biomimicry

Young adults in the U.S. are experiencing languishing—a state of emotional stagnation and diminished well-being—often driven by a culture of consumerism that converts sadness into overconsumption. This thesis project introduces the concept of a gift community, designed to empower individuals to recognize, give, and receive personal gifts within a supportive network of members. By fostering connections and encouraging personal development, the gift community aims to enhance well-being and reduce overconsumption. Using frameworks like Design Thinking, Systems Thinking, Biomimicry, and the PERMA model, the project explores the structure and function of the gift community. It outlines the stages of implementation, including a grant proposal to secure funding for further development. The gift community offers members the opportunity to flourish through personal development and social connections, prioritizing meaningful relationships and personal growth over material possessions.

Create and share an open-source framework and educator’s platform for sustainability resources in the future using learning's through evidence-based curriculum in the context of Interior Design Bachelors of Science Programs in Minnesota, Specifically Dunwoody College of Technology. This will create the proof of concept needed to refine tools and strategies used for course competencies and outcomes that are based on Industry Accreditation requirements. Classes referenced include; an existing LEED class that was taught until 2023 at Dunwoody College in Interior Design, a Biomimicry Elective designed and taught in Fall of 2023, a newly developed Sustainable Design class to be taught in the School of Design that includes students in Interiors, Graphics, and Architecture. Industry research includes commercial Interior Design professional testing requirements, how those inform Educational requirements in Bachelors programs, and a few examples of how sustainability is referenced in those standards to better abstract and disseminate information to college students. The outcome of these learnings will help create the reputable research needed for high quality lesson plan resources used by design educators.

"This thesis examines the issue of food insecurity in the United States and the lack of utilization of surplus foods for its intended purpose. It aims to increase food recovery percentages and offers insights into how organizations can self-organize, transform the systems they participate in, and cross boundaries set by power structures. The thesis applies sustainability frameworks, including Systems Thinking, Design Thinking, Circular Economy, and Biomimicry, to explore the Food Recovery System in Alameda County, California. The insights gained provide a deeper view into system dynamics - revealing challenges to solve, structures of behavioral patterns, critical places to intervene, and strategies for system evolution. The thesis proposes a coordinated approach involving policymakers, community leaders, private sector stakeholders, and social justice nonprofits to address the root of wicked problems such as food insecurity and wasted food. The thesis emphasizes the need for systemic change and paradigm shifts to create a food system that prioritizes basic human needs with equitable access, without profit motives or unfettered excess. The results highlight the potential for adaptation and evolution in pursuing sustainable solutions to complex problems."

Frontline youth are most vulnerable to extreme weather events caused by human-driven climate change (HDCC); however, not all their voices are heard on the climate impacts they experience now and will inherit in the future. The thesis project examines the possible benefits of teaching rural youth from Plaquemine, Louisiana, on sustainability. The M.A. thesis candidate uses Design Thinking to create online workshops that expose youth to the topic through the 3 Pillars of Sustainability framework from a systems perspective. The thought process behind teaching youth about the connections between the Environmental, Social, and Economic Pillars of Sustainability (Triple Bottom Line) and related design approaches, youth learn how to creatively think about problems and come up with solutions themselves, further developing their problem-solving skills. The hope is that youth exposed to cutting-edge design approaches feel empowered to think and act towards the future based on their challenges. The thesis candidate also hopes workshops lead to a formula that educators use based on insights from what did and did not engage middle school students.

Small businesses make up the majority of companies in the United States, contributing a significant amount of jobs and economic value. Many small businesses have the desire to develop more sustainable businesses practices but are prevented from doing so due to a lack of time, knowledge, and resources - the COVID-19 pandemic has widened this barrier. Woman-owned companies in particular have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Women hold the unique leadership skills needed to lead the world's efforts towards adopting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), and in order to accomplish this in the United States woman-owned small businesses must stay afloat to keep more women in the business arena. The proposed design solution is an e-book for woman-owned small businesses that, alongside the support of a sustainability consultant, helps small businesses work towards the UN SDGs as a means of staying in business and building resiliency to weather future unforeseen events. By helping woman-owned small businesses recover more efficiently from the post COVID-19 financial recession, the solution has the potential to make the U.S. economy stronger and more efficient than it's ever been. The e-book will be available in tandem with a consultant providing ongoing support. Metrics are set in place to measure the design solution's success and effectiveness over time. Systems Thinking, Design Thinking, and Biomimicry are key frameworks utilized to create a design proposal for the e-book.

Plastic pollution poses concerns for the health of people, land and marine species, and the larger ecosystem. There are many causes for plastic pollution, some of which involves poor management of plastic waste, lack of incentive to sort plastic waste, and recycled plastic being unclaimed which leads to it being landfilled or incinerated. Furthermore, plastic waste is projected to increase in many parts of the world while landfill and incineration are becoming less viable due to their increasing environmental impact and the limitted land space. The goal of thesis project is to continually reuse and recycle post-consumer plastic in a way that does not reduce its material value or its economical value while providing meaningful services to society. To develop a solution that can accomplish this goal, the issues, existing solutions, emerging technologies, and policies were documented. These were further investigated by comparing different waste management options, deriving advantages and disadvantages of different methods of using recycled plastic, and measuring the plastic system against Nature's Unifying Patterns and Cradle to Cradle. Through this investigation, the possible places in the plastic sytem in which an improvement to existing solution or new solutions can occur, called the leverage points, were identified. These possible solutions were organized and developed into a final solution known as the Skeleton-Skin Modules (SSM). The Biomimicry Design Lens was used to develop the SSM product. The SSM product was evaluated using Life Cycle Assessment. The SSM product showed large environmental savings when compared to the waste management options and other products. Due to the design of reusability and disassembleability, the SSM product showed further environmental and economical savings.

Technology is changing the world at a rapid pace and we are entering the 4th Industrial Revolution which is characterized by a new range of technologies like biotech and infotech which connects our physical, digital and biological worlds. The first Industrial Revolution was responsible for instigating new innovations and technologies that have improved quality of life and increased life expectancy. So much so, that the human population is heading towards 9.8 billion by 2050. It was also responsible for implementing the linear production systems that we still see today in manufacturing industries. A take, make and waste system that relies heavily on our natural resources for materials, water and energy. These systems are not sustainable, especially if the population is going to continue to grow at its projected speed. Industrial Symbiosis provides a framework for helping to reduce the impact of manufacturing industries. In an effort to assess what could be done to make this framework more mainstream, a SWOT analysis was done of the IS model to evaluate areas to focus on for this research. A further evaluation against Life's Principles narrowed down the area of focus. An opportunity to promote knowledge sharing and collaboration was identified as the optimal choice for this project. Using a biomimetic approach, swarm intelligence in Nature was discovered to be the most interesting concept to explore further. This research project examines the idea that an online game could be used to leverage the Collective Intelligence of players around the world to build virtual IS hubs that could potentially be applied to the real world.

The rate of human development poses unprecedented environmental, social and economic challenges. The UN estimates that by 2050 the world population will be nearly 9.8 billion people. Today 26 percent of the world's 7.5 billon people are children under the age of 15. In Africa, the region with the highest population growth, 41 percent of the population is under 15. The Earth's burgeoning human population is facing serious and interrelated challenges of resource scarcity, climate change and economic/social instability. The future hinges on our abilities to adapt to and creatively address tremendous changes in the natural, built and social environments. Addressing these challenges requires a transformative view that emphasizes creativity, innovation, entrepreneurial know-how and ethical citizenship. A review of the historical roots of education systems and practices provides context. Recent developments in educational ideas and frameworks are considered, identifying common themes. Concepts are scoped to how they connect learning with Earth's systems: 
Why do some elements work against this objective? What functions are in alignment? Synergies between education and design methodologies are examined. Approaches to education as a design problem including design thinking, Understanding by Design, TRIZ, and design patterns are presented. Design-driven approaches to curricular planning and school reform are summarized and validated by success stories. The vast majority of K-12 education has not embraced new methodologies in typical classrooms, which are still dominated by lecture. In addition, even new methodologies do not place a living systems ethic at their core. A broad and comprehensive transformation is required: Education's role must be to develop sustainable mindsets and capacities for action. Biomimicry provides a design lens to explore this problem from a living systems perspective. Learning functions are translated into biological terms. Living systems inspire solutions by considering educational design problems from biological perspectives, revealing new strategies. Biological functions, structures and design patterns are abstracted and applied to learning environments. Bio-inspired solutions are evaluated against Life's Principles (Biomimicry 3.8). As a next step, tools for adapting the bio-inspired education framework are provided. [Biomimicry is a new approach being applied by scientists, engineers and designers that takes inspiration from nature's models to solve human problems.]

The issue of microbead pollution from makeup and hygiene products has become well-known for its destruction and negative impact on various waterways and marine life, despite its small size. However, more recent discoveries have brought to light that there is an even more widespread and impactful problem polluting our waterways that we cannot see. A study commissioned by Patagonia and executed by graduate students at the University of California, Santa Barbara suggests that as a result from home laundering anywhere between 64,000 and 750,000 lbs of microfibers are ending up in natural waterways in the United States alone (3). In an effort to help solve the microfiber pollution problem, a lifecycle systems thinking approach was taken to identify the most optimal point of intervention. Through this analysis, municipal wastewater treatment plants were identified as the most favorable point of intervention within the post-consumer use phase of a garment's lifecycle. Within the system of a wastewater treatment plant, the area of ideal implementation was established: post-disinfection and pre-effluent discharge to the receiving body of water. A biomimetic design approach was applied to ideate a design recommendation in the pursuit of mitigating the spread of microfiber pollution, specifically around the filtering out of microfibers and small waste particles. Of all of the organisms explored, the giant oceanic manta ray proved to be the most interesting and feasible organism for which to create an initial design solution due to its unique combination of form, function and scale. This thesis work develops a rough design idea for microfiber filtration at the wastewater treatment level inspired by the manta ray and also discusses potential next steps including proposals for how next to evaluate, test and validate the design idea.

Sports products contribute to the degradation of the environment and there are ways it can be improved to be sustainable. In the United States, "Home to only 4% of the global population, we are responsible for more than 30% of the planet's total waste generation" (Toxics Action Center). The focus of the sports industry right now is to improve their business models with sustainable focused solutions (Green Sports Alliance). This project demonstrates the process of developing the idea being researched for a rental service for sports protective equipment that improves the ability to reuse, repurpose, and recycle all sports gear. It shows the creation of a product-service system that puts the emphasis on providing access to, as opposed to ownership of, sports products. It explains the use of the Business Model Canvas to develop a sustainable focused start-up idea (Blank). Customer interviews were conducted to develop and validate the proposed start-up business. The plan shows how using Biomimicry to design the sports protective equipment used to provide the service can aid in developing sustainable innovations (Benyus). The proposal of a design solution in the form of a hybrid shoulder pad that could be used for both hockey and lacrosse is outlined. The use of Life's Principles is illustrated for a preliminary draft of product criteria that work well in product-service systems (Biomimicry 3.8 Institute). This research resulted in the creation of a business model that provides the option to try before you buy. This paper also discusses sports brands that adopt sustainable solutions and how they can use the power of influence to create changes in behavior, as well as the next steps to be taken in order to realize the proposed solutions.