Biologically inspired materials could revolutionize materials science. People looking at spider silk and abalone shells are looking for new ways to make materials better, cheaper, and with less toxic byproducts.
Janine BenyusRead
For the 99 percent of the time we've been on Earth, we were hunter and gatherers, our lives dependent on knowing the fine, small details of our world. Deep inside, we still have a longing to be reconnected with the nature that shaped our imagination, our language, our song and dance, our sense of the divine.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes humanity's deep connection to nature and our evolutionary history as hunter-gatherers.
Janine Benyus reflects on the profound relationship humans have with nature, suggesting that for most of our existence, we thrived as hunter-gatherers, deeply attuned to our surroundings. She points out that despite the advancements of modern society, there remains an innate yearning within us to reconnect with the natural world that has significantly influenced our culture, emotions, and spirituality.
Themes
NatureConnectEvolutionHumanityLonging
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a presentation about environmental conservation.
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For a long time we have thought we were better than the living world, and now some of us tend to think we are worse, that everything we touch turns to soot. But neither perspective is healthy. We have to remember how it feels to have equal standing in the world, to be "between the mountain and the ant . . . part and parcel of creations," as the Iroquois traditionalist Oren Lyons says.
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The truth is, natural organisms have managed to do everything we want to do without guzzling fossil fuels, polluting the planet or mortgaging the future.
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Biomimicry is basically taking a design challenge and then finding an ecosystem that's already solved that challenge, and literally trying to emulate what you learn.
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Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature. In a society accustomed to dominating or 'improving' nature, this respectful imitation is a radically new approach, a revolution really. Unlike the Industrial Revolution, the Biomimicry Revolution introduces an era based not on what we can extract from nature, but on what we can learn from her.
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