Join host Carry Kim as she welcomes biomimicry expert Anne LaForti to discuss the transformative power of looking to nature for answers. Learn how biomimicry isn't just about emulating nature's aesthetics but understanding its functional mechanisms for survival and thriving. Unpack the principles of biomimicry, its implications for industries, and the ethical considerations of borrowing from nature's playbook.

Biomimicry aspires to create a world mentored and inspired by Nature’s 3.8 billion years of infinite creativity and evolutionary ingenuity. Janine Beynus’s seminal book: Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature defines biomimicry as a "new science that studies nature's models and then imitates or draws inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems." Designing, creating, and innovating in a generous and abundant vs extractive way that regenerates and reciprocates life is a fundamental aim of biomimicry.

Biomimicry and Nature’s intelligence can innovate a wide range of consumer products and services, biodegradable packaging, regenerative design, eco-friendly architecture, and building materials as well as influence social structures and organizations. Snakes and leeches can inspire better detergents, beetle wings, tortoise shells, and sea cucumbers can change the nature of packaging, kingfisher birds can inspire high speed bullet trains, ventilation systems can be modeled after termite mounds, a factory can be designed to function like a forest, arid landscapes can compel industrial development towards a regenerative model. Anne LaForti, Project Manager for Biomimicry 3.8 [http://biomimicry.net], a world-renowned biomimicry consulting group, joins us to illuminate the potential of biomimicry to help us collectively thrive and align with and for Nature.

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LINKS

Janine Benyus, from the film Biomimicry https://youtu.be/sf4oW8OtaPY?si=7W26J9cyuTayDTda

Dayna Baumeister "Learning From Nature" Omega Institute for Holistic Studies

https://youtu.be/2SvltP8IcTk?si=5cqOAduiyyK2M26O

Janine Benyus, from a TED Talk

https://youtu.be/k_GFq12w5WU?si=4i1ChxIT7q6xe1FR

Anne LaForti is a soil nerd, myco (mushroom/fungi) enthusiast, and all-around biophile (nature lover). She has a Master's Degree in Biomimicry from Arizona State University, and is a project manager supporting nature-based innovation in the built environment and beyond at Biomimicry 3.8 [http://biomimicry.net]. She is deeply interested in ITEK (Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge), regenerative agriculture and landscapes, and is constantly curious about how to grow nutrient dense foods. Anne was the 2022 Spring Nature, Art & Habitat Residency (NAHR) Fellow [https://nahr.it/] in Santa Ynez, CA, working on "Soil as Pattern Language: Emulating Healthy Soil Communities" and has been a NAHR Ambassador since 2022.

Carry Kim, Co-Host of EcoJustice Radio. An advocate for ecosystem restoration, Indigenous lifeways, and a new humanity born of connection and compassion, she is a long-time volunteer for SoCal350, member of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, and a co-founder of the Soil Sponge Collective, a grassroots community organization dedicated to big and small scale regeneration of Mother Earth.

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Executive Producer and Intro: Jack Eidt

Hosted by Carry Kim

Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

Episode 216

Photo credit: Anne LaForti