Nature as teacher

I am not a scientist. The right side of my brain seems stronger to me than the left. Logic and intuition sometimes coexist peaceably within me, sometimes not. I read an article in the Sun magazine yesterday about science that really excited me. It is unusual for me to even read an article about science and I was drawn to it because although I love reading the Sun's insightful poems stories and interviews. It was an interview with Janine Benyus, a biologist and science writer who wrote a book about what she calls biomimicry. Biomimicry is the concept of teaching humans how to learn from nature. Biomimicry means to imitate life. The first step she advises in solving a problem is to look at the solutions that can be found in nature. She consults with private businesses and founded the non-profit Biomimicry Institute to promote the biomimicry concept to the larger culture. The institute runs the website www.asknature.org, a public domain resource for anyone looking for nature's answer to a design problem. What excited me about this article was Janine's passion for sustainable conservation and industrial ecology. I don't think I really understood either of those terms except vaguely before reading this article. Janine talks in a way that translates scientific jargon into laypersons terms. She made what she does juicy for me. Before reading this article I would never have attempted to pass anything remotely scientific on to you. She is a bridge person, connecting engineers and architects to mother nature and her ways of wisdom. She helps people to see that in the development of new projects and products nature can be seen as a teacher rather than something to be conquered. For instance, she helped the company Seventh Generation improve their environmentally friendly cleansers by helping them look at the natural world. "The natural world doesn't use soap to remove dirt. But if leaves get dust on them they are not going to be able to photosynthesize. So how do they stay clean? A lotus leaf has little "nanobumps" to which dirt particles adhere very loosely. When rainwater comes, the dirt balls up on these bumps and rolls away, picking up remaining dirt particles as it goes. The plant uses the kinetic energy in rainwater to clean itself for free. It's called the "lotus effect". Janine says that now companies have designed all kinds of self-cleaning products-exterior house paint, roofing tiles, fabrics, cement, glass-with this nonobump structure. She also is working with green architects to create structures whose abilities to perform mimic nature. For instance some cacti are pleated, and the pleats actually shade the parts of other plants. In Phoenix, Arizona where there is less shade and moisture than is needed she consulted with building firms to construct buildings with pleats to shade other buildings. Nature takes into consideration the interdependance of all beings. For example, the body of the bumblebee and the body of the flowers that they depend on have evolved to fit better together. Geese fly in formation and feed on the energy created by the goose in front of them. Nature is interdependance. That is nature's dance. I am inspired by this article to hang out in nature. Janine lives in Montana in a beautiful natural place and works hard to balance her busy work schedule and commitment to helping the planet with lots of time at home alone and with her partner in the woods. You could call that honoring the natural balance.
So, I am looking at what nature has to teach me. When I recognize a teacher I like to study with that teacher. I am looking to find a time to be in nature and be still- to open my heart and ask my questions and absorb my answers. How about you? What questions do you have or problems you want to solve that nature might help you with? I am grateful to Janine Benyus for her vision and her capacity to widen mine. I am grateful to the Sun magazine for continuously giving me opportunities to grow and learn and doing it with no advertising.
www.thesunmagazine.org. Check it out if the spirit moves you.