Sam Stier: Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) to emulate nature

The core idea is that Nature, imaginative by necessity, has already solved many of the problems we today are grappling with: energy, food production, climate control, non-toxic chemistry, transportation, packaging, and a whole lot more. Animals, plants, and especially microbes are the consummate engineers. They have found what works, what is appropriate, and most importantly, what lasts here on Earth. However, we humans have only really woken up to this in the last 30 years. If we could only mobilise our consciousness (and media) at a global level, we would be both amazed and shocked to realize that the answers to our challenges are already embedded in nature, the same living super system that we too are deeply embedded in, except we have disconnected ourselves. Time to awaken and reconnect, to our great sustainer our planet and recognise that so much of the biota, have over millennia and eons have worked through phases of evolution to innovate the best conditions for life and the common future for this life.   In nature nothing exists alone. Rachel Carson Sam Stier: http://www.asknature.org Learn more about biomimicry in video: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/janine_benyus_shares_nature_s_designs.html And print: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/feb2008/id20080211_074559.htm   NEXT WEEK: What is the Soul?  Part Two With Bill Watson