Life’s Principles in Biomimicry 6: Use Life-Friendly Chemistry
This biomimicry’s life’s principle is really important in this modern age where new and harmful chemicals and products are being manufactured indiscriminately. Many man-made chemicals are harmful not only to humans but also animals, birds, and microorganisms as well as the soil, where most of our food is grown.
The Earth is made up of almost 70% water, and so are our bodies – nature’s creations. Hence, it is obvious that nature uses chemistry to produce elements that are safe for all living beings – as all biomimicry’s life’s principles are for ‘creating environments that nurture life’, just like we do for our children and loved ones.
This principle has three simple but interesting strategies, as follows:
1. Break down products into benign constituents. When a leaf breaks down, it is not toxic to nature; it becomes compost or food for other organisms. When we die, our breakdown product is not harmful to nature either! However, we are producing many chemicals, which are harmful yet embedded into everyday use materials. Hence we have a lot of work to do to rectify this problem. Good examples are plastics, styrofoam, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides and many electronic products. The breakdown of these synthetics can be toxic to nature.
2. Build selectively with a small subset of elements. Nature uses oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and hydroxide mainly. Water is made up of 2 hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Also, nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide are safe elements. Similarly, humans make bread, cakes, buns, muffins and rotis using wheat, fat, water, yeast or other raising agents, which are all safe. We can manufacture chemicals that are safe using a safe subset of elements in the right proportions. When these are broken down, they are not harmful to us or nature.
3. Do chemistry in water. In nature all organisms’ DNA is made of the same few components, and bonds link atoms together. This happens in cells, which contain water. So nature’s chemistry, as we say in biomimicry, is water-based chemistry. Humans have the same water-based chemistry in our bodies.
However, we can create devastating disasters using unsafe amounts and combinations of elements to make chemical substances like the atom bomb. You may well remember the production and subsequent banning of DDT. Also, recent evidence proves the harmful effects of BPA (a chemical used in the production of plastics) and many other man-made chemicals (such as PCB, CFC, and PFOA). More commonly used products such as some aerosols, cigarettes and those mentioned in number 1, have harmful chemicals in them as well. And then we wonder why cancers and other common diseases are so prevalent.
Share with us your experiences with the use of life-friendly chemistry or otherwise.
