Hi folks, Forgive me if this has been discussed before but I'm a PC newbie. Just borrowed a book called Biomimicry by Janine M. Benyus (1997 USA). Couldn't help feeling a little sense of "this ain't that new" after only a few pages. Don't get me wrong it's all great stuff, I'm just suprised there wasn't a mention of Permaculture concepts in there given how wide spread the PC net is? e.g. "Biomimicry is a new science that studies nature's models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems..."
If she did, it would just be another old Permaculture book, wouldn't it? Of course, she MAY have had "permaculture" in it multiple times, and her publisher said "That's already been done. We have to find a new word". It's all marketing, you know. Sue
Hi Sue, You make a good point! Actually I've been getting through a bit more of it and it contains some very interesting stuff. In fact I wonder if 're-launching' existing PC concepts under a new guise (Biomimicry) is actually a very clever way of getting the ideas through to new audiences? Maybe I'm a bit slow for only picking this up now...
Hi Sue, Got a bit further into the book and alas Permaculture and Bill get a good page and a half mention...maybe I should've read the entire book before posting!
Andy, I think when one really lives Permaculture, there's no mimicry involved. That word means pretending to emulate. It's not such a great term. We use real natural principles in a well-designed and systematic way. It doesn't get much more real.