Biomimicry for Everyone
Exploring nature's wisdom - with Norbert Hoeller and friends
Biomimicry is the science and art of emulating Nature's best biological ideas to solve human problems.
Non-toxic adhesives inspired by geckos, energy efficient buildings inspired by termite mounds, and resistance-free antibiotics inspired by red seaweed are examples of biomimicry happening today -- and none too soon. Humans may have a long way to go towards living sustainably on this planet, but 10-30 million species with time-tested genius helps us get there.
Here is our emerging programme; seeking to help our country grow as an innovator, working smarter at all levels:
(a) Public / Youth Forum - Tuesday 6th April 7.00pm - University - MAP
 Open to everyone - invite your schoolmates, teachers, workmates, bosses, friends and family.
Hosts: Nexus Student Sustainability Group,
Location: University of Auckland, Business School, Grafton Road, Room OGGB3
Tuesday evening 6th April 2010 (Easter Tuesday)
(With a diverse panel of students, scientists, educators and designers)
(Facilitated by Kepa Morgan, Auckland School of Engineering))
(A gold coin koha to contribute to costs will be appreciated please)
(format somewhat similar to www.kaitiakitanga.net/michaelbraungart)
6.30 - 7.00pm informal time for youth panel to meet with Norbert
7.00 - 8.30pm *Public presentation by Norbert, youth panel reflection and open to questions
8.30 - 9.00pm briefing by Norbert for those volunteering as learning facilitators next day
REGISTER YOUR INTEREST NOW PLEASE
- email nexus.sustainabilty@gmail.com and Nexus will remind you by email closer to the time.
To help us with our planning, please specify (without obligation) the sessions you think you may attend:
- Public / Youth Forum .............. A Quest (specify Q1- Q6 below please) ............. Designer Forum
- Are you a biologist, student, engineer, scientist, designer, innovator, artist, educator, Maori or any other who can add a different view point to help us better reflect on what nature can teach us?
- To be considered for the panel on either of the forums, please add a one paragraph profile.
- To volunteer to help as a facilitator at one of the Quests on Wednesday, please advise your area of expertise / interest and let us know which location would suit you best. ( For this you don't need to be a knowledge wiz (though you might contribute that in some places), but rather be good at listening and encouraging others. We need you to attend the Tuesday night forum / briefing for this please)
- Ask to get onto the Nexus Mailing list so that you get advance notice of other such events.
(b) Biomimicry Family Quest - Wed 7th April 10.00am
 Bring yourselves and your (grand)children (all ages) along for some fun learning at one of the following Auckland venues
9.00 am - 10.00am opportunity for learning facilitators to check out resources at each location
10.00am - 12.00am Natures Design Quest * - Children, students, designers, and families
Look at how things work in nature?
Compare how we would do it?
Come up with Life's Design Principles?
Consider problems we face in the light of Life's Principles?
Express a problem differently!
12.00am - 1.00pm volunteers stay to prepare for afternoon presentation of their learning.
* Bring your lunch and drinks to enjoy with others
QUEST LOCATION 1 - Auckland War Memorial Museum (Heritage Focus) free entry for all - MAP
Report to the Information Desk at the South Side Atrium at 10.00 am and ask for Virgil Evetts who will show you to the AV room for an introductory overview before exploring the museum treasures
(Facilitators to meet Virgil at Atrium Door at 9.00 am please to get orientated with exhibits)
- Questions and Resources:
What can Polynesian knowledge add to the field of Biomimicry with its technology and stories?
How did early NZ pioneers learn to live and prosper in a very different natural environment?
What can we learn about life today and its challenges from pre-historic fossil remains?
INFO - Teach Engineering - resources about learning from Fantastic Fossils
Learn from the exceptional exhibit on the role mangroves play in our ecosystem?
QUEST LOCATION 2 - Auckland Zoo (Animal Focus) - normal family zoo entry charges apply - MAP
Report to the main zoo gate (Gate 1) at 10.00 am and you will be directed to the NZCCM Lecture Theatre for a short briefing before the quest.
(Facilitators to meet at gate 1 at 9.30am where then go to the NZCCM lecture Theatre to set up, then take a quick look around the zoo before the participants arrive.
QUEST LOCATION 3 Maritime Museum (Marine / Design Focus) - normal family entry charges - MAP
Report to the main museum entry at 10.00am and you will be met by your facilitators for a short introduction and briefing prior to the quest.
(Facilitators to meet David Stiff, Museum Educator at the main entry main gate at 9.00 to get an overview of exhibits and help plan the quest beforehand)
- Questions and Resources:
How can migratory birds navigate and fly over massive distances with a very small fuel load?
How did early Polynesian voyagers find out about boat / sail designs and navigation ideas?
Were there any signs of Biomimicry in the design of the NZL32 Americas Cup boat?
VIDEO- How did a termite mound help with the design of the new museum extensions?
QUEST LOCATION 4 - MOTAT (Technology / Agriculture Focus) - normal family entry charges - MAP
Report at the Main Museum entry at 10.00 am and you will be met by your facilitators for a short introduction and briefing prior to the quest
( Facilitators to arrive and meet at the main gates at 9.00am
QUEST LOCATION 5 - ARATAKI CENTRE, WAITAKERE RANGES (Rainforest Focus) - Free Entry - MAP
Report at the upstairs reception desk at 10.00am and you will be let for a short introduction in the seminar room before going on the quest in the centre and on its Nature trail. Facilitators to report at 9.00am please
QUEST LOCATION 6 - An Environmental Restoration site - location to be confirmed
- Questions and Resources:
What can we learn nature to help us restore the health of our place, water and planet?
Who is effected and whose responsibility is it to do something positive for the place we live in?
How important are trees and porous surfaces - should we replace then with concrete and drains?
VIDEO - Nature teaches us about detoxification of the places we have polluted - our fungi friends?
Can we turn our city waterways back into places that nurture life and protect our harbours for all?
VIDEO INFO - Resources from Whaingaroa Harbourcare (Raglan) including videoclips
(c) Designer Forum - Wed 7th April 2.00pm - UNITEC Marae (Gate 3) - MAP
 Business, designers, scientists, educators, public, politicians, and others from a range of disciplines reflect on the discoveries of those on the quests and what that might mean for Aotearoa NZ
Hosts: UNITEC Marae (appreciate its unique design)
Location: Gate 3 Entry off Carrington Road
Wednesday 7th April 2010 (Easter Wednesday afternoon)
(Facilitated by Rau Hoskins Architect / Appropriate design tutor)
(supported by a panel of designers, business people and more)
(A gold coin koha to help cover costs will be appreciated please)
Theme:
"If you are working on the wrong problem its hard to get the right solution"
1.30pm - 2.00pm - Visitors formally welcomed onto marae, scene setting
2.00pm - 3.00pm - Quest Teams reflect on their morning's discoveries and learning
3.00pm - 3.30pm - Reflections by Norbert and panel - NZ moving as an innovator.
For those who have not entered the magnificent new Wharenui at Unitec you will find an exceptional rich and creative environment; very appropriate to embrace the learning of this forum. Its designer, Master Carver Lyonel Grant states:
"I wanted to do something new, not just decorate a box, but create a showcase for our culture that's unique in the world. To do that I had to turn the clock back 100 years, look at the traditional techniques, and then work out how modern construction methods could be used to complement those techniques, given that this wharenui is maybe three times bigger than the classical model."
What is Biomimicry?
Biomimicry is the science and art of emulating Nature's best biological ideas to solve human problems.
Non-toxic adhesives inspired by geckos, energy efficient buildings inspired by termite mounds, and resistance-free antibiotics inspired by red seaweed are examples of biomimicry happening today -- and none too soon. Humans may have a long way to go towards living sustainably on this planet, but 10-30 million species with time-tested genius help us get there.
Watch Janine Benyus explain Biomimicry on TED www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_biomimicry_in_action.html
Watch Jay Harman video on Nature's shapes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by0JhirtO-0
Learn more aabout the institute: www.biomimicryinstitute.org/about-us/what-is-biomimicry.html
See some biomimicry examples from San diego Zoo: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/conservation/biomimicry/examples
Read about the Designers Accord their Global Summit on Design Education and Sustainability and their Case studies with "Fast Company". Watch for details of their Biomimicry design Charrette (coming)
 What could we learn from the design of the kaka beak that nature has perfected for its task over millions of years?
Why may the underside of our silver fern be silver?
Look for some school weather station inspired answers here
How could we use this information to design something useful like a shadehouse that would nurture growth beneath it?
Ask Nature?
 Imagine 3.8 billion years of design brilliance available for free, at the moment of creation, to any sustainability innovator in the world.
Imagine nature's most elegant ideas organized by design and engineering function, so you can enter “remove salt from water” and see how mangroves, penguins, and shorebirds desalinate without fossil fuels. Now imagine you can meet the people who have studied these organisms, and together you can create the next great bio-inspired solution. Watch for the Ask Nature Database www.asknature.org
See also Tools for Teachers http://www.asktheplanetcd.org/tools_for_teachers.html
Norbert Hoeller
Is a resident of Ontario Canada who works with the Biomimicry Institute. He has offered to share some of this thinking with us while in holiday in NZ
Although not an 'official biomimicry speaker', he will put together a presentation with lots of time for questions, and will give an update on the 'Patterns from Nature' project.
He is also working with someone in Ontario on a workshop for Junior Kindergarten through grade 8 that will be quite different from the normal biomimicry 'show and tell'. Their assumption is that students know more about the subject than we think, but may not have a framework to 'connect the dots'. Most of the workshop is organised around asking them questions and exploring their answers, with a smattering of exercises for the 'physical learners'.
Other local contributors will work with him in these sessions
Thanks Norbert for generously extending your holiday in this part of the world to make this possible
Who are working together with "mutual leverage" to help make this happen?
This is an innovation focused initiative for Aotearoa NZ that is quietly emerging using living sysems thinking within a wide network embracing people from Nexus Student Sustainability Group, Ngati Whatua, University of Auckland, Auckland University of Technology, Massey University, UNITEC, Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland Zoo, Auckland Museum, Maritime Museum, The Sir Peter Blake Trust, Spirit of Adventure Trust, Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT), ARC Arataki Centre, Enviroschools Auckland, Envirochallenge, LENScience, NZTE "Better by Design", Designers Institute of NZ, IPENZ, Intercreate / Ecosapiens, Intersect, yMedia CHALLENGE, Ecomatters Environment Trust, Transition Towns, Forest and Bird (Auckland), The Royal Society, Sustainable Aotearoa SANZ, The NZ Business Council for Sustainable Development, The Sustainable Business Network, The Natural Step, The Kaitiakitanga Network and many others.
If you can contribute in any way to to help the the volunteer team making this happen please email us.
The Kaitiakitanga Network has made these connections with the Biomimicry Institute and others that share processes of observation that match those that have been practiced for ages as indigenous science; In this world view, we see ourselves as just another rich part of the magnificent natural world we live in.
THIS IS ADVANCE INFORMATION - Watch this site as details emerge
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