Life’s Principles in Biomimicry 2: Adapt to Changing Conditions
It is amazing to me to realize how much there is to learn from Nature, through biomimicry’s life’s principles. In this post we’re looking at how to adapt to changing conditions – another life’s principle. It means being able to do things differently from our set routines when the need arises, to achieve the ultimate goal. This saves us a lot of frustrations and heartache as well as making us flexible and outcome-oriented.
Several strategies to adapt to changing conditions are to:
1. Incorporate diversity.
Nature has a lot of diversity as a rule. For example, in the sea there are many species of fish, turtles, and other sea creatures; soils have worms and other bugs; gardens have flowers, shrubs, flies, butterflies and other insects. They all have their functions and live interdependently and cooperatively together.
With humans at work we can be inclusive of people with different ethnic, intellectual and skill set backgrounds. Diversity brings variety and richness of understanding and perspective into the environment and work at hand, helping us to solve problems more creatively.
Personally, we need to eat a rainbow of colors on our plate. All the different colored foods provide us with a variety of nutrients that are essential for healthy living. This keeps life interesting and meals appetizing as well. Similarly, we may undertake a number of activities to exercise our different muscles for health and fitness.
2. Maintain integrity through self-renewal.
Fascinatingly, rhinos have a mechanism that allows them to fill in cracks in their horns. If the horns break they cannot re-grow them, but they have a way to repair them.
Humans have invented a self-healing concrete that mimics this strategy. Bacteria that lie dormant in in the concrete become active when a crack appears in the concrete. They feed on some of the chemicals in the concrete and produce limestone, which seals the crack. Nature is amazing inspiration for innovative product design!
In our personal lives, one can look at their personal vision and goals periodically to ensure they are on track. We can also revisit our boundaries and adjust them as needed to ensure we are remaining true to ourselves.
3. Embody resilience
Some ants can carry up to 5,000 times their body weight. They have this adaptation, I would guess, to allow them to gather food for the colony. A truly remarkable example of resilience if you ask me.
At work, we would be wise to have a collective care policy and risk management guidelines to help teams maintain strong self-care practices and have clear protocols to manage risks respectively. Embodying resilience is best done together, not necessarily alone, although for many of us, being resilient can mean standing up to a bullying boss or toxic co-worker.
In our personal lives, we find strategies to help us recover from tragedies such as losing a loved one. We can create self-care practices and join a support group to stay strong and resilient. A key factor here is to realize we are not alone – resilience is about interdependence.
These principles may improve your life, as they are certainly giving me food for thought about how to improve mine. Share with us if you are practicing any of these strategies.
