“So be wise, because the world needs more wisdom, and if you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise, and then just behave like they would.” – Neil Gaiman

From the rise of gold to the rage of silver, the race of the two majesties is stacking up with new seasons in every century. As the ticks glide at high speeds, we found ourselves longing for an appeasing weapon to breach the wars of life. With nothing in mind, we go for an escapade with failed detours from here and there. However, gradually, we began following the footsteps on pathways that were once pounded before we came, and at some point, we were able to siege the forays of our mortality.

From the 3.8-billion-year-old evolving natural world full of unleashed mysteries that lie beyond them, humanity is barely an overlay to the masterpiece. Conceived after the wise, our innovations are of fools as to the view of nature. As we succumb to the tolerance of those who perfected their wares before us, we consciously follow their shadows to live sustainably on Earth. Significantly, withdrawing from the standards we enforce, we must admit that somewhere in great depths and on unimaginable surfaces, an order of being exceeds our competence.

This dilemma somehow ended us up with the emulation of the faultless meshwork of the planet in an attempt to bring down the guards of our complications through the rationality of biomimicry.

RELATED LITERATURE OF LIFE

Popularized by Janine M. Benyus in 1997, biomimicry (from the Greek bios that is life and mimesis that is imitation) is the scientific study of nature as a model, mentor, and measure for the development of principles and designs to solve human problems. This imitation that strays away from the accustomed competition of the modern society to enhance and dominate nature is what Benyus refers to as a “respectful” approach.

Contingent on the erudite forces of life, this new science is aimed to have a paradigm shift from the primary regard to the humility and capacity of nature to stabilize the lifestyle of humanity. Moreover, this biotechnological dependence introduces the era of the Biomimicry Revolution which is directed to confer a valuable influence in our knowledge and synthesis rather than a production from the samples. This potential to perform modifications in medicine, architecture, mathematics, technology, and the natural selection itself is made plausible by echoing nature in honor of its wonders.

With human existence and necessities as the topics of lifetime research, a concrete academic basis is highly requisite. So, as the continuous study of our constant needs of thriving increases its intensity, the proposal is nearing approval since we become tenants in a biomimetic world with the sentient imitation of nature as our review of related literature.

BECOMING THE MAIN CHARACTER

As backdrops and guinea pigs in years of methodological mechanisms, a distinction has now been endowed on nature in the name of recognizing its dauntless potential to sustain life without producing waste. Across the globe, the practice of this appreciation has been on a steady increase. In terms of the focal point of this new viewpoint, it is not singled out to what we can steal from nature as satisfaction, but rather on what we can grasp from the variables that already accumulated success.

In Harare, Zimbabwe, the African termite mounds became the muses in the heating and cooling systems of the Eastgate Center Building. As innate architects, termites construct massive mounds, inside of which they produce their primary food – fungus. These farms must be kept at exactly 31 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, on the outside, the temperature ranges from 2 0C at night to 40 0C during the day. To maintain this undeniably remarkable system, these creatures dig new vents and replace the old ones every day in order to regulate the temperature. The reason for this is that the convection currents require air to be sucked in at the lower part of the mound, down into the muddy walls, and up to the summit.

In light of this knowledge, architect Mick Pearce, along with the Arup engineers, designed a ventilation structure that works in a similar way. Through the building mass, the outside air that is drawn in is either cooled or warmed. This process depends on which is hotter, the air or the concrete. The former is then vented into the offices on the floors before exhausting through the chimney at the top.

With these creatures that are often belittled and ridden off, the Eastgate owners saved 3.5 million dollars because of the air-conditioning system that did not have to be implemented. Additionally, the center is now using 10% less energy than the surrounding conventional buildings of its size.

Another exceptional justification of the genius nature tracks us to the Shinkansen Bullet Train. Before the renovation, it violated the noise ordinances of Japan because whenever it drove through the tunnels, the air pressure is building up in waves, resulting in immense noise pollution when it comes out that can be heard a quarter mile away. Gratefully, though, with the syllabus of the great mentor, an engineer recognized that a fish-eating owl, the kingfisher, hardly creates a sound when it dives into the water. This was when the noise of the train was remodeled to replicate the beak of the bird which produced the outcomes of lessened noise, reduced power use, and faster speeds.

Furthermore, at the side of energy and flow, nature once again backed us up. In our haste to harness energy, solar cells are established through the inspiration of photosynthesis. Green plants utilize chlorophyll to convert water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight into carbohydrates and oxygen. A model for this system was designed based on the architecture of a single plant leaf. In the process, the solar cell uses water to be directly exposed to sunlight, much like leaves do. This is where it breaks the intact water into hydrogen and oxygen and stores those gases in a fuel cell. Through this methodology, hydrogen fuel cells are made efficient, self-recharging, and less costly in terms of supplying energy for home and industrial establishments.

In trials of comprehending and resolving the conflicts of life, we must first acknowledge that the world is not ours alone and that learning from what surrounds us is more essential than competing.

THE ROAD NOW TAKEN

The complex human society proposes hurdles throughout the course of our existence and living in a setting where we are not the first swarm of species, our disorderliness probes to be higher as we grow in population. Through this predestined state of ours, the recommendation of the study would be to assimilate from the previous analects and be contrite like an apprentice.

Biomimicry offers us coping mechanisms with the forces laid upon our predicaments. It is dependent on an adviser that represents a whole set of generations ahead of us for which speaks with a loud voice of, “We are already back from the top while you are still trekking to the summit.” This presupposes an intellectual conclusion of mediating a call to reconcile with nature.

A village is seen from miles away, and all of humanity shouted in victory. Overlooking the four arrows of the compass, we are certain for one thing – there was not a war; it was ignorance that took us from the barracks and out to the open field of nothingness. But at last, we have found the way, the road we never took because we thought it supersedes the tracks we created – and it actually does. We only took pride in the badges we own. Now with the desperation of survival, we linger on this path we once did not take and grow with the realization that it is an adventure well taken.