomimics worldwide.

Job one is to teach, connect, and nurture a community of biomimics who will amplify this work throughout the world. Working as a social enterprise, Biomimicry3.8 runs a work-shop bureau, a speaker’s bureau, a consulting bureau, and training and certifi cation programs, both online and in-person. Biomimicry profes-sionals have a variety of ways to move up the certifi cation ladder, via eLearning courses, practical experience, even an eight-month and two-year professional programs. Our network of regional biomimicry hubs allows alumuni to work locally, learning from the genius of their own places.

At Biomimicry 3.8, we have a for-profi t con-sulting and training arm. Our Biologists at the Design Table help innovators consult nature,

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A Biomimicry Primer

helping to green not just products but whole companies in nature’s image. Our reports, excursions, inspiration installations, and work-shops are bringing nature’s wisdom to all parts of our economy, such as city planning, architecture, commercial interiors, wastewater treatment, health care, transportation, apparel, food, and consumer products.

At the Biomimicry 3.8 Institute, our non-profi t arm, we work with the next generation of biomimics, starting with K-12 curricula, a children’s CD (complete with a howlingly good kid’s choir), and informal education ranging from fi lms to zoo programs. At the university level, we have a growing list of faculty fellows integrating biomimicry tools and concepts into their courses, biomimetic design studios, as well as affi liate schools working towards offer-ing biomimicry degrees to design, architecture, biology, engineering, and business students. We’re also committed to educating the next generation of biologists to sit at the design table, fi lling a demand that is growing by leaps and bounds.

Though our surface area is growing, we still feel we can only touch so many people per-sonally. We decided it was time to blow on the dandelion wisher and parachute nature’s ideas to the world. In 2008, Biomimicry 3.8 Institute (formerly known as The Biomimicry Institute) launched AskNature.org, a free, online database of nature’s most elegant designs. It is unique in organizing nature’s strategies by biological function. It provides inspiration to help us meet our own challenges, such as cap-turing energy, protecting from fracture, fi ltering liquids, or cooperating. AskNature goes beyond biological stories by providing application ideas for using the strategy in sustainable design, and it has a database of products that do just that.

And all of this is free and open-source, fostering a sharing of ideas and knowledge.

Perhaps most exciting is the beginning of a movement to tie biomimetic design back into conservation. At Biomimicry 3.8 Institute, we’ve launched a program called Innovation for Conservation that asks companies to donate a percentage of their proceeds to conserve the habitat of the organism that inspired the product or process.

In the end, biomimicry has the potential to change our world-view as well as our designs. The process of quieting human cleverness, listening, and then echoing what we hear is only the fi rst part of the biomimicry process. The loop is not complete until we learn to say thank you in a meaningful way. The real legacy of biomimicry will be more than products and processes that help us fi t in here. It will be grati-tude, and from this, an ardent desire to protect the genius that surrounds us.

� e real legacy of biomimicry will be more than products and processes that help us � t in here. It will be gratitude, and from this, an ardent desire to protect the genius that surrounds us.

IS THERE A PLACE FOR US?Finally, indulge me while I add a postscript. Something that has always been a rhetorical quagmire for me is the fact that when I talk about learning from nature, I sound as if we humans are outside, something other, some-thing alien. I don’t believe that for a moment.

A BIOMIMICRY PRIMER

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A Biomimicry Primer

I believe we are as ingenious, as fragile, and as beautiful as any of these creatures that enrap-ture us when we practice biomimicry. It’s time to shed that lonely myth; the truth is we ARE nature.

In fact, biomimicry works precisely because there is no difference between what we do and what other organisms do—the boundary between us and the rest of the natural world is a false one that dissolves when you consider what is really important, what makes life worth living. We are in a long line of organisms that have sprung from this earth, each trying to fi gure out how to stay here, how to take care of the place that will that care of our offspring. We may be a toddler, 200,000 years old compared to 3.85 billion years, but we are part and parcel of this blue-green planet. It’s our home and it’s where we belong. Now it’s time, with the help of our extraordinary planet-mates, to start putting down roots.

A BIOMIMICRY PRIMER

27

Reconnecting with nature happens in many ways for different people. The most obvious way, of course, is to actually be in nature. While physically stepping outside your door is an important step, being is actually a practice that can be honed and refined. All too often, our outdoor experiences are either highly programmed or extremely active. Sometimes, reconnecting with nature requires slowing down without any plan in mind at all. A rambling wander through a forest, a belly-down plop in a meadow and peering between blades of grass, or a deep contemplative ponder on a desert rock all provide a sense of connectedness and discovery that to some degree relies on random chance.

While finding the opportunity to just be is often challenging, you can develop a practice of reconnection. We call these opportunities iSites. There is a modicum of planning—you need to decide where and when to go, and some framework (an exercise that can provide an entry point); the outcome of the experience, however, is whatever reveals itself in the time that you are in your iSite.

iSite exercises are intended to help you develop the skills you need to be a good biomimic. Observing the natural world and deepening your understanding of those observations through reflection and sketching reconnects you to life and helps strengthen the vision of a world empowered by nature’s genius.

At its simplest, an iSite is sitting and just being for at least 25–30 minutes without doing anything at all in a natural setting. It might be

your backyard, the small landscaped patio at work, the untamed edge of a cornfield, a forest in the park, or deep wilderness. It doesn’t matter where; there is something to discover everywhere (even in the window box outside your kitchen). The first ten minutes are relatively easy, as it’s a new place to discover. The second ten minutes are often challenging for some, as they find their mind wandering to other “non-natural” things or getting bored. If a thought comes up, ignore it or let it float by. Stick with it. You really haven’t seen everything there is to see there. The next ten minutes often fly by as a world begins to reveal itself. Sometimes, it’s difficult to stop at 30 minutes and you might find yourself lost in time for the next hour or more bewitched by an ant carrying a seed grain or the dance of a leaf fluttering in the breeze. At the end, many find their experience enriched by spending five to ten minutes recording what they experienced.

If you are looking for some more specific ideas of what to “do” while in an iSite (if just being isn’t enough!), we have provided on the next few pages a whole collection of ideas to get you started. Each exercise is intended to take about half an hour, but you can take as long as you like. Feel free to repeat any of the exercises, modifying as you wish each time. These experiences often lead to an artifact collection (be respectful about what and how you gather), which can be useful for some other exercises and for those days when going outside isn’t an option.

Like any good practice, the more you do it, the better it gets. Soon you’ll be able to take the practice with you and anywhere you travel and any time you’ll find yourself sneaking away for five minutes here, 15 minutes there. The world is an amazing place just waiting to be revealed!

TIPS AND IDEAS FOR RECONNECTING

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TIPS AND IDEAS FOR RECONNECTING

TEST YOUR SKILLS OF OBSERVATIONSit in front of an organism or natural object. Draw a quick sketch of the object (don’t worry if you “can’t draw”). Now, draw the organism or artifact again, but this time look only at the object and NOT at your paper while you draw. Try following the outline of the object with your eyes and make your pen follow the path that your eyes take. Compare your drawings. Did you really observe the first time?

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MAKE A SOUND MAPWith your journal or paper in front of you, mark yourself on the page with an X. Then close your eyes and listen. Create a symbol on your page to represent each sound that you hear (keeping your eyes closed). Using these symbols, make a map of the sounds you hear all around you, in all directions, whether human-caused or not. Are the sounds related or responsive to each other? Open your eyes and write down other observations.

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LOOK FOR PATTERNS IN NATURE Look for and record, using words and sketches, patterns that you can see, hear, or feel. Patterns might include structural angles, edges, distribution systems, or gradients. Guess the function that each pattern might serve.

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SIT IN FRONT OF AN ORGANISM OR NATURAL OBJECTSketch only the shading that you see—draw without using lines. Observe the shade that one thing creates on another.

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TRACK CHANGE OVER TIMEVisit the same spot in as many different conditions and times of day and season as possible. Record your observations each time, noting differences and changes in both the site and your perception of it.

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TRANSLATE WHAT YOU SEECreate a technical drawing of one system in the environment you see around you, for example, draw the system of energy flows. Use arrows, symbols, and notes like those you would find in an engineering drawing.

29

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31

| WH

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Biomimicry 3.8’s certifi cation and training programs are built upon years of experi-ence teaching biomimicry to professionals. Beginning in 1998, Dr. Dayna Baumeister and Janine Benyus began a partnership that would empower individuals to develop a practice of biomimicry beyond the research labs. It initially started with half-day, full-day, and two-day workshops and, in 2003, they conducted their fi rst weeklong workshop held in Montana. Since then, these weeklong workshops have graduated hundreds of designers, engineers, educators, biologists, entrepreneurs, chemists, architects, and more (perhaps even you), creat-ing an incredible network of practitioners.

Yet, we found as individuals engage in biomim-icry their curiosity and desire to learn more and go deeper has kept them asking for more. (That’s one of the reasons you are holding this Biomimicry Resource Handbook in your hands—both your desire to learn more, and our desire to answer the call.) Not surprisingly, this Resource Handbook also serves as the back-bone textbook for our eight-month Biomimicry Specialist and two-year Biomimicry Professional certifi cation programs.

In recognizing the need for a world full of change agents and driven by a passion for bringing nature’s wisdom to solve humankind’s greatest challenges, Biomimicry 3.8 has been vigorously developing a comprehensive suite of biomimicry training opportunities since 2011.

� e future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope.

~ Pierre Teihard de Chardin

LEARNING JOURNEYSAt Biomimicry 3.8, we offer diverse and com-plementary biomimicry training opportunities to meet every level of interest, background, degree of experience, and budget. We accom-plish this through varied assemblies of simple, common, building blocks—the way nature assembles—including self-paced online courses, hands-on workshops, in-person sessions, and certifi cation programs that blend remote learning with in-person meetings. This cross-disciplinary, innovative, and multi-layered suite of educational offerings aspires to empower individuals and organizations through training, networks, tools, and vision.

Built on Life’s Principles, every aspect of our trainings work to create conditions conducive to life. We believe that learning journeys with Biomimicry 3.8 are, hands down, one of the most exciting and important opportunities for manifesting our vision of a world empowered by nature’s genius.

SELF-DIRECTED TRAININGThe self-directed training approach allows individuals to focus their biomimicry coursework on the topics of their choosing at a pace and format that works best with their learning style, schedule, and budget. Training opportunities for the self-directed participant include:

eLearning CatalogImagine a full catalog of biomimicry-focused coursework available online that helps you understand how biomimicry can be applied to engineering, architecture, product design, business, policy, and more. A growing suite of online coursework provides general and spe-cialized biomimicry studies based completely on the demand of our network. Courses are still

Certifi cation and Training

CERTIFICATION AND TRAINING

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under development, but a few example course titles are include:

• Foundations of Biomimicry

• Introduction to Biomimicry

• Introduction to Biomimicry Thinking

• Introduction to Life’s Principles

• AskNature: How Nature Communicates (part of a series)

• Applying Life’s Principles for Organizations to Survive and Thrive

• Biomimicry and Integrated Design

Biomimicry 3.8 WorkshopsOur workshops offer students and professionals from all disciplines and backgrounds a unique experiential learning opportunity. Participants come to the workshops with a curiosity about biomimicry and walk away with an experience that combines their desire to innovate sustain-ably while demonstrating gratitude for the natural genius that surrounds us.

• Backyard Biomimicry Workshops: Learn about biomimicry in the context of your local or regional ecosystem. This is your fi rst step to getting involved with your regional biomimicry network. You’ll collaborate with students and professionals of various disciplines to solve your region’s most pressing design challenges, drawing inspiration from the natural world found right in your own backyard.

• Biomimicry Expedition Workshops: Study biomimicry in ecosystems that have spent millions of years learning to adapt to a wide variety of environmental challenges. Your classroom could be a rainforest, tide pool, arid desert, or alpine mountainside. You will be part of a globally diverse group of individuals from a wide range of

professions, including designers, engineers, biologists, educators, policy makers and more, all exploring the ways that life has solved our toughest design challenges.

• Keystone Workshops: Join Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, and Dr. Dayna Baumeister, co-founders of Biomimicry 3.8 on a deep exploration of how life’s genius can be functionally translated and applied to solve the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges. Held in biodiversity hotspots around the globe, these workshops welcome thought leaders from all industries and backgrounds to participate in this enriching and productive experience.

COHORT-BASED TRAININGCertifi cate programs offer cohort-based training with customized content, instructor feedback, and recognition of training achievement by Biomimicry 3.8.

Biomimicry Specialist Certifi cationThe Biomimicry Specialist Certifi cation program is an eight-month training program designed to grow regional biomimicry expertise among individuals that form locally attuned biomimicry networks. Participants in the program graduate as Biomimicry Specialists, empowered to incor-porate biomimicry into their current or planned professions, and serve as guiding members to their local biomimicry network.

Key outcomes of the Biomimicry Specialist Certifi cation program include:

• Integration into a collaborative, regional, cross-disciplinary network of individuals incorporating biomimicry into their professions,


33

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• Connection to and understanding of a regional ecology,

• Understanding how to read and interpret ecosystems and the natural world,

• Discovery/continued development of your own creative talents through biomimicry,

• Deepened sustainability ethic, practice, and understanding,

• Trans-disciplinary collaboration skills,

• Confi dence and ability in providing biomimicry services as a specialty offering in your current (or planned) profession, and

• Biomimicry Specialist designation recognized by Biomimicry 3.8.

Biomimicry Professional Certifi cationThe intention of the Biomimicry Professional Certifi cate Program (BProfessional) is to mobilize a community of professional biomimics around the world who can bring life’s genius into the solution space for all industries. The BProfessional is a two-year, master’s level course designed to empower you with life’s genius to evolve the way the world conducts business, designs buildings and products, runs government, provides healthcare, and educates future generations. Participants graduate from the program as Certifi ed Biomimicry Professionals.

Upon completion of the program, participants carrying the Certifi ed Biomimicry Professional credential will be primed to not only advance their careers, but also drive real, positive change in the world by:

• Practicing and facilitating the conscious emulation of nature’s genius as a full-time professional biomimic,

• Establishing a practice as an educator, consultant, facilitator, and/or communicator,

• Further establishing expertise through the Biomimicry 3.8 speakers bureau, which also provides opportunities for generating fees

• Advising clients and other innovators as a member of Biomimicry 3.8’s consulting and workshop bureaus,

• Connecting with the core Biomimicry 3.8 practitioners network for local and regional professional opportunities,

• Staying up to date on the latest advance-ments and best practices in sustainable innovation through your membership in the Biomimicry 3.8 Professional Network, and

• Contributing professionally as recognized leaders in the emerging biomimicry network worldwide.


34

CONTACT US

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+1 406 543 4108Biomimicry.net | AskNature.org

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