<<The>> biomimicry revolution learning from nature how to inhabit the earth

Modernity is founded on the belief that the world we build is a human invention, not a part of nature. The ecological consequences of this idea have been catastrophic. We have laid waste to natural ecosystems, replacing them with fundamentally unsustainable human designs. With time running out to address the environmental crises we have caused, our best path forward is to turn to nature for guidance. In this book, Henry Dicks explores the philosophical significance of a revolutionary approach to sustainable innovation: biomimicry. The term describes the application and adaptation of strategies found in nature to the development of artificial products and systems, such as passive cooling techniques modeled on termite mounds or solar cells modeled on leaves. Dicks argues that biomimicry, typically seen as just a design strategy, can also serve as the basis for a new environmental philosophy that radically alters how we understand and relate to the natural world. By showing how we can imitate, emulate, and learn from nature, biomimicry points us toward a genuinely sustainable way of inhabiting the earth. Rooted in philosophy, The Biomimicry Revolution has profound implications spanning the natural sciences, design, architecture, sustainability studies, science and technology studies, and the environmental humanities. It presents a sweeping reconception of what philosophy can be and offers a powerful new vision of terrestrial existence. Modernity is founded on the belief that the world we build is ahuman invention, not a part of nature. The ecological consequencesof this idea have been catastrophic. We have laid waste to naturalecosystems, replacing them with fundamentally unsustainable humandesigns. With time running out to address the environmental criseswe have caused, our best path forward is to turn to nature forguidance. In this book, Henry Dicks explores the philosophicalsignificance of a revolutionary approach to sustainable innovation:biomimicry. The term describes the application and adaptation ofstrategies found in nature to the development of artificialproducts and systems, such as passive cooling techniques modeled ontermite mounds or solar cells modeled on leaves. Dicks argues thatbiomimicry, typically seen as just a design strategy, can alsoserve as the basis for a new environmental philosophy thatradically alters how we understand and relate to the natural world.By showing how we can imitate, emulate, and learn from nature,biomimicry points us toward a genuinely sustainable way ofinhabiting the earth. Rooted in philosophy, The BiomimicryRevolution has profound implications spanning the naturalsciences, design, architecture, sustainability studies, science andtechnology studies, and the environmental humanities. It presents asweeping reconception of what philosophy can be and offers apowerful new vision of terrestrial existence "This book advances the argument that biomimicry--adapting strategies found in nature to solve design problems in the human built environment, such as passive cooling construction techniques modeled on termite mounds--can serve as the basis for a new philosophical approach to human existence. It has long served as a strategy for technological innovation, but only recently has nature been widely appreciated as a resource of ecological lessons about how we might enduringly inhabit the Earth. Nature runs entirely on renewable energy, recycles everything, produces zero pollution, and supports an extrordinarily diverse range of life forms. Following its guidance as model, measure, and mentor, as proposed by Janine Benyus in her pioneering book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature and utilizing examples from the scientific literature and the ancient Greek concepts of techne, physis, and mimesis, Henry Dicks rethinks our ideas about technics, ethics, and epistemology, including a new ontology of nature as that which produces itself, in order to recognize that human autonomy cannot be achieved by relying on ourselves alone if we are to respond to ecological crises and live well as part of the Earth ecosystem using the Earth's technologies"-- Provided by publisher Table of Contents Preface Introduction: Biomimicry as a New Philosophy 1. Nature as Physis: An Ontology for Biomimicry 2. Nature as Model: Biomimetic Technics 3. Nature as Measure: Biomimetic Ethics 4. Nature as Mentor: Biomimetic Epistemology Conclusion: Toward a New Enlightenment Notes Bibliography Index