Biomimicry 3.8 co-founder Janine Benyus will join Project Drawdown founder Paul Hawken in conversation this week at Buildwell 2016, a two-day conference for people who are inventing a healthy, low-carbon 21st century architecture.
Benyus will speak Feb. 10, highlighting the role nature’s genius can play in creating building materials and built environments that not only help eliminate and draw down carbon emissions, but provide net-positive impact.
“In the past, we’ve asked (buildings) to reduce energy use, reduce how many toxins are used in building materials—to reduce impacts,” Benyus said. “In the future, I think we’ll be asking them to filter their own water, to purify air around them, and send the air downwind cleaner than it came. I think we’ll be asking them to squeeze carbon into their site using the building materials themselves.”
This is something nature does every day.
Native landscapes provide ecosystem services—like trapping carbon, purifying water and supporting biodiversity—that clean the air, replenish water supplies, and cool temperatures.
During her Buildwell address, Benyus will pose this question: What if we ask our buildings and cities to do the same?
She’ll share a vision that challenges the built environment to meet or exceed the level of ecosystem services that their local, native landscapes would provide.
“Buildings are going to be asked to contribute to the health and resiliency of communities,” Benyus said. “It’s not a footprint, it’s a handprint. It’s what we’re giving back.”
But, how exactly can biomimicry help buildings reverse climate change?
The rest of nature sees it as a building block. Plants use carbon to make sugars, starches, and cellulose. Corals use carbon to build reefs, and mollusks use carbon to manufacture their shells. Watch here for more.
