Returning to Nature

This week's reading in Nature's Operating Instructions provided me with new hope that a sustainable future is not only possible, it is going to happen. Part 1 of this collection of essays reminds us that the answers to the sustainability problems are already being answered in other natural systems. People such as John Todd are already mimicking nature's systems and applying their concepts to human issues. For example, the Eco-machine created in South Burlington uses a small aquatic ecosystem to purify water. Janine Benyus also illustrates in her writings about biomimicry that many other organisms already employ efficient systems that not only enable their survival but contribute to their environment. I loved her story of the hummingbird, which is an elegant example of an efficient, sustainable being. She explains how the tiny bird can fly across 600 miles of open ocean on 2.1 grams of fuel having already pollinated up to 1000 blossoms per day (p.6)!

In all of the readings for this course I have seen a repetition of two main themes: first to reinvent how we look at problems, and second to turn waste into food. At first the idea of sustainability seemed to be a problem for bureaucrats and scientists. New laws would be passed to regulate toxic emissions and unsustainable practices, and I would do my part by buying new energy efficient light bulbs and buying products made from recycled materials. I completely bought into the idea that "less is more" and that reducing was the key to sustainability. Now I realize that the real goal can be more than just being "less bad" as William McDonough would say, and in fact rebuild in a way that contributes to the environment.

Other natural systems are living proof that waste can equal food. What are we humans waiting for? I agree with Benyus that experts in unrelated disciplines such as engineering and biology should come together and look at sustainability problems together. The solutions are there for us to find, but we have to ask different questions and look at the problems in untraditional ways. After all, we are part of nature and must therefore work with it and not against it.