INNOVATION

How Can We Grow a Good Future with Biomimicry?

#1 Innovation Method Right Now

The day I met Gunter Pauli, the Steve Jobs of Sustainability, really changed my life. It was 2012. I had been searching for a long time in my life for my meaning in life. My personal purpose.

What do I want, I thought. What do I really want? I had a good life, management jobs, and a good salary. But I missed the meaning of it all.

How can we transform this shitty world, I thought.

And how can I contribute?

The lecture I went to in Zeist changed it. I saw my purpose in front of me. I had found my meaning. And with hindsight, my life would change forever. That’s how things become clear, don’t they?

With hindsight.

Gunter’s book The Blue Economy had just been published in my country, the Netherlands. I read it and was inspired. So, I attended The Blue Economy Summer School at the University of Pecs, Hungary. And came back with so much adrenaline in my body, I thought I would burst.

My worldview had turned upside down!

Completely shifted! And my conscious journey started for real.

What does this have to do with biomimicry? Everything!

The Blue Economy is about systemic design with nature as a teacher. And with it in my backpack, I went to learn more, more, more. Until I am what I am now.

A transformer of realities. A changer of systems. Economies. Societies. Communities. Technologies. Science. All applied with common sense.

We now do technology (that word means no more than functionality for humans, made by humans) in strange ways. Nature does it way more cleverly. With processes instead of cutting and pasting. But then, our Mother has 4.6 billion years of experience behind her.

And we only use 20% now of what she teaches us. There’s a world to explore. There’s a world to discover!

As humans, we have been roaming this planet for only 300,000 years. We are a toddler species. And all we need to do is learn. And do it better tomorrow.

I write so you can find your role in this.

Everybody has a role, you know. As parents or aunties or sisters. As artists, musicians, dancers, and upside-down thinkers. As teachers. As civil servants. As entrepreneurs and storytellers.

Find your role and just be thankful for whatever life shows you.

Life’s just a fascinating journey and dance with Gaia after all.

We’d better enjoy it…

What Is Biomimicry?

What is biomimicry? Let me first tell you what it’s not. It’s not the same as ecosystem restoration. Although I write about that too. Because I truly think we need to restore ecosystems to increase the carrying capacity of this planet.

We cannot live with so many people on her surface without understanding where we’ve gone wrong and how to restore the regenerative power of our immensely intelligent Mother Nature.

But that’s called Regeneration. Not biomimicry.

And I combine both.

Biomimicry consists of three steps first.

• Ethos — ethical
• (Re)connect — reconnect our bodies and souls to nature, to our planet, to our universe. Very literally. We are nature. We just need to understand our own species and connect to all other things happening on our planet. On the surface and in the atmosphere
• Emulate — when we understand the bigger picture, we take our specific problem and find the corresponding functions in nature that can help us innovate and solve the problem

My stories elaborate often on reconnecting our bodies and souls to nature. When we do that, we find our own solutions. They pop into our heads from nowhere. Serendipity. Synchronicity. There is no coincidence.

Everything happens for a reason. And if we start to understand that with our body, mind, and soul, life becomes soooooo immensely fascinating that we can enjoy ourselves forever.

At least I do. But then, I’m a very curious being.

Reconnection is much broader than just organic food or a love for nature. It’s technical too. It’s about health. It’s about life energy. It’s about becoming a mountain. Deep Ecology. Everything on our planet is nature. We are. Synthetic fibers are. Concrete and asphalt are.

Deep Ecology teaches us that nature is not just present on this planet for our human fun. Nature has an intrinsic value of her own.

I’m a sensitive person. I can feel very strongly. So, after some years of studying and practicing, I really am the mountain now. And the river. And I write about rivers getting human rights in law at this moment.

But I also feel the sentient bot. The new species that we have created with machine learning cores. And I know that the human being who receives a gene-edited pig heart will feel the pig energy merging with his human soul. And that way, he will become the mountain too. Just like I am already.

Gaia becomes conscious herself in strange ways.

And don’t be scared. It’s all normal. We are already only 43% human cells. The rest of us is microbes. And what seems like matter, solid material, is really space when you observe closely.

All of humanity would fit into a sugar cube if you would press all our molecules together.

A very heavy sugar cube.

And I know, I just know that the main step in our shift right now is to accept that we need it all. Our planet is in a dynamic balance. Always transforming every moment into the next moment. We can change things. Of course, we can. But other people and other species want to change other things.

And that’s okay.

That movement, that perceived chaos, is driving evolution.

And as long as all people and all species follow their hearts, just do what they do, it’ll be alright. We just have to take care not to be in fights all day long. And not to get depressed. And grow up to become mature. And kind.

Kindness is very important in our world right now.

And it becomes easier when you realize all is going to be okay. Around 2028, we are predicted by historians to enter a new high. A kind of Renaissance period. Full of laughter, dance, and parallel economic systems, I presume.

How do I communicate this message?

Like this. A matrix with -NOW and NOW+

We are changing paradigms from polarized to AND-AND-AND. And all writers will attract their bunch of changemakers. The future will evolve. And we don’t have to bash each other’s heads in. That only destroys spirit in this world.

We just have to follow the singing of our hearts and apply all we’ve learned in life to our own lives and work. Apply. Apply. Apply. Do. Do. Do.

All in our own role.

We are shifting from the Anthropocene to the Syntropocene right now.

Systemic Design

If everything’s gonna be okay, does that mean we don’t have to change a thing? Of course not. We are toddlers on our Earth. Most important is that we learn what’s what. That we transform our businesses with ethical business models full of connections with stakeholders, financing, and hugely innovative action.

The business models already exist. In Blue Economy. In Biomimicry. And in our think-and-do-tank Abundanism.

We all work with economies of scope. In cluster economies. Not sucking money out of a system but letting it go round and round. Making everyone vibrant and successful.

And of course, we have to transform societies too. Leaders have to understand that we need to have a clear vision. And that we can redesign laws and rules. That we can have a society with minimum governmental interference AND have vibrant, ethically fair economies.

We can make basic needs cheap this way. And all other comfort and luxuries people want they can arrange for themselves. We’ll allow parallel digital money systems, so everyone can have a basic income.

And have time for living.

Because that’s what we’re meant to do on this planet don’t we? Have a life. Have the best experience we can have. With ups and downs and everything in between. Happy isn’t about joy only. Happy is about life energy.

Accepting and facing reality. And being grateful anyway.

How do these societies function, you ask?

• We break down walls between budgets
• We manage just the general big flows without controlling or pampering our citizens. We will make sure everyone will have full access to basic needs. They can grow their own lives with that
• We stop pushing money around. We’ll invite entrepreneurs to make the waves. Without controlling here either. No subsidies. They have to solve their shit within their business models
• As a society, it’s our role to make the boundaries. The laws. And they will be very general too. No micromanaging
• People will be taxed mainly after their death. Inheritance is a big cause of inequality. And future citizens don’t need inheritances. It’ll only keep them stuck in the past. They’ll have access to basic needs and can grow their own future with digital basic incomes and whatever else they want to do in their lives. Completely free to choose.

Do you know what our biggest problem is these days? We are stuck in technological, commercial, and political lock-ins.

So, we look at the matrix of NOW+ with many, many elements in it. Discover all the poles that we see that seem opposites. And define the AND-AND-AND way of looking at it.

We only have to add one thing more.

Be clear on the current technological, commercial, and political lock-ins.

Systemic Design from a Core

What’s the method by our think-and-do-tank Abundanism to start redesigning? The Vortex.

This is The Vortex.

If you start practicing designing from a core, it’s easy. The Vortex can be used for all topics. A city. A village. Energy. Mobility. Money systems. Etc. Etc.

The values we use in Abundanism are Liveliness, Health, and Freedom.

But we can add more. The other day, my 87-year-old mum said to me: “You’re missing one very important one, my dear. LOVE.” And she’s right of course. We can also add Trust. Or Rhythm. Or Celebration. That’s a ritual after all. And rituals are transformative moments.

The biome is very simple too. It’s a combination of ecosystem and human culture.

And the rest of the layers can be filled in. Depending on the topic you want to design. Balancing supply and demand in every layer as we zoom outward.

At Abundanism, we favor the solutions that are easy and abundant. Lazy. Maximum impact with minimum effort.

We toss things upside down with scientific proof that it can be done. Nature-based mathematics and astrophysics are changing all technological views these days.

• We’ll invite MORE microorganisms so they can balance out the system
• We’ll invite MORE sediments, so the dormant seeds in the soil germinate and restore ecosystems super quickly. Or we dig holes. Like JustDiggit. Much easier than planting trees. Although that might be valuable of course for shade and succession
• We use structure and information to transform all technologies in line with nature. And we explore together with our clients what is good for their specific biome. For their specific subject
• We make a vision to pull the system like the moon. A Moonshot. And we make movements. Vibrancy in the system and environment. With ethical communication.

No manipulation. Growing trust. Walking our talk. And talking our walk.

Complexity can really be navigated with simplicity.

You just have to know where to start. At the core.

And if you see that, ALL people can contribute. In their lives. In their work. As an entrepreneur or a politician. We are all leaders.

Let’s step up and make it happen.

Thank you, Gaia, for giving me Wild Writing. © Désirée Driesenaar, 2022