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Originally appears in the Winter 2022 issue.
By Rosanna Ayers
“When we look at what is truly sustainable, the only real model that has worked over long periods of time is the natural world.” – Janine Benyus
There has perhaps never been a better time to embrace biomimicry as a way of thinking. What is biomimicry? Simply put, it involves looking to nature as a teacher and a mentor when thinking about sustainable and elegant designs. Janine Benyus galvanized a movement two decades ago through her use of the term “biomimicry” (“bio” meaning “life” and “mimicry” meaning “the act of copying”). She recognized the genius of nature and was determined to elevate the practice of biomimicry for the world. You can continue in Janine’s footsteps with your learners at any age level.
Common examples
So many have heard the classic story of the Shinkansen bullet train designed from mimicking the shape of a kingfisher’s beak. After having nature as a design mentor, the redesigned bullet train eliminated sonic booms when going through tunnels, while decreasing electricity use by 15% and increasing travel speeds by 10%.
More recently, folks in medical industries have learned how to create surfaces that inhibit bacterial growth. The overuse and abuse of antibiotics and disinfectants along with other strategies focused solely on killing bacteria have contributed to the creation of superbugs that are commonly found in hospitals and the general population. The solution to this growing problem could be found in shark skin! Great White Sharks are stealth hunters, and the secret to their stealth is in their skin. Shark skin is covered by tiny, flat V-shaped scales called dermal denticles, which are more like teeth than fish scales. Not only do these structures allow sharks to swim faster and more quietly; they make it difficult for disease-causing bacteria to cling to sharks’ skin.
Biomimicry to create greater harmony
Given the current state of world affairs — the pandemic, racial violence, climate change, to name but a few present challenges — many of us are reflecting on ways to bring more functionality and harmony into our life experiences. For some, this could include taking more opportunities to go outside to enjoy nature. For others, this might mean incorporating more of the way living things look and feel into their products and daily lives. Biomimicry distinguishes itself from other nature-focused practices through its grounding in three elements, which operate like interwoven strands of a braid. While using nature as a mentor, biomimics ask themselves these questions to determine if they’ve created a sustainable design or system:
- Re(connect) – Is this design approach allowing me to spend time in nature to understand how life works?
- Ethos – Is this design approach allowing me to value nature for what we can learn from it, not what we can extract, harvest, or domesticate?
- Emulate – Is this design approach allowing me to replicate nature’s forms, processes, and ecosystems to create more regenerative designs?
If the answer to all three of these questions is a resounding “yes,” then you are practicing biomimicry. Many industries and practices would benefit from applying biomimicry to the design of everyday processes and as a way of addressing unexpected problems that result from human design.
The fashion industry has recently been in the news for having practices in some circles that are taking a toll on the natural environment. Synthetic clothing containing rayon, polyester, and lycra use large amounts of energy and water to produce. The waste products from producing synthetic clothing are considerable, yet waste from producing natural fibers, like silk, have also contributed to environmental degradation. This large problem seems almost overwhelming until we look to the small spider for design inspiration. How does a spider produce silk in a low-heat environment with no toxic byproducts? Deep observations of spiders has taught biomimics that spider silk is made of only protein and water. The liquid protein carried in the spider’s body is pulled through its spinnerets into long strands using shearing force. By looking to nature as a mentor, innovators have developed fibers for textile use that consume 1000 times less energy, with the only byproduct being water.
What are some other environmental and social problems that we might be accepting because we haven’t asked nature for a design lesson? It’s a question worth exploring with your students.
Biomimicry as a student-centered design practice
Without a clear objective, STEM courses often lack relevance for students, and this translates to low engagement for many student populations. Solving a problem for others while using nature as a mentor and nature as the measure is a way of bringing relevance to the design process. Oftentimes, young people are not credited with having worthwhile solutions to emerging local and global challenges when, in fact, students bring cultural wealth to the learning environment which biomimicry practices can leverage. Biomimicry allows students to use their knowledge of the areas they inhabit as a basis for thinking through solutions. Narratives from their home communities become important as the context of a given design is considered.
Biomimicry also acknowledges all the participants in design: nature as the inspiration for the design and, in a learning setting, the student as the creator actively evaluating how the design solves a problem. Students are challenged to think of both the problem to address and how the population that will be served through the biomimetic design might be impacted. Thinking through future impacts of a design is an integral part of the process. After all, the goal of biomimicry is alignment with nature for a truly sustainable design. This is why we’ve integrated into our Youth Design Challenge (YDC) the need to think through not only who informs the creative process of design but also who might be impacted by the design outcome. By allowing students to define the organism that will be studied and the design that will result, we guide them toward exploring sustainability challenges that are important to them. Whether the problems to be solved through biomimicry designs are global or local, the individual journey toward sustainability has now been contextualized and positioned for student action.
Biomimicry Institute partners in creating biomimicry curriculum
Educators wanting to explore the interdisciplinary instructional powerhouse of biomimicry have several avenues available to them:
K–5th-grade Biomimicry Lessons are currently in development and entered a second round of field tests in the fall of 2021. We are so excited with the feedback that has been generated from the first round of educators who used the K–5 lessons in their classrooms this past spring. Educators appreciated the purposeful outdoor experiences that are part of the lessons. In the 2021–2022 academic year, Youth Education at the Biomimicry Institute will continue to partner with educators to bring purposeful biomimicry lessons to students. For additional information, see https://biomimicry.org/k-5/.
Coming soon! Climate Lab at Golden Gate. California educators who are introducing climate change in their classrooms might consider a middle school residential camp stay at NatureBridge at Golden Gate in San Francisco. One lens through which climate change is explored is that of biomimicry, as we encourage students to become changemakers in their local communities. The climate change curriculum that features biomimicry as a student-centered practice will be available in January 2022. For additional information, visit https://naturebridge.org/blog/2021-06-15-building-future-climate-science-lab.
Youth Design Challenge. Internationally, educators can base their instruction on the Youth Design Challenge (YDC) curriculum; nationally, educators can submit up to three student projects (Grades 6–12) for judging. Educators wanting to introduce biomimicry into their classrooms can now access the YDC curriculum, coach’s handbook, and additional information. The YDC continues to be improved with input from students and educators. Registration for submission to the 2022 challenge opened in mid-August; however, educators can access the YDC and submit projects any time between August 2021 and April 1st, 2022. The quantity and quality of students’ submissions has continued to rise as we’ve worked more closely with educators throughout the process. For additional information, visit https://biomimicry.org/youthdesignchallenge/.
BioConnect Kits are downloadable middle school science kits that feature a mini-challenge based on learnings from desert organisms. Each week-long unit walks 6th–8th-grade students through a biomimicry design process. The kits are aligned with Arizona state standards and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Lesson plans, inquiry cards, 3D model files, videos, and more are available to educators wanting to teach biomimicry in the classroom through studying desert organisms. You can access BioConnect Kits here.
Biomimicry support beyond the classroom
So many times, we hear from adults that they wish they had heard about biomimicry when they were younger. Adults say that practicing biomimicry changes how they view the world. We want to reach school-aged children, but we also have programs available for adults in the field.
The Biomimicry Launchpad is a 10-week incubator program for early-stage entrepreneurs. The virtual program supports early-stage entrepreneurs in applying a biomimicry lens to every phase of their business development. For additional information, visit https://biomimicry.org/launchpad/.
The Ray of Hope Prize is a business sustainability competition hosted by the Biomimicry Institute. Teams, consisting of sustainability leaders in industry, create and use biomimetic designs that solve industry problems. For additional information, visit https://biomimicry.org/rayofhopeprize/.
Rosanna Ayers has a Bachelor of Science in International Business, a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, an Administrative Service Credential, and a Master of Education in Leadership and School Development, with an emphasis on Next Generation Science Standards. She teaches graduate-level integrated science courses for teacher candidates at a university and lives in the country with her husband and children. Rosanna is the Director of Youth Education at the Biomimicry Institute where she directs the Youth Design Challenge and other educational programs in support of increasing the scope of biomimicry in education.