To get to know the Biomimicry Guild is to learn its biology-inspired lingo: Its members aren't a group—they're a "meme." They don't reject ideas—they have an "immune response." And when they inaugurate a conference, like they did this winter at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, they don't clap. They caw, hoot, tweet and gobble.
Picture 50 architects, designers, and scientists from companies like IDEO, General Electric, and Boeing behaving like a flock of birds. If they were trying to fit in with their neighbors at the zoo, the flamingos and gorillas didn't take notice, but stroller-pushing tourists did. Tousle-haired children poked their heads inside the massive open-air pavilion where the conference took place to see what was going on. A lot, it turned out.
It's been 12 years since founder Janine Benyus published her treatise, Biomimicry, to wide acclaim, and 6 years since her first workshop on how to ...
