Janine Benyus – Becoming a Welcome Species: Biomimicry and the Art of Generous Design
Bioneers | Published: April 10, 2025 Eco-NomicsEcological DesignRestoring Ecosystems Video
If humans are to come home to this planet, we need to become a welcome species, a gift-giver to the places we inhabit. Janine Benyus, the world-renowned “Godmother of Biomimicry,” and her colleagues at the Biomimicry Institute and Biomimicry 3.8 have been demonstrating what it takes to design human settlements—cities, village, homes, and businesses—that create the same ecological gifts as the wildland next door. In this presentation, she helps us imagine a city that functions like a forest—storing the same amount of water, cleaning and cooling the same amount of air, cycling as many nutrients, and nurturing as much biodiversity. She also shares inspiring news about some of the Biomimicry Institute and Biomimicry 3.8’s “Project Positive” initiatives that reveal that this regenerative vision is indeed achievable and within our reach, if we are able to quiet our human cleverness sufficiently to be able to ask: What would Nature do here?
This talk was delivered at the 2025 Bioneers Conference.
Janine Benyus, a winner of countless prestigious awards, world-renowned biologist, thought leader, innovation consultant and author of six books, including 1997’s foundational text, Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, is widely considered the “godmother of Biomimicry.” In 1998, she co-founded the Biomimicry Guild, which morphed into Biomimicry 3.8, a B-Corp social enterprise providing biomimicry consulting services to a slew of major firms and institutions. In 2006, Janine co-founded The Biomimicry Institute, a non-profit institute to embed biomimicry in formal education, and over 11,000 members are now part of the Biomimicry Global Network. Among various other roles, Janine serves on the board of the U.S. Green Building Council, the advisory board for the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, the advisory board for Project Drawdown and as an affiliate faculty member at The Biomimicry Center at Arizona State University.
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