Nature's Operating Instructions The True Biotechnologies

by Ausubel, Kenny; Harpignies, J. P.; Hawken, Paul

• ISBN13: 9781578050994
• ISBN10: 1578050995
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-10-01
• Publisher: Sierra Club Books

Summary

Archiving corn strains to guard against genetic pollution … Coating chainsaw blades with mushroom spores to speed forest regeneration … Growing crops that literally suck heavy metals out of damaged soil ... These are not utopian fantasies but proven strategies developed by experts who have discovered how to exploit the innate intelligence of living systems to create “true biotechnologies.”
The Bioneers (“biological pioneers”) are a network of scientists, writers, economists, artists, and other leaders with practical and visionary solutions for our most pressing environmental and social challenges. Their annual conference draws global attention, and its most inspiring presentations become source material for books in the Bioneers series.
In this volume, Bioneers founder Kenny Ausubel gathers reports from leaders in the fields of biomimicry (mimicking nature to restore environments and transform production processes), “living technologies” that break down toxics biologically; and ecologically sound design for buildings and industries. These are set alongside essays by such writers as Paul Hawken, Terry Tempest Williams, and Michael Pollan that underscore the need to work in harmony with natural systems. Unlike corporatized genetic manipulation, the “true biotechnologies” explored here illuminate a future of hope by wedding human ingenuity to the wisdom of the wild.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Paul Hawken
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	xiii
Kenny Ausubel
Part I. Biomimicry: Working with Nature to Heal Nature
Biomimicry: What Would Nature Do Here?	3	(14)
Janine Benyus
Living Technologies: Wedding Human Ingenuity to the Wisdom of the Wild	17	(15)
John Todd
Magic Mushrooms: Planetary Healing with Deep Biology	32	(10)
Paul Stamets
Bioremediation: Waste Equals Food	42	(8)
Randall von Wedel
Heavy Metal Blues: Botanical Detox Centers	50	(7)
Rufus L. Chaney
Nature's Filters: From Cattails to Bureaucrats	57	(12)
Doug Kepler
Part II. Listening to the Land: Ecology as the Art of Restoring Relationships
The Human-Nature Dance: People as a Keystone Species	69	(11)
Malcolm Margolin
Indigenous Science: The Cultivated Landscape of Native America	80	(12)
Dennis Martinez
The Green-Fire Wolf: Saving Wildlands with a Wild Heart	92	(7)
Dave Foreman
Have a Cow: The Paradox of Rangeland Restoration	99	(7)
Dan Dagget
Think Like a Prairie: Solving the 10,000-Year-Old Problem of Agriculture	106	(8)
Wes Jackson
Noah's New Ark: Conserving Seed Diversity in the Garden	114	(5)
Kent Whealy
Weaving Community: Restoring the Ecology of Los Angeles	119	(10)
Andy Lipkis
Part III. Graffiti in the Book of Life: Genetic Engineering and the Vandalism of Nature
Ignorance Is Not Bliss: The Perils of Genetic Engineering	129	(6)
David Suzuki
Unnatural Selection: The Bacterium That (Almost) Ate the World	135	(5)
Elaine Ingham
Genetic Pollution: A Life of Its Own	140	(7)
Michael Pollan
Part IV. The Industrial Evolution: Biology Meets Business
Natural Capitalism: Brother, Can You Spare a Paradigm?	147	(14)
Paul Hawken
Natural Capitalism: Where the Rubber Meets the Road	161	(14)
Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins
Reinventing the Wheel: Transportation Down the Road	175	(14)
Jim Motavalli
Ecological Design: The Architecture of Democracy	189	(8)
David Orr
Part V. Natural Magic: Spirit, Mystery, and Wonder
Whaaa!? How the Dragonfly Turned My Head	197	(2)
Steven Foster
From Miracle to Magic: Spirituality as Political Consciousness	199	(7)
John Mohawk
The Phosphorescent Soul: Swimming with Mystery	206	(2)
Terry Tempest Williams
The Eye of the World: Sex, Beauty, Fraud, and Kinship	208	(3)
Peter Warshall
Planet 'Hood: Making the World Our Home	211	(3)
Luisah Teish
A World Made of Stories: Saving the Web of Cultural Life	214	(13)
Wade Davis
Resources	227	(7)
About Bioneers	234