Biomimicry in the spirit of Buckminster Fuller

Partnership

21 Jan

"I'm not trying to imitate nature, I'm trying to find the principles she's using."

- Buckminster Fuller

The following article was published by our friends at the Buckminster Fuller Institute. Click the image to read their newsletter Trimtab.

When a tree is attacked by insects it responds with defensive biochemicals and simultaneously releases info-chemicals into the mycorrhizal network that connects trees together beneath the forest floor. The message is communicated across the network and stimulates trees to release defense chemicals before the insects arrive - saving other trees from damage and ensuring collective resilience.

News of forest fires, extinctions and land-grabs on Indigenous territories have become familiar, and yet the Amazon continues to be mined, logged and turned into soy farms. What can environmentalists learn from info-chemicals when designing their messaging?

A successful info-chemical (i) travels far, and (ii) triggers the tree (and other species) to respond appropriately. Scary images make for poor info-chemical transmission; they release stress chemicals in the brain such as cortisol, which inhibits the formation of new neural pathways. Rather than enabling novel responses to threats, they push people towards familiar patterns of behavior. Beauty, however, releases dopamine, which stimulates new connections and activates reward pathways. Creative thinking and new behavioral patterns become possible.

Trees of Music uses beauty to bridge the gap between two different "species": nature-lovers and music-lovers. Our new video brings into harmony voices from two of Brazil's forests. The song is sung by the leader of the Noke Koi Indigenous nation of the Amazon rainforest. He is supported by a London orchestra using violin bows made of pernambuco wood from the Atlantic forest - as all bows have been since the 1700s.

People prefer sharing beauty to ugliness, so it travels further and faster, and stays longer in the mind. Please consider supporting the work, sharing the video, and looking at the other projects on the RAIN network.