The story of the departure ceremony (16): ‘Biomimicry’
Every first Saturday of the month we organize a departure ceremony at sunrise: the pilgrim lauds.
We then make a silent tour through the abandoned Stevens Church in Nijmegen, our starting and ending point.
At the statue of our symbol Pilgrim nailed to the wall, a reader reads a story from our first Pilgrim Book of Hours: Seasons of Life .
The ceremony lasts about 15 minutes and is independent of any religion. Free entrance: agenda
In June, Damiaan Messing read Bas Sanders’ story: ‘Biomimicry’.
Biomimicry
4.6 billion years. That’s how old our earth is. The first life, a single-celled organism, appeared 3.8 billion years ago. In the centuries that followed, millions and millions of species have emerged, each time having to adapt to changing and the most extreme conditions in order to survive. To be able to do that, organisms have developed the most fantastic solutions. Just look at how a cactus is able to survive in extreme drought, how leaves harvest solar energy, and how the Namibian desert beetle captures water from the air. You could say that nature has produced the best engineers, designers and chemists who have been able to create great inventive and proven solutions.
Nature as an example for inspiration and development of sustainable innovations. That’s what Biomimicry (from the Greek word ‘bios’, which means life, and ‘mimesis’, which stands for imitating) is all about. How can we consciously incorporate survival strategies and the science behind all those smarts into our own designs for products, buildings or cities? By applying the technology of biology, we may soon be able to make fibers like a spider makes silk or erect buildings as ingenious as a termite mound.
We humans have conquered almost every corner of the earth and are able to survive in all kinds of circumstances. But if more and more people adopt a Western lifestyle, which requires more use of land, water and raw materials, there will be less room for biodiversity. Natural organisms in particular have learned to make efficient use of materials and energy. So take a look around you and maybe a local biologist or ecologist can tell you the best stories about plants and animals in your own area. And maybe an organism in your area has already invented something that can save the world…
Bas Sanders
Entrepreneur in sustainable innovation and co-founder of Biomimicry NL
More about Biomimicry: link.
