Form iSite: the Cup Plant

Did you get outside this weekend? Share your experiences with us through our June iSite Challenge: Exploring Forms in Nature!

For example, this is the cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum L.), a plant native to our region that has leaves that join together at the stem to form a cup, holding water to attract birds and pollinators. So we could ask ourselves "how does nature attract collaborators?" or "how does nature store water?" and we could look to the cup plant for inspiration!

What will you discover? Check out our new website to learn more! http://www.biomimicrychicago.net/events/

The fire resistance of the Bur Oak

Did you go outside this weekend and observe nature's forms? Join us for our June iSite challenge!

I (Amy) took a walk this morning through the The Morton Arboretum and loved seeing all of the gorgeous Bur Oaks. These native trees are naturally fire resistant because of their thick, corky bark with deep ridges that passively channel hot air up and away from the surface of the tree. This adaptation helped the tree to survive in the fire-adapted oak savannahs native to our area. Imagine if our buildings could learn from this adaptation to channel hot air up and away, passively cooling the structure?

Visit http://www.biomimicrychicago.net/events/ to learn how YOU can participate in this challenge! And find time to go outside today!

How does nature distribute resources and information? #cottonwood #summersnow

Cottonwood trees propagate their seeds and distribute the "information" needed to reproduce using efficiency and resilience strategies!

Like most wind propagated species, the Cottonwood tree leverages an existing, readily available resource to help it distribute seeds: wind. Instead of spending its own energy to distribute its seeds, it uses the wind to do it instead. This strategy allows the tree to distribute thousands of seeds as far as the wind blows. But is the distribution of thousands of seeds with the hope that only a few will mature really that efficient? It is when you take resilience strategies into account.

"R select" species such as the Cottonwood use a reproduction strategy where multitudes of seeds are a produced but each one requires a very low investment for the plant. And this shear abundance is a resilience strategy because 1) their abundance ensures that at least a few will land in growing conditions in which they will thrive and 2) their genetic diversity allows for adaptation to these growing conditions.

And even the vast majority of seeds that do not become a tree will provide food and building materials that feed the ecosystem - another example of nature creating conditions conducive to life!

So what can we learn from nature to distribute resources and information?

Leverage existing, renewable energy flows instead of doing everything yourself - i.e. leverage solar and wind energies as well as collaborative relationships
Package information to be distributed in a low-cost, energy efficient way and send out multitudes in the hope that a few will land in the right place and thrive - i.e. nature's version of email spam, and like spam these cottony seeds that coat everything can be quite annoying!
Rapidly prototype many different ideas and send them out into the wind to see what sticks!

...and many more! How can you learn from the Cottonwood tree?

See also: https://asknature.org/…/lightweight-structure-aids-dispers…/

Let's get outside and learn - together!

Summer is an AMAZING time to be outside and experience nature, and this summer Biomimicry Chicago would like to invite you to experience nature with us - biomimicry style!

Biomimicry is the emulation of life’s forms, processes, and systems into the context of human innovation, and we want everyone in the Biomimicry Chicago network to collectively explore our region and share ideas. Each month, we will be giving you an observational challenge - what biomimics call an “iSite,” where we will ask you to go outside in a natural area by you and observe life’s forms, processes, and systems in context and explore what YOU can learn from nature. This is a FREE program that we are offering to build the biomimicry competency of local practitioners while growing our network, so join us today! Sign up for our mailing list and learn more today!

Schedule:

• June’s Challenge: Exploring Life’s Forms
• July’s Challenge: Exploring Life’s Processes
• August’s Challenge: Exploring Life’s Systems

To participate, all you need to do is read the challenge, find a natural area near you, and observe. Complete the exercise and send your sketches, essays, or photos to us at biomimicrychicago@gmail.com and we will compile your entries and showcase them to the Global Biomimicry Network through our website and social media channels.

Explore your own creativity and learn about biomimicry this summer with Biomimicry Chicago!

June’s Challenge: Finding Forms in Nature

Integral to the practice of biomimicry is a connection with and respect for life’s organisms and ecosystems. To foster this connection and hone your skills of observation, we ask you to go outside in a natural area (a wildlife preserve, a garden, or even your backyard) and observe nature’s forms. For a portion of the time, just sit and be still. Do not check your phone or record observations at first – just open your eyes and “quiet your cleverness” as Dr. Dayna Baumeister says. Relax, focus on (re)connecting with the world around you, and let your creative juices flow.

When you are ready, consider the following questions:

• Where are you?
• What are you observing?
• What forms do you see that intrigue you?
• Are they examples of well-adapted design? If so, how?
• What design insights does this give you for your own life and work?
• What do you want to learn more about?

We recommend you spend at least 30 minutes outside just observing and then record your observations in a journal entry, blog, video, graphic, sketch or other medium and including a photo or two to remember your experience.

An example of completed assignment, for your reference:
http://b-collaborative.blogspot.com/2011/07/today-was-beautiful-sunny-day-for-bike.html

Exercise adapted from Biomimicry3.8 Professional Certificate Program iSite with facilitated discussion methods from Technology of Participation by The Institute of Cultural Affairs.
http://biomimicry.net/educating/professional-training/bprofessional/
https://icausa.memberclicks.net/top-facilitation-methods

Getting Ready for our Deep Roots Workshop: My Current Reading List

We are getting more and more excited as we prepare for our upcoming Deep Roots Workshop April 21. As we dig deeper into how biomimicry can apply to the built environment not only as it applies to a building or project site, but also to a regional discussion of what all sustainability and resiliency efforts are working towards, we are adding shape to our Deep Roots vision. I wrote about this recently on my Think Biomimicry blog post about shifting a built environment designed to sit upon a landscape into one that lives within it, and included my current reading list as I prepare for our workshop.

We are inspired and awed by the incredible work taking place within the Chicagoland region such as the Calumet Stormwater Collaborative, the Center for Neighborhood Technology Rain Ready program, the innovative work of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District including their Restore the Canopy, Plant a Tree program, the Urban Wildlife Institute which studies the interaction between urban development and the natural ecosystem, and of course the Chicago Metropolitan Planning Council's work to envision a future for our region.

Together, these efforts and countless others move our region in a direction towards restoring greater resilience and sustainability. The question is, how will we know if we have done enough or how far we have to go? How do we know if we achieve "sustainability" or sufficient redundancy and diversity in our systems to be able to provide the services needed to live here for centuries to come?

I hope you find the articles inspiring and get you thinking about our built environment in a whole new way. Bring that thinking to our workshop! We're excited to share our thoughts and hope to learn from and work with you to figure out how to make it a reality.

Biomimicry Chicago Upcoming Events: April 2017

Carbon as Catalyst Thursday April 6 5:30 - 6:30pm Hosted by AECOM, 100 South Wacker Drive, Suite 500, Chicago RSVP for this FREE event TODAY!

Moving beyond carbon emissions. In nature, carbon cycles throughout our atmosphere, soils, water and all life, tying us all together. Carbon is a critical abundant resource that, together with water and the energy from sunlight, forms the fundamental building blocks of life. Next Thursday April 6, learn how people fighting climate change are beginning to move beyond simply reducing carbon emissions to a strategy of looking to complete the carbon cycle as nature does, including seeing carbon as a resource and catalyst for new business opportunities.  Thirsty Thursdays: RSVP Today! Deep Roots Workshop, Friday April 21, 2017 Don't forget to register today for our Deep Roots Workshop! We are excited to share our vision for how the topics we've covered in our Thirsty Thursday events - ecosystem services, biodiversity, water and carbon management - can tie together to create a science-based framework that defines sustainability for our region. For more information, visit our event website. Early Bird pricing ends April 7! Workshop: RSVP Today!

Think Biomimicry #SystemReset Series - New Post!

In my latest post on Trulstech's innovative Molecular Heat Eater (MHE) family of flame retardants and the flame retardant industry, I continue to explore how using biomimicry to not only innovate new technology but also use different materials based on life-friendly chemistry has the potential to disrupt entire product category ecosystems toward a more sustainable future.