Biomimicry: What we can learn from 3.8 billion years of experience of Nature
Context
Confronted with our current challenges (climate, emissions, energy transition, poverty and inequality, mobility), created by our impact on Nature, Nature can teach us useful lessons on how to deal with those challenges sustainably. COP26 closed its doors, and we are all going to work on emission reductions, but we run a bit behind the facts. Maybe it makes sense to produce more in harmony with nature. Prevention is also in this case better than cure.
Nature has a magic power. Humans only experience their true being in relationship with Nature. Nature learned to do exactly what needs to be done: not too much, not too little. The purpose of Nature is neither growth nor revenue, but it is to evolve sustainably, in harmony and richness of experience. I am, since I belong: Ubuntu. Nature is systemic, autopoietic and transparent.
The story
Our challenges are big, multiple, complex and the way we approach them for years now, seems to be inadequate; maybe, our approaches even cause the problems. Nature always survives, if left untouched by humans. What can we learn from Nature; time is precious.
This photo series illustrates visually the concept of biomimicry and brings it under the attention as a more profound approach to sustainability. Biomimicry is the science and art of mimicking the best ideas of nature, to design human solutions, to improve them and to make them more sustainable. On the one hand, the series illustrates the six basic principles of Nature’s survival. On the other hand, we show applications with potentially high impact for our lives.
Biomimicry is also a message of hope. We do not highlight what goes wrong, but rather how we could do it differently, how we could contribute positively to a more sustainable world. It shows an impactful way forward.
Our challenges have a great impact on the quality of life on our planet. Some even refer to the risk of extinction of humankind. Using the lessons that Nature learned, to develop ‘natural’ solutions for our challenges, could have a strong positive impact on our lives, and possibly lead to a sustainable, inclusive society. The chance it too nice, not to try it.
The beauty in the beast
Society has become increasingly divided. The language we use is more violent and more aggressive. Due to social media, we all got a podium, to share our ideas; meaningful or not, true or not, based on any knowledge or experience or not. Things are often presented as either beautiful or ugly, false or true, and there is little in between. But beauty and pain are both present, together, in most real-life situations. Even in the worst of situations, there is often also beauty in life.
The series shows a few of those situations, either in real life, or as an illustration. The purpose is not that much to claim any validity or truth with the pictures, but rather to give food for thought. The pictures all contain both beauty and ugliness, what we could call the ‘beast’ in ourselves or in the others. The balance and harmony between those two, the fact that life only exists in bridging those two, wants to be an optimistic message. Maybe we should search for that beauty, even in the darkest of days.
Values in action
Context
This coffee table book has been made for the 50th anniversary of the Graduate School of Business of the University of Cape Town, to be used as a business gift. It are two books in one, and they are read in opposite directions. In that respect it is a unique book, nevertheless having two ISBN numbers. Each side has its own cover and title and can be read completely independent from the other one. But they make much more sense together. The book was made possible by the Allan Gray Center for Values Based Leadership.
99 things to learn in business school
This book offers the reader 99 important, sometimes annoying questions that matter in business. It are the questions that are often not dealt with in Business Schools, but that illustrate the profound challenges of companies and managers today. They relate to impact, values, human dimensions of management, sustainability; issues that could change the face of business for the better. These lessons are brought in two formats. The first is a theatric of a hyena and a giraffe, around the assumptions of our business thinking. In the margin of that theatric, questions are ‘written’. The rest of the book are just straight forward questions, lessons learned, and the reader is invited to answer them.
Values in action
The second book (the opposite direction for the reader) is a series of 99 pictures, each illustrating a value in action. Often, we discuss values as if they were theoretical concepts, ideas, wishful things to do. But we see them everywhere, and they play a role in almost all our decisions. These pictures illustrate that aspect of values: they are not theoretical, or wishful, but anchored in everyday life. The pictures in this book solicit the viewer to become more aware of values in everyday life.