WHAT IS NATURE?

Photo Credit: Gord McKenna CC-BY-NC

Photo Credit: Wikimedia user Hagaina9v CC-BY-SA

Photo Credit: Wikimedia user Patriotmissile, CC-BY-SA

Photo Credit: Calypso Orchid, CC-BY-NC-ND

HUMAN DESIGN

•  Mining - 39 billion tons/yr•  Heat trea9ng - over 1,400 °C (releases 6% of GHG)•  Packaging•  Shipping

Photo Credits L-R: Dionatan ZibeS, CC-BY-NC; Wikimedia user Linguis9c Demographer, public domain; Flickr user Judy_&_Ed, CC-BY-NC

MAL-ADAPTED DESIGN

Heat, beat, and treat•  High temperatures•  High pressures•  Toxic chemical processes

Photo Credit: TJ Blackwell, CC-BY

NATURE’S DESIGN

Stony coral•  Built to shape•  Created on site

•  Uses CO2 as a building block•  Waste-free

•  450 million year old process Photo Credit: NOAA, public domain

BIOINSPIRATION or BIOMIMICRY

• Nature has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with.

• Animals, plants, and microbes are engineers. They have found what works, what is appropriate, and what lasts here on Earth.

• But evolution works on “just good enough” principle. And it has many constraints to deal with.

• So maybe we can be inspired by nature – and then improve on it while still adhering to Life’s principles.

A RECURRING THEME

“Human ingenuity may make various inven9ons…but it will never devise any inven9ons more beau9ful,nor more simple, nor more to the purpose than Nature does; because in her inven9ons nothing iswan9ng and nothing is superfluous.”

- Leonardo da Vinci

Photo Credit: Leonardo da Vinci, public domain

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

(Re)ConnectPhoto Credit: Denali Na9onal Park, CC-BY

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

Emulate© Mary Hansel, used with permission

A MATTER OF SCALE

Form - shape, surface, texture Process - a series of opera:ons Ecosystem - a network opera:ngtogether in an ongoing cycle

Photo Credits L-R: Hans Hillewaert, CC-BY-SA; Wikimedia user Hagaina9v, CC-BY-SA; Ireen Trummer, CC-BY-SA

SEEING DIFFERENTLY

LEARNING ABOUT:

•  Scien9fic name:Pinus ponderosa

•  Found in low - mideleva9ons throughoutthe U.S.

•  USDA Hardiness Zones3-7

•  Important U.S. 9mberspecies

•  Needles 5-10” long, inclusters of 3

Ponderosa Pine Photo Credit: J Stephen Conn, CC-BY-NC

SEEING DIFFERENTLY

LEARNING ABOUT:

•  Scien9fic name:Pinus ponderosa

•  Found in low - mideleva9ons throughout

the U.S.

•  USDA Hardiness Zones3-7

•  Important U.S. 9mberspecies

•  Needles 5-10” long, inclusters of 3

Ponderosa Pine

LEARNING FROM:

•  Leaves create solarenergy without toxins

•  Xylem transports waterhundreds of feet without

fuel.

•  Canopy re-humidifies air

•  Uses CO2 as a buildingmaterial

•  Expertly light-weightedmaterials

Photo Credit: J Stephen Conn, CC-BY-NC

THANK YOUFor sharing biomimicrywith your students.

Visit ben.biomimicry.net to accessaddi9onal teaching resources.

Photo Credit: Ka9 Fleming, CC-BY-SA