Biomimicy Change Levers

Three upcoming events on biomimicry may be of interest to EcoSapiens blog readers:

AMED (The Association of Management Education & Development) are hosting a half day workshop on 'biomimicry change levers for behaviour change' on 30 September in London. Run by Andy Middleton and Belina Raffy, the workshop will provide an introdcution and overview of the ways that biomimicry brings fresh perspectives and proven solutions to organisations wanting to embed sustainability and innovation. There's a small charge for the event.

MAFFICK's Belina Raffy is offering one business, community group or organisation in London the opportunity for a FREE 90 minute 'biomimicry and business change' workshop as taster event and trial of new materials that she's developed for the Applied Improvisation Network's annual conference in November.

ECOSAPIENS are working with SOCIETAS' Melissa Sterry and the team at NEW FRONTIERS to develop a four day biomimicry and social change conference that will take place in Cardiff in spring 2010. Topics will cover change levers, communication and behaviour change, and possibly and workshop on community engagement & food resilience.

Email or phone us on +44 1437 720879 for further information.

Food Security - new resources

The Sustainable Development Commission have just released their new paper "Food Security & Sustainability - A Perfect Fit", which is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding why we must keep food firmly on the radar for carbon reduction, biodiversity and community security.

The timing of the document fits with the upcoming release of the TYF EcoSapiens / Hay on Earth Food Security Plan for Wales, which moves the focus from understanding to action. Much of the work on the draft has been completed by John Fagan from the Global ID Group, one of the world's leading non-GM testing organisations, and passionate advocate for sustainability and transparency in our food supply. The plan will be published on this site in two weeks time; email Andy Middleton if you want to see a copy of the draft - comments welcome.

Elsewhere in Wales, we are encouraged by news that Groundwork are close to securing the first site to develop as a Naked Food pilot site, where we will be working with socially excluded groups to develop the technical and operational skills to develop small scale, commercial horticulture projects.

Biomimicry - Inspired by Nature

The University of Salford's Trevor Cox explores biomimicry with experts including Michael Pawyln, EcoSapiens associate and 2009 Do Lectures speaker, HRH Prince of Wales and thinkers at the front of technology and design. Michael  talks about the way that inspriation comes from natural forms, natural processes and natural systems, and these systems are picked up in turn by Trevor Cox. Listen to the article on the BBC's iplayer . Examples talked about include

• Velcro - insight from the stickiness of burdock burrs on a pet dog's fur created a new way of temporarily stikin things together
• Plastic wood made from glass fibre which replicates the performance of wood with changed scale and materials, keeping the proerties that makes it work. Advantages of going 'beyond wood' inckude create materials which don't move and are temperature stable.
• Pine cones have inspired inspired fabric, includes one made by Schoeller that has panels that open when it gets warm, using the same mechanism that the pine cones use to open in dry weather to drop their seeds, and close when it's cold
• Lotus leaves with their nano-rough surface ensure that dirt particles 'wobble' on the rough parts of the surface, allowing water droplets to collect dirt iand roll it off in the same way that snowballs that pick up moss and grass when moved
• The Namibian Fog Basking Dune Beetle has found a way of harvesting water from its matt black shell. During the day the shell heats up and at night uses it to collect water that condenses, with effectiveness increased by hydrophilic coatings, allowing the beetle to run the water to its mouth; Michael Pawlyn and Charlie Paton have used this to create the Salt Water Greenhouse that turns sea water to fresh using processes inspired by the beetle
• Mutualistic relationships are abundant in nature and are used with the saltwater greenhouse - working out one technology that could work with with the greenhouse is concentrated solar power (CSP); huge heat-focusing mirrors that need to be cleaned with demineralised water and produce waste heat. The salt water greenhouses produce the water needed for CSP and benefit from more heat...
• Janine Benyus talked of taking engineers to the Galapagos Islands, and looked at the way that shells crystalise limited amounts of calcium carbonate to create shells - they worked out from shell inspiration how to stop scaling in pipes, a huge issue in industry.
• Michael talking about the remarkable efficiency of natural systems, and the scheme that Graham Wiles has set up - The Able Project.  Graham uses vermiculture, cardbaord and compost to grow worms which he feeds to fish. He needed warmth to grow the fish in the winter, and used willow grown on human sludge to heat the water. He's also providing 'ecosystem services', including reducing transport for human sludge and social service programmes. Fish waste is passed through water cress beds that extract the waste from the fish, and transform dirty water into clean, with the waste from the crop and fish poo going finally ending up in the worm composting with cardboard. Worms get fed to the fish, including sturgeon so that in a few years time they'll be harvesting Yorkshire Caviar.
• Michael talks about a project that he developed where biodegradable waste is process using vertical biodigesters that produce heat and recyclate, creating a 'rainforest experience' that produced heat and energy to make money before customers even walked through the door
• Janine Benyus commented how business is looking for solutions that are novel and also proven - opportunities to look at 3.8bn years of solution

There is likely to be a big thrust towards biomimicry, and note of caution about the loss of tens and thousands of species, many of which could potentially have provided us life-giving properties. One example is the gastric brooding frog, which nurtured its young in its stomach, able to do this because it could turn off its stomach acid. Scientists are keen to discover this to reduce illness caused by stomach acid, but they won't be finding out from this critter, as it's extinct.

Michael Pawylyn, Prof Julian Vincent and I will be working with a group of the UK's leadind biomimcry specialist at a three day conference in Cardiff in the spring of 2010 to explore structures, systems and processes, as applied to sustainability and rapid transformation. For more information and an outline brochure on programmes already available for business and government, please email us.

Join the Do Lectures

The Do Lectures are around 6 weeks away. The speakers are preparing their talks, and ticket holders readying for inspiration. We're offering a crowd-sourcing membership of the Do Lectures this year to raise money for the talks and help reach 1 million people next year. Here's why in words penned by Do founder and co-pilot David Hieatt

Why The Do Lectures matter?

And why becoming a member matters too?

We live in interesting times.

And we live in important times.

Most of the important business models have yet to be written.

Most of the ‘why didn’t I think of that’ answers for climate change have yet to be dreamt of.

Most of the important scientific or technological breakthroughs are just doodles on a notepad.

As well as interesting times, these are exciting times.

Necessity will make a good taskmaster. Crisis will make a good editor. Having finite resources will make us infinitely more creative with how we use them going forward.

Yup, interesting times.

And if consumers will have to change how they consume, and if business will have to change how they do business, then so will Government have to change how they govern.

Our system of having a four-year government for 100-year problems means tough decisions are rarely made. A manifesto designed to win votes isn’t the same as a manifesto designed to do what needs to be done for the safety of future generations.

And how we have treated this planet in the past will have to be different to how we treat it in the future. A tree helps produce oxygen, rain and sucks in carbon dioxide. Yet we only put a value to it once we cut it down. At the very same time as when it stops producing rain, when it stops producing oxygen and stops sucking in carbon dioxide.

Indeed these are interesting times.

We have to fill in a 3-page form to start an account with Fed Ex. Yet a badly run bank has to only fill in a 2-page form to get billions from the Government to shore up their bank.

Interesting times, indeed.

But rather than being a time to be down or despondent, this is the time for great change. And yes, there is much that needs changing. There is much to do.

But reassuringly the human mind is more creative than any computer will ever be. The answers will come from the brightest, stubborn-nest, and oddest of people.

And the thing that brings this oddball bunch together is that they are all stubborn dreamers. Brilliant enough to have the idea. Stubborn enough to make it happen.

Buckminster Fuller described the importance of vision best when he said, “ There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly”. But as well as the vision, you need that grit determination to make your idea live.

That is what The Do Lectures is here to Do. It is a platform for the Doers of the world to tell us their stories. So they can inspire the rest of us to go do something amazing too. In simple farming terms, it is just manure for the field. It is here to help grow ideas.

The Do Lectures is not a business, but it has to pay its way in the world. Appropriately a set of talks with sustainability at its heart needs to be, well, yes, sustainable.

To that end, we sell tickets for the event so the rest of the world can see them the talks for free. Our aim this year is for a million people to see the talks. To me, that is a lot of ‘mind manure’ being spread around the world.

So does the Do Lectures matter? I believe they do. And maybe they matter more in these interesting times than any other time.

I believe that ‘mind manure’ sure needs spreading around.

So my last question today is would you become a member of The Do Lectures?

Memberships costs £50. You will receive 4 newsletters a year. Have the inside track on choosing speakers and be able to make suggestions too. Have first refusal on future tickets. Receive a Do Lectures 2009 T-shirt that has a chance of coming with a golden ticket to this years Do lectures.

But the biggest thing of all is just to feel part of it. To feel like you are doing something to make this happen. To become a doer too.

So if this is crowd funding in its truest form, we need the crowd to put their hands up and say ‘I’m in.’ ‘I think The Do Lectures matter. Here’s my £50.’

A simple email to Claire@thedolectures.co.uk will be enough to start this off

Walmart green cleans its supply chain

Worldwatch reported this week that Walmart (Asda's parent company) have increased the level of scrutiny that they're applying to the process of getting products from raw materials to their customer's homes and shelves.

They're going to be asking all suppliers to report on the full environmental cost of their products, in a move that will have enormous impacts on other businesses. With more than 100,000 supplier businesses worldwide and the drive of CEO Lee Scott, this is one pebble that whose ripples will travel far and wide. Watch this space.