"Viewers will be...inspired by the implications that biomimicry has for a healthier world."
Alexis Karolides, AIA, Principal, Rocky Mountain Institute
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This two-part series is based on the acclaimed book, "Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature", by Janine Benyus.
Biomimicry is a new science that studies nature's best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems.
The first program takes us to The Land Institute in Kansas, which has been instrumental in helping us to appreciate life's genius as expressed in the native perennial plants of the prairie. In an attempt to mimic their success, scientists at The Land Institute are attempting to perennialize wheat, rye, sorghum, sunflowers and other crops.
At Arizona State University, Devens Gust, and Ana and Thomas Moore are learning how to mimic the engine of all life on earth, photosynthesis; while James Guillet at the University of Toronto has created an enzyme that uses the sun's rays to detoxify PCBs. CEO Ray Anderson is using nature as a model for the operations of his entire company, Interface, the largest manufacturer of commercial floor coverings in the world.
Anderson was inspired by Paul Hawken's book "The Ecology of Commerce". Authors Hawken and Benyus show us that biomimicry allows us to reconnect with nature, and to find our place on our home planet.
The other title in the series is:
Biomimicry - Part Two - Advances in materials and medicine based on research into natural processes.
Grade Level: 7-12, College, Adult
US Release Date: 2003
Copyright Date: 2002
DVD ISBN: 1-59458-207-6
VHS ISBN: 1-56029-991-6
Reviews
"BIOMIMICRY is a profound way for a viewer to invest 90 minutes. They convincingly show the importance (and also the challenge) of changing our world view to be one that focuses on a dialogue with, and adopting the ways of, nature rather than one of domination and control."
Professor Robert M. Goodman, PhD, Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"Introduces a concept worthy of wide exploration in a world dazzled by the industrial artifacts around us...Over the millions of years, nature's life forms through natural selection have had to live with the constraints of the entropy law on a solar budget." Wes Jackson, The Land Institute
"Viewers of BIOMIMICRY: LEARNING FROM NATURE will be captivated by an insider's view of exciting current research, dazzled by the infinite possibilities open for exploration, and inspired by the implications that biomimicry has for a healthier world." Alexis Karolides, AIA, Principal, Rocky Mountain Institute
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