07-04-2009, 11:01 PM
The conscious emulation of nature by turning towards it as a mentor can be called as Biomimicry.Biomimcry as the name suggests, indicates the mimicking of the biological designs, processes & laws to the design of human systems. Biomimicry (from bios meaning life, and mimesis meaning to imitate) is a new science that studies nature's best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems. Studying a leaf to invent a better solar cell is an example. The core idea is that nature has already solved many of the problems humans are grappling with. Animals, plants, and microbes are the consummate engineers. They have found what works, what is appropriate, and most important, what lasts here on Earth. All organism, plants, animals, fungi, algae, and bacteria must grow, maintain, feed, and reproduce to ensure their short-term and long-term sustainability. The same can be said for humans. But the way industrial humans have gone about meeting their needs is quite different from the way other organisms survive, and therein lies the root of our sustainability crisis. However, the characteristics displayed by natural systems evolving, adaptive and sustainable are the exact same characteristics that have to be striven for, in our human systems today.