Quotes from Janine Benyus

The more our world functions like the natural world, the more likely we are to endure on this home that is ours, but not ours alone.

Nature works with five polymers. Only five polymers. In the natural world, life builds from the bottom up, and it builds in resilience and multiple uses.

What if, every time I started to invent something, I asked, 'How would nature solve this?'

In reality, we haven't escaped the gravity of life at all. We are still beholden to ecological laws, the same as any other life-form.

Listening to nature's operating instructions.

The real survivors are the Earth inhabitants that have lived millions of years without consuming their ecological capital, the base from which all abundance flows.

Deep inside, we still have a longing to be reconnected with the nature that shaped our imagination

Deep inside, we still have a longing to be reconnected with the nature that shaped our imagination

Life doesn't use detergent to clean itself.

If we are to use our tools in the service of fitting in on Earth, our basic relationship to nature--even the story we tell ourselves about who we are in the universe--has to change.

Organisms don't think of CO2 as a poison. Plants and organisms that make shells, coral, think of it as a building block.

We're basically this very young species, only 200,000 years old. We're one of the newcomers, and we're going through the same process that other species go through, which is, how do I keep myself alive while taking care of the place that's going to keep my offspring alive?

Biological knowledge is doubling every five years.

Biomimicry is … the conscious emulation of life's genius.

Conserving habitats is a wellspring for the next industrial revolution.

Life creates conditions conducive to life.

Life solves its problems with well-adapted designs, life-friendly chemistry and smart material and energy use.

Per capita, I would say that Australia has more biomimetic projects going than many other countries I've been to.

Water is at the center of every chemical reaction, and therefore should be the earth's most precious gift.

Glue actually contaminates recyclables. We throw things in a landfill just because they're glued together.

Biologically inspired materials could revolutionize materials science. People looking at spider silk and abalone shells are looking for new ways to make materials better, cheaper, and with less toxic byproducts.

Organisms sip energy, because they have to work or barter for every single bit that they get.

Trees and bones are constantly reforming themselves along lines of stress. This algorithm has been put into a software program that's now being used to make bridges lightweight, to make building beams lightweight.

The truth is, natural organisms have managed to do everything we want to do without guzzling fossil fuels, polluting the planet or mortgaging the future.