Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) is a relatively new science that studies nature, its models, systems, processes and elements and then imitates or takes creative inspiration from them to solve human problems sustainably.
Science writer and lecturer Janine Benyus was the one to define this approach. She believes that being inspired by nature when designing processes & systems can help us overcome challenges we are facing – in her book “Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature” she gives interesting examples that show how studying the achievements of nature can help us solve us problems we face in many different disciplines.
Watch her speech at the TED conference in 2005 and you´ll discover this is an interesting way of looking at ´natural resources´:
Nature does not stop where land ends. We all have heard about reefs that are being threatened due to over fishing, water pollution and other factors that cause damage under sea level. But have you ever thought about doing something about it?
Professor Wolf Hilbertz could be described as ‘architect of the ocean’. Together with his colleagues from theGlobal Coral Reef Alliance (GCRA) have developed a way of recreating the reefa technique seems very simple – so simple that eventually a five year old would be able to dream it up: What do we do with all the corals and fish if their reef is being destroyed? Let’s build them a new home!
The actual execution of such a project requires however a firm technique, lots of manpower, and support of experts like Professor Hilbertz of the GCRA: A huge structure of iron bars is build on land and then transported to the reef location. Slowly and with lots of patience a group of scuba divers help to safely guide the big and fragile structure to its final location. After it has been placed they fix fractures of corals that are broken off a former reef on the iron bars of the structure.
Its not as easy as it sounds to actually make a reef ‘grow’ on such an artificial surrounding– but there is a solution: A technique called Electrolytic Mineral Accretion Technology (BiorockTM). This is a method that causes the crystallization of minerals on the outside of the iron structure by creating safe, low voltage electrical currents through the seawater. This technique speeds up the formation and growth of chemical limestone rock shell-bearing organisms and skeletons of corals. The reef starts grows rapidly.
Professor Wolf Hilbertz passed away in August 2007 but his dream still exists: The recreation of reefs which is a milestone in saving one of our biggest and for a big part still unexplored natural resources: the Ocean.
Here a case study from Pemuteran, Bali:
Images by Wolf Hilbertz; video by Rani Morrow-Wuigk.
An Earthship is an ‘earth-sheltered’ building that functions autonomously (profiting from sunlight, temperature, wind, soil, landscape and natural resources). Mike Reynolds was one of the first to design and build Earthships in the 1970s. Today there are many thousand Earthships that are build all over the planet. Different shapes, designs and infrastructures make it possible to optimize an earthship specfic climate conditions.
The interesting thing is that one of the main materials that is being used to create an Earthship are old tires which are filled with Soil (one of the best isolation materials). Old tins and bottles can be used together with clay in order to build the house.
Special are also the unique shapes that Earthships are build in. Usually people do not only spend lots of time and effort in building a selfsustained house with a water recycling system and renewable energy resources but they also create innovative living spaces.
Sustainable agriculture is also possible in cities.The website of the ‘Urban Permaculture Guild’ in Arizona, US gives you some nice images and impressions on this concept.
Everyone talks about sustainable living and sustainable development. But what does this really mean?
In the press & in international politics people mostly refer to a very old and basic definition: ‘Sustainable development seeks to meet the needs and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability to meet those of the future’ (Bruntland, G. 1987)
The Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) recognizes today that ‘global co-operation is required to achieve sustainable economic, environmental and social conditions worldwide.’ (OECD, 2006)
But despite these official ways of describing what sustainability is all about – what does it mean to you? How do you define it for yourself and how far do you really practise it?
Many people start become green with simple actions: They separate their kitchen waste, they try to use public transport, switch off the lights when they don’t need them and buy organic food. Some people even give money to environmental funds. But is this really sustainable living?
There’s much more to it and pioneers all over the world are exploring new ways of living with a low-impact or event to support the environment. They have found ways to live from own energy resources and they form communities that try to showcase the world: A self-sustained life is possible based on simple techniques & principles (one of these concepts is called Permaculture).
Others discover innovative ways to build houses out of waste material (these houses are called ‘Earthships’) and they use solar cookers that work with sunlight and can be used even in remote locations. Some even find ways to rebuild the reefs in our oceans with iron structures and a method to speed up coral growth with low voltage electrical currents through seawater.
Unfortunately many of these solutions are not very known since they are not being promoted. Ideaplants.org is a website developed to collect these innovative ideas and to help people develop projects for sustainable living. With the support of volunteers from all over the world the site is being developed and today the first collection of articles and interviews is online.
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