The conscious emulation of nature
"“Sustainability must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
United Nations.
Créditos : Biomimicry 3.8. Bajo licencia Creative Commons CC-BY-SA
3 fundamental elements
Biomimicry can only be understood through its elements and it is necessary that all of them are taken into account. To use it as a truly sustainable model we need a design of products under an ethic that respects life and reconnect us with nature. Likewise, in its frequent known way, emulation allows one to imitate organism’s strategies to be successful under their surrounding context.
ETHOS
RECONNECTION
EMULATION
EXAMPLES
Several indigenous groups consider nature as part of their cosmology and vital organ for their development. A good example is given by the Khasis community in Meghalaya, India. Given unpredictable weather changes produced by monsoons, such as strong winds and rain during a season of the year, this population has opted from centuries ago to build communication routes that are produced from rubber fig tree’s roots. In harmony with surrounding nature, roots grow through guides set up by its dwellers, building bridges and roads that connect them between villages. These structures have been proven to be resilient, being capable of resisting extreme weather conditions.
Routes are used for bartering, commerce and are fundamental for students to local schools.
In this way, the community has been successful in respecting the environment without creating an exploitative relation with nature.
Fuente: Watson, J (2020). “Lo-TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism”
Practice with iSites, which are opportunities or experiences that reconnects us with nature. For example, consider a business model as an ecosystem. How would you operate a company the same way an ecosystem does?How would you translate the jargon that describes terms such as resources, systems, flows and functions to the company’s operations?
Fuente: Baumeister, D (2014) “Biomimicry resource Handbook”, iSites.
Butterfly wing’s microscopic structure repels water and causes dirty particles to be eliminated along with the repelled liquid. The company Shöeller Technologies® has created a fabric named Nanosphere® that is self-cleaning and abrasion resistant. It has a double advantage: Avoid the use of natural resources for its cleaning and eliminate the use of cleaners that employ harmful chemicals.
Source: https://www.schoeller-textiles.com/en/technologies/nanosphere
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