Is Biomimicry the key to solving our climate crisis?

Illustrated by Kimi Moana Whiting

We’re halfway through 2022 and there are only so many words we can use to open acknowledging the climate crisis before running out. In case you didn’t know – we are in a climate crisis, and biomimicry could be just what saves us.

So, what the fuck is biomimicry? Like the name suggests, it’s the act of using science to mimic nature’s technology,

“Biomimicry studies nature’s models and then emulates their forms, process, systems and strategies to solve human problems in a sustainable manner.”

This is honestly where a shit tonne of modern engineering comes from. Togs were inspired by sharks' skin, we looked to birds when engineering planes, and took inspiration from whales' energy use to create wind turbines. The list goes on and on.

Think about it, nature has had billions of years (4.6 to be exact) to evolve into the complicated system it is now. Every creature contributes something to the ecosystem which allows it to keep running.

As you’d expect with a growing interest in climate science, scientists and engineers are adopting nature’s technology more than ever.

In Japan, an engineer was figuring out how to make their hecking loud high-speed trains create less noise. He was watching a kingfisher dive into the water and noticed how the bird could do so with no splash. When he designed the train with the kingfisher in mind, not only did he resolve the uncomfortably loud sounds, but also reduced energy use and increased speed.

Another example along these lines is in Zimbabwe. The country's largest shopping centre and apartment complex was designed with sustainable energy use in mind. Much like Japan’s bullet train engineer, the head architect of this project was studying termite mounds and the way they kept cool inside regardless of the hot climate. Using similar structures to the mounds, the building ended up consuming 90 per cent less energy than a typical building of that size would have.

This is big stuff: and it’s time to take nature seriously. Dayna Bameister, director of ASU’s Biomimicry Centre says she’s seen student interest in the field grow impressively over recent years. “The world is finally waking up to the potential of biomimicry as a tool and the path towards a regenerative future,” says Baumeister, who believes the pandemic opened people's minds to our adaptability as a species and the potential for crisis.

The potential of biomimicry is huge, these are just the innovations that we’ve already made. Scientists are looking at agrocultures, where different species and plants (i.e., trees and bushes) are planted and harvested in the same plots of land: like how plants naturally grow. Our monocultures of grapevines, pine trees, cotton farms and what have you are incredibly unsustainable. Not only do agrocultures capture significantly higher amounts of carbon, but they’re also resistant to extreme weather conditions: its why nature evolved to be like this. The potential of agrocultures to influence the fast-fashion industry is huge.

With all of this being said, however, there’s always a ‘but’.

Firstly, biomimicry isn’t one simple end all solution. We need to not only change our science but also our mindsets. Biomimicry has been used to develop significant amounts of technology which ended up stitching planet earth in the first place – plastic was also inspired by plants. Taking biomimicry into the social realms as well as scientific is how we can safeguard companies from doing their signature greenwashing move.

Secondly, biomimicry isn’t this genius new concept. For centuries, indigenous populations across the world have used nature’s technology for sustainable development. It’s a really cheesy and overdone move if we all act like it’s this amazing scientific breakthrough because it’s really nothing new.

If we want to harness the full potential of biomimicry it means working with smaller local communities who understand the land they’re living on and those who have practiced it for centuries. The climate crisis is possible to resolve it started out as a fully avoidable crisis – now we're here.

We can fight for a bright future, but first, we need to stop being ignorant and greedy.