Biomimicry: Michael Pawlyn-- TedTalk

The topic of this TedTalk was about biomimicry, which is this idea of looking at nature for answers on how to build and utilize it effectively. Michael Pawlyn uses the example of spider silk and how strong it is compared to manmade materials. There is nothing compared to its durability but the closest we have come to silk is this fiber that requires extreme temperatures, toxic chemicals and a ton of energy to pressure treat it. This is what he calls a downfall by 10, 100, and even 1000 factor savings and resource efficiency. Instead we could mimic the way a spider uses water and dead flies to make the strongest fiber in the world while also taking away the inefficient aspect to our archaic system currently in place. Pawlyn goes on to state his mission of biomimicry:
 Radical increase in resource efficiency
 Linear turned into closed loop systems
 Fossil fuel economy to solar economy
These could transform architecture that would allow nature and man to live in harmony. He talked about a structure that was 1% the weight of another greenhouse of the same size by pressurized roof structures that allowed more sunlight in. After a successful first year, he said the entirety of the structure actually weighed less than the air inside of it. This is a great example of resource efficiency through nature by using it as a design tool. He continues to talk about closed loop systems. One example was this project called cardboard to caviar where a restaurant closed their loop of waste. When packaging would arrive at the restaurant, instead of sending it back to the landfill, the owner paid for it to be shredded and sent to an equestrian farm for horse bedding. When that was soiled, the owner paid for it to be gathered and taken to vermicompost where worms would break it down and eventually ended in higher worm count. Again, they paid for the worms to be transferred to Siberian catfish farms, which would be turned into caviar and then resold back to the restaurant. Essentially it turned a linear system into a closed loop while adding profit to all the pieces making this system work. In addition, turning an economy that is almost entirely dependent on fossil fuels over to solar dependency takes a lot of space for photovoltaic panels. Earth receives ten thousand times as much energy from sun than we use each year. Not only would panels be harnessing as much of that energy as possible but it would also enable crops that would not be able to grow under direct sunlight to do so under the panels shade. This project would begin in the Sahara desert because of its need for reforestation and climate control. This plan would restore living plants and ecosystems to a place that has been barren for hundreds of years (since Caesar logged most of the forest) and prevent the furthering of climate change in that region.