Learning from Nature - Circular Economies & Biomimicry | Seth Galewyrick | TEDxHieronymusPark
## Speaker Context
- Role: Speaker presenting on biomimicry and circular economies.
- Audience: Unspecified group, potentially local residents or interested public (suggested by references to local areas like Stevensville and the valley).
- Framing: Establishing that access to nature in the valley is a key asset, and the speaker's work in biomimicry is learning from nature to solve problems.
## People
- Janine Benyus + local Stevensville hero + wrote the book on biomimicry.
- Donnie + Public Works employee + mentioned in context of garbage disposal research.
## Organizations
- O'Hara Commons + local community gathering point + offers services including tool share.
## Places
- Valley + setting for the talk + noted for unrivaled access to nature.
- Selway Bitterroot Frank church wilderness + region comparison + covers New York City to Baltimore when projected over the East Coast.
- Bigfoot (Implied/Conceptual, but not named) + location of "this" (the wilderness) + central theme of the talk.
- Local area near the speaker + location of the "beautiful working model" (four miles west of where the speaker is sitting).
## Tools, Tech & Products
- Velcro + function of sticking/fastening + invented by a Swiss engineer after noticing birds sticking to him and his dog.
- Cue collar + function of applying pressure on the jugular vein + prevents injury seen in woodpeckers.
- Rototiller + piece of equipment used for gardening + could be acquired via a tool share program.
- Mason jar + reusable container used for coffee purchase.
- Garbage disposal + household appliance + used for local composting approach.
## Concepts & Definitions
- Biomimicry + process of learning from nature + taking natural lessons to solve human problems.
- Slosh + technical term + refers to the brain sloshing around during impacts inside the skull.
- Circular Economy + definition: resources flow in endless closed loops, where nothing is waste.
- Linear Economy + process: extracting raw materials, making things, using them, and throwing them away; only goes one direction.
- Symbiosis + relationship type + exchanging both materials and information.
## Numbers & Data
- 3.6 million acres + size of the Selway Bitterroot Frank church wilderness.
- 20 million people + population that the Selway Bitterroot Frank church wilderness covers if laid over the East Coast.
- 40s + decade when the Swiss engineer noticed birds sticking to him and his dog.
- 80 million times + estimated number of times the woodpecker bangs its head over its life.
- Two days + time frame for an Amazon purchase to arrive at home.
- 40,000 people + population of the valley when calculating the amount of stuff bought.
- 3.8 billion years + time nature has been doing "reduce reuse recycle."
- 100 percent + level of closure claimed for the community's wastewater treatment plant process.
- 30 times + factor by which methane damages the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide.
## Claims & Theses
- At least part of why you live here has something to do with our access to nature in this valley, which is unrivaled.
- The Selway Bitterroot Frank church wilderness is essentially empty despite its massive size.
- A huge intact ecosystem like this serves another purpose: a reference library or a model of a world that works.
- We take the way that something works in nature and we apply it to solve a problem.
- The vast majority of damage in repeat mild traumatic brain injury is due to a factor called slosh.
- The cue collar prevents the same kind of injury that happens in woodpeckers.
- Nature's waste is another raw material.
- The only new energy that comes in a system like the Ponderosa pine/ant/aphid one is from the Sun.
- The key takeaway in nature's systems is that there's very rarely new material coming into or leaving; it just changes form.
- This is the definition of a circular economy.
- The process described by extracting, making, using, and throwing away is a linear economy.
- Linear economy puts us on a path towards our own extinction and the possible extinction of up to 60 percent of the other life currently on the planet.
- Full circularity is an aspirational goal; it is probably never fully achievable.
- The analogy of bringing coffee in a mason jar and closing a "teensy tiny loop" is a positive step.
- In composting, the whole process is carbon neutral because the original $\text{CO}_2$ is released.
- When organic waste is thrown in the trash, it decomposes into methane, which is 30 times more damaging than $\text{CO}_2$.
- The best approach for composting is to use composting, not sending it to a landfill.
- The woodpecker, the shared resource of the nest, and the organic waste loop show that "reduce reuse recycle" can work.
- Nature has been doing reduce reuse recycle for 3.8 billion years.
- You can't build a circular economy alone; nature relies on relationships and partnerships.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- Velcro mechanism: Noticed how birds were sticking to him and his dog $\rightarrow$ invented Velcro.
- Plant seed dispersal mechanism: Flower turns into spiky points to keep it from being eaten and let it hitch a ride on the same organisms.
- Woodpecker brain protection mechanism: Using the omohyoid muscle to put pressure on the jugular vein $\rightarrow$ slightly restricts blood flow back from the brain $\rightarrow$ allows the brain to slightly swell and fill the space, preventing further slosh damage.
- Biomimicry of Process: Applying pressure (woodpecker example) to solve a problem.
- Biomimicry of Systems: Analyzing the interconnected network of species, energy, and resource flows.
- Closed Loop Resource Cycle (Natural): Nutrients flow around, are exchanged, consumed, built into new structures, then broken down and used again.
- Linear Economy Cycle: Extract raw materials $\rightarrow$ Make things $\rightarrow$ Use them $\rightarrow$ Throw them away.
- Composting Process: Organic waste $\rightarrow$ decomposition $\rightarrow$ new "awesomeness" (new life) + $\text{CO}_2$ release (carbon neutral).
- Wastewater Disposal Process: Organic waste $\rightarrow$ hits the wastewater treatment plant $\rightarrow$ composted $\rightarrow$ returned to local soil at 100 percent.
## Timeline & Events
- Last year + speaker may have seen the TED mainstage recording of Janine Benyus.
- 70s + decade when the "reduce reuse recycle" concept may have been considered insufficient.
- Today/Present Day + opportunities to implement micro-steps like bringing coffee in a mason jar.
## Examples & Cases
- Bird sticking to speaker/dog $\rightarrow$ invention of Velcro.
- Plant seed dispersal $\rightarrow$ turning the flower into spiky points.
- Woodpecker drumming $\rightarrow$ repeated head impacts over a lifetime without brain damage.
- Cue collar use on high-school football team $\rightarrow$ MRI comparing 'before' and 'after' the collar.
- Ponderosa pine tree $\rightarrow$ Source of sugar/materials.
- Carpenter ants $\rightarrow$ Farmed by aphids for food.
- Aphids $\rightarrow$ Produce honeydew (concentrated sugar solution).
- Pileated woodpecker $\rightarrow$ Feeds on carpenter ants.
- Fox $\rightarrow$ Potential predator of the woodpecker.
- Fungi, dung beetles, bacteria $\rightarrow$ Break down "disgusting waste product" into raw materials.
- Mountain Bluebird $\rightarrow$ Shares/distributes resources by pooping nests.
- Squirrels $\rightarrow$ Live in branches and poop.
- Lichen and crows $\rightarrow$ Examples of organisms on the tree.
- Amazon purchase $\rightarrow$ Blue arrow arrives at the house in two days.
- Garden planting $\rightarrow$ Example of a small circular economy step.
- Tool share program $\rightarrow$ Alternative to buying a rototiller.
- Organic waste composting (natural): Food/yard waste $\rightarrow$ "new woodpeckers or new tomatoes."
- Organic waste in trash (landfill): Decomposition $\rightarrow$ methane gas release.
- Community composting (wastewater): Organic waste $\rightarrow$ wastewater treatment plant $\rightarrow$ returned to local soil at 100 percent.
- Mutualistic symbiosis (Ant/Aphid/Tree): Ants protect aphids; aphids feed ants; tree provides base resources.
- Symbiosis (Tree/Fungi): Fungi connect the tree to other trees/species underground $\rightarrow$ allows sharing of information/threat warnings.
- Symbiosis (Lichens): Combination of fungus, algae, and sometimes bacteria.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- Playing outdoors/wilderness $\leftrightarrow$ The value gained from understanding its systems.
- Being "spoiled" by nature's access $\leftrightarrow$ The need to actively learn from it via biomimicry.
- Conventional consumer goods (e.g., buying something new) $\leftrightarrow$ Reusing/sharing/repairing items (e.g., using the tool share).
- Composting organic waste (into soil) $\leftrightarrow$ Throwing it in the trash (which produces methane).
- Building a circular economy $\leftrightarrow$ Remaining in a linear economy.
- Using specialized techniques (e.g., cuing collar) $\leftrightarrow$ Relying on natural adaptations (woodpeckers).
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- Full circularity is an aspirational goal.
- In isolation, individual actions (like composting or using a tool share) don't seem to make a difference.
- The garbage disposal approach to composting: If not ground up well enough, it plugs up the screens at the wastewater treatment plant.
- Older garbage disposals: Have a tendency to not grind the food up well enough for the current composting method to work.
## Methodology
- Biomimicry Study: Observing nature's function $\rightarrow$ extracting lessons $\rightarrow$ applying to human problems.
- Comparing systems: Contrasting natural resource flows (closed loops) with manufactured product life cycles (linear loops).
- Demonstration: Using MRI scans to show measurable brain changes before and after the cue collar intervention.
- Research/Investigation: Doing research into Donnie's best interest regarding garbage disposal capabilities.
## References Cited
- TED mainstage recording of local Stevensville hero Janine Benyus (Speaker draws on this source).
- Book on biomimicry (Written by Janine Benyus).
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- Take advantage of local services like the tool share at O'Hara Commons.
- Open up your compost bin to a neighbor if you are scared to try it.
- Think about things we buy as valuable resources.
- Think about how to use them for a long time, extend their life, share them, and get outside a lot.
- Adopt the mindset that resources flow around and should be conserved.
- Change by making gradual micro steps (e.g., using a mason jar for coffee).
- When facing organic waste, composting is the recommended method.
## Implications & Consequences
- If the current linear model continues: Path towards our own extinction and the possible extinction of up to 60 percent of other life on the planet.
- If people fail to adopt circular thinking: Continued waste output and damage to the atmosphere from methane release.
- If the community manages waste improperly (via garbage disposals): Potential for clogging the wastewater treatment plant screens.
## Open Questions
- How can we develop technology and business models that fully integrate lessons from nature (e.g., rethinking polymers using spider silk)?
## Verbatim Moments
- "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that at least part of why you live here has something to do with this our access to nature in this valley is unrivaled."
- "we're learning from nature is our mission."
- "this is biomimicry in a nutshell."
- "it's brilliant right" (said after discussing the spiky points on flowers).
- "there's a whole suite of strategies that all play a role but one of the most recent discoveries also appears to be the dominating factor."
- "there's no such thing as waste in nature everybody knows that and it's totally true in nature every organisms waste is another raw material."
- "what a ridiculous idea that is why would we ever do that" (regarding landfill waste).
- "reduce reuse recycle" (Used repeatedly as a fundamental concept).
- "it's not that you don't know this but studying the natural world gives us validation that this kind of approach is worth taking."