Biologically inspired materials could revolutionize materials science. People looking at spider silk and abalone shells are looking for new ways to make materials better, cheaper, and with less toxic byproducts.
Janine BenyusRead
When the forest and the city are functionally indistinguishable, then we know we have reached sustainability.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Sustainability is achieved when natural and urban environments coexist seamlessly.
Janine Benyus emphasizes the importance of sustainability by suggesting that true harmony between nature and urban life can be achieved when they become functionally indistinguishable. This indicates a future where ecological balance is maintained even in developed areas, reflecting a holistic approach to living in sync with the environment.
Themes
SustainabilityEnvironmentNatureUrbanForestHarmony
In practice
Example use cases
In an environmental conference discussing urban planning, this quote can be used to highlight the importance of integrating green spaces into city designs.
More from Janine Benyus
All quotes →Everyone is trying to jump on the biomimic bandwagon. But a cork floor is not biomimicry. Neither is using bacteria to clean water.
Janine BenyusRead
For a long time we have thought we were better than the living world, and now some of us tend to think we are worse, that everything we touch turns to soot. But neither perspective is healthy. We have to remember how it feels to have equal standing in the world, to be "between the mountain and the ant . . . part and parcel of creations," as the Iroquois traditionalist Oren Lyons says.
Janine BenyusRead
The truth is, natural organisms have managed to do everything we want to do without guzzling fossil fuels, polluting the planet or mortgaging the future.
Janine BenyusRead
Biomimicry is basically taking a design challenge and then finding an ecosystem that's already solved that challenge, and literally trying to emulate what you learn.
Janine BenyusRead
Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature. In a society accustomed to dominating or 'improving' nature, this respectful imitation is a radically new approach, a revolution really. Unlike the Industrial Revolution, the Biomimicry Revolution introduces an era based not on what we can extract from nature, but on what we can learn from her.
Janine BenyusRead
Similar quotes
In reality, climate change is actually the biggest thing that's going on every single day.
Bill MckibbenRead
The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
DogenRead
I never get tired of the blue sky.
Vincent Van GoghRead
The Nile, draining out into the Mediterranean. The bright lights of Cairo announce the opening of the north-flowing river’s delta, with Jerusalem’s answering high beams to the northeast. This 4,258 mile braid of human life, first navigated end-to-end in 2004, is visible in a single glance from space.
Chris HadfieldRead
Every blade of grass, every insect, ant, and golden bee, all so amazingly know their path, though they have not intelligence, they bear witness to the mystery of God and continually accomplish it themselves.
Fyodor DostoevskyRead
Nature can't evolve a species that hasn't the will to survive. Individuals might be bred to sacrifice themselves, but the race as a whole can never cease to exist.
Orson Scott CardRead