Image and article by Amy Coffman Phillips of The B-Collaborative (cross posted)

On a beautiful day when the sun is shining brightly, have you ever asked yourself, "how does nature optimize energy use?" Do plants dig miles below the earth's surface to pump up fossil sunlight, or does life use the abundant rays that beam to the surface every day? Does energy production in nature result in wasteful by-products or does it actually create conditions conducive to life? What can our built environment learn by asking these questions?

Discover answers to this and more at the Chicago Biomimicry Immersion, starting April 25th at The Morton Arboretum! Be sure to enter the promo code "BIOCHI10" for 10% off the cost of registration! www.prairielab.com/immersion.

Biomimicry at the Greening the Heartland Conference!

In a few weeks, check out the Greening the Heartland conference where fellow Biomimicry Chicago collaborators will be facilitating a 4-hour workshop on Net-Zero Energy using biomimicry as an innovation methodology. 

"Discovering Innovative Solutions for Designing Net-Zero Energy Buildings Today: An Immersive Prairie Lab Experience"

Monday, September 9th 1:30 PM to 5:30 PM
Session Code: GM11 (additional fee applies)

Session Description:
The founding partners of Prairie Lab – an innovative professional education provider - present a facilitated brainstorming and problem-solving workshop in an innovative, immersive learning experience. Participants will be presented with challenges within the sustainable design sphere, and facilitators will guide participants through a hands-on learning process to identify and select possible solutions to those challenges. Through facilitated discussion and collaboration, participants then will work through the solutions to specifically apply them in context. Attendees will learn skills and processes that form a critical foundation for successful integrative design.

Please register here.

Presenters: Michelle Halle Stern, Amy Coffman Philips, and Joseph Clair, Prairie Lab, LLC