Financial crisis could pave way for greener economy inspired by nature

Financial crisis could pave way for greener economy inspired by nature.

"Biomimicry — the use of nature to inspire design — could serve as a model for a greener economy that rises out of the ashes of the financial crisis, said experts meeting at a sustainability conference in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Speaking at the three-day Bioneers conference in San Rafael, Janine Benyus, a leading voice in the emerging field of biomimicry, said that nature offers lessons that can be applied to build better and more sustainable products and services as well as economic models."

At Bioneers and the follow-on Climate-Change Solutions workshop, Janine Benyus spoke about her recent attendance at the Barcelona IUCN conference as well as the implications of the recent economic upheavals.  Although biodiversity is under attack on multiple fronts, the challenges facing us as a species are awakening a desire to find a more sustainable and inclusive path.

The post also discusses the Natures 100 Best initiative that ended up with over 2100 ideas which were organized by function such as "49 new ways to generate energy, 23 new ways to absorb water and 44 ways to store it, 58 new ways to manage extreme temperatures, 42 news ways to cooperate, and more than 180 ways to communicate" along with a number of commercial applications.  Other initiatives include Innovation for Conservation and the AskNature portal.

Thanks to Megan Schuknecht for the pointer!

Additional information about Bioneers and related events:

• Bioneers 2008: Janine Benyus, Nature's Best 100 Solutions, and 16 Businesses Using Biomimicry (talk summary and 7 minute video)
• Biomimicry: the Next Generation of Technology. [Janine Benyus, Bioneers] (another summary with extensive links)
• Bioneers 2008: David Orr, Greg Watson and Paul Stamets (David Orr on Presidential Climate Action Project, Greg Watson on Renewable Energy Revolution, Paul Stamets on the Miracle of Fungi, extensive links to other resources)
• Looking toward the future - Colorado Bioneers Conference discusses green opportunities (talks by Ray Anderson, Alexandra Cousteau and Rebecca Moore; workshops including Biomimicry: Nature-Inspired Design by Lauren Cooper)

Comments

[Scott]

There is a principle called Ockham's razor which is attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar, William of Ockham. It basically states that – "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best."

The following are two simple ideas that effectively create the ideal social construct.

Simple Idea #1

1. Socialize ALL Land

2. Charge leases on ALL Land based on demand.

3. Return 100% of the resulting revenue to every man, woman and child in the form of a yearly dividend check.

4. Make the Universal Birthright of Land an Everlasting Standard in the education of every Child.

This effectively makes the average piece of Land Free for every Living Soul and restores our Natural Birthright as well as coupling our social construct to the Principles of Life.

Simple Idea #2

1. Remove ALL FORMS of taxation

2. Implement a Tax on ALL new goods based on the resources they contain and the resources they use in production and delivery (this can easily be implemented with the current barcode system used at the checkout)

3. Use this system to encourage/discourage various resource usages (High tax on non-renewable/ecosystem damaging products and low/no tax on renewable/ecosystem enhancing products) and to encourage purchasing of local products.

4. Use the resulting revenue to fund infrastructure expenses and the restoration of ecosystems.

This effectively encourages the creation/use of longer lasting, high quality products as well as encouraging recycling and reuse of existing products.

Idea #2 effectively constrains the ravaging appetite of the capitalistic consumer society within the Boundaries of Sustainability while Idea #1 effectively encloses both Sustainability and capitalism within the Principles of Life.

That's it!!! Simple and Effective

Scott