Tag: biomimicry

creativity

Beyond Extraction: How Janine Benyus Reveals Nature’s Universal Patterns for a Thriving Future

Christa Avampato

In a recent episode of The Common Good from the Garrison Institute, science writer and Biomimicry Institute co-founder Janine Benyus joined host Jonathan F.P. Rose for an illuminating conversation. The topic was profound yet elegantly simple: uncovering “nature’s universals” — the deep, time-tested design patterns that silently guide all living systems, and how we can apply them to the human world.

Benyus, the pioneer behind the biomimicry movement, anchors her work on a single, powerful biological truth: Life creates conditions conducive to life.

This isn’t a romantic notion; it’s a design principle. Over billions of years, successful natural systems — from the vastness of a forest canopy to the complexity of a coral reef — have learned to thrive not through competition and extraction, but through cooperation, self-organization, and elegant networked intelligence. These are the strategies that generate abundance without consuming the system that supports them. When we look at nature, we are looking at a master class in sustainability, efficiency, and resilience.

The Blueprint for Human Innovation

The conversation moved beyond mere observation to practical application, identifying core natural principles that can and must guide human industry and ethics. Two standout concepts for redesigning our civilization are:

  1. Right-Sizing: In nature, nothing is over-engineered. Organisms do what is necessary, but no more, often using modularity and local resources to solve problems. Benyus challenges us to abandon the modern human impulse for massive, centralized, and often brittle systems. Instead, we should mimic nature’s local, tailored, and efficient solutions.
  2. Distributed Abundance: Nature’s design is fundamentally anti-monopoly. Resources and solutions are distributed — sunlight, nutrients, and water flow through a network, ensuring that the health of the whole system supports the success of individual parts. Applying this principle to economic and social systems means designing for local self-sufficiency and ensuring resources are abundant and regenerative for all, rather than concentrated at the top.

A Call for Biological Literacy

Ultimately, the episode serves as a powerful call to re-embrace our own biological literacy. For too long, Benyus contends, Western culture has viewed the world — and our place in it — as a collection of separate parts to be managed and exploited. This mindset has dictated our industrial processes, our economic models, and even our spiritual disconnection from the living planet.

The discussion highlights that re-embracing these universal patterns is not just about engineering better products; it’s about reshaping our culture and spirituality. By learning from life’s inherent genius, we move toward a worldview where we recognize the world as a single, living, interdependent whole. The greatest innovation of the next century will be applying nature’s wisdom to create human systems that are as beautiful, cooperative, and conducive to life as a thriving ecosystem.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can all embrace nature’s principles to live our best lives and also care for the planet. What do you think?

creativity

The Zero-Waste Secret: How Orange Peels Became Luxury Silk

Christa Avampato
Italian luxury brand E. Marinella Orange Fiber used Orange Fiber to create ties and scarves

Every day, the global citrus industry produces mountains of waste: billions of tons of leftover peels and pulp from juice extraction. Most of my immediate family lives in Florida now, and I’ve seen his waste first-hand. In nature, waste doesn’t exist; everything is a resource. So, what if we applied that wisdom—the principle of biomimicry—to the industrial challenge of food waste?

Enter Orange Fiber, an Italian company (from Sicily – where my ancestors are from!) that has cracked the code on circular fashion.

The Problem of Waste, Solved by Nature

Orange Fiber developed an innovative, patented process to extract the cellulose fiber that still exists within citrus juice by-products. They take the material left over from juicing and, through bio-based chemistry, transform it into a refined, high-quality fabric. The result is a refined, ethereal, and sensorial fabric that feels like a beautiful silk.

This is biomimicry in action: Nature’s design principle is to create closed-loop systems, and Orange Fiber has designed a zero-waste textile solution right inside a juice factory.

Why This is More Than Just a Fabric

This is a story of value creation and a new definition of luxury in the modern world.

  1. Sustainable Innovation: It dramatically reduces agricultural waste and reliance on non-renewable resources (like petroleum-based synthetic fabrics).
  2. Professional Validation: Since its launch, Orange Fiber has quickly scaled, partnering with brands like Salvatore Ferragamo, H&M Conscious Exclusive, and E. Marinella. If they trust the quality, the model is scalable.
  3. The Secret is Simple: The success of Orange Fiber is a perfect example of a deep, simple secret often overlooked in product design: the solution is often hiding in plain sight, waiting to be repurposed.

The work of Orange Fiber reminds us that every challenge we face—from environmental pollution to resource depletion—can be solved by looking to the design wisdom of the natural world. It proves that the most beautiful, sustainable solutions are often discovered when we choose curiosity and embrace the design mindset of, “How can we make something beautiful while also protecting the natural world we all depend upon for survival?”

creativity

What a Corn Stalk’s DNA Taught Me About Solving the Climate Crisis

Christa Avampato
Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash

The urgent global challenge is feeding a rapidly growing population while fighting the uncertainty of climate change. As a storyteller and a biomimicry scientist, I often ask: How does nature solve a massive, existential crisis? The answer, it turns out, lies not in some distant super-technology, but in the subtle genius of a single plant cell.

New research from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has illuminated a fundamental biological “master switch” in the DNA of food crops like corn, giving us an actual blueprint for creating a resilient, thriving future. This isn’t just botany; it’s a profound lesson in survival written right into the plant kingdom.

The Inner Wisdom of the Plant

Plant growth, from the deepest root to the ripest ear of corn, is governed by its stem cells—unspecialized cells that hold the potential to become any part of the plant. The challenge facing plant scientists has always been figuring out how to balance these cells: when should they grow and when should they specialize into, say, a fruit or a thick stalk?

In a breakthrough study, scientists mapped the gene expression in these cells, revealing the network of regulators that act as the plant’s precise internal control panel. This network balances growth and stress response, allowing the plant to strategically allocate its resources for survival.

This knowledge is a gift to us all because it shows how nature manages risk. A plant facing drought doesn’t just despair; it shifts resources to deepen its roots. A plant under pest attack doesn’t just succumb; it redirects energy to fortify its cell walls. It’s a marvelous, elegant system of risk mitigation through metabolic flexibility.

A Blueprint for Humanity’s Resilience

As my work focuses on biomimicry—integrating nature’s genius into the human world—I see in this discovery a direct path to solving our human challenge of food security. We are not meant to struggle endlessly against the elements; we are meant to learn from the masters of endurance.

This plant study provides us with three clear takeaways for building a better world:

  1. Precision over Force: Instead of overwhelming fields with more fertilizer and water, we can use this genetic knowledge to engineer plants to be more efficient—to use nitrogen more effectively and direct energy precisely where it’s needed most for resilience.
  2. Unlocking Latent Potential: We are now able to see and manipulate the plant’s own evolutionary solutions. We can develop crops with deep-seated, natural defenses against drought and disease, built on the plant’s own wisdom, not on chemical dependency.
  3. The Power of the Foundational System: The corn stalk teaches us that true resilience comes from perfecting the foundation. By understanding and replicating the simplest, deepest biological controls, we can build human systems that are robust and adaptable, just like an ecosystem.

A Brighter Future Ahead

This breakthrough is more than just a scientific finding; it is a fundamental shift in our relationship with nature. By finally decoding the genetic “master switch” that plants use to govern their own destiny, we are handed a powerful blueprint for survival. The challenge of global food security has never been greater, but this research proves that the solution is not an endless technological sprint, but a deeper engagement with the patient, profound wisdom of the living world. The era of resilient agriculture is not just on the horizon—it has already begun, written in the complex, hopeful language of a plant’s own DNA.

If you’re interested in learning more about how I apply nature’s genius to human challenges, check out my work on biomimicry here: Christa Avampato: Biomimicry Stories Can Help Us Build a More Sustainable World



Now, I want to hear from you: How can we apply the corn plant’s principle of ‘metabolic flexibility’ to urban planning in our own cities?

creativity

Greenland sharks may help us cure cancer

Christa Avampato
Close-up image of a Greenland shark taken at the floe edge of the Admiralty Inlet, Nunavut. Photo credit — Hemming1952 | Wikimedia Commons | Used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International

A cure for cancer may be swimming 2,200 meters (~7,200 feet) below the surface of the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans. Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) are deep-dwelling animals who live to be ~400 years old in the wild without a shred of medical care. The secret to their longevity is likely in their genes that fend off cancer.

An international team of 28 scientists recently published a paper mapping the Greenland shark’s genome. And the results are astonishing. The shark’s genome has two remarkable features: many duplicate genes give the shark an enhanced ability to repair damaged DNA, and their genome has an altered p53 protein that makes the protein more robust. What do those two things have to do with cancer? As it turns out, everything!

Damaged DNA and cancer Damaged DNA that isn’t repaired causes mutations in genes that regulate how a cell grows and divides. This damage causes cell growth to skyrocket uncontrollably leading to tumors, a.k.a. cancer. There are many ways DNA can be damaged — UV rays from the sun when we don’t wear sufficient sunscreen, tobacco smoke, exposure to toxic chemicals, aging, and the normal processes of living.

Most of the time and for most of our lives, our bodies recognize the damaged DNA and either repair the cell or purge that cell through our natural waste processes, kicking the damaged cell out of our bodies so it never causes problems. However, these damaged cells can be sneaky and hide, or the amount of damage can be very extensive, making it difficult for our bodies to repair or remove all of it.

The Greenland shark’s enhanced ability to repair damaged DNA is an incredible adaptation that helps prevent cancer. Knowing that DNA damage is such an asset for the shark’s longevity further spurs our cancer research to seek out new treatments and therapies to enhance human abilities to repair DNA damage.

p53 protein and cancer The p53 protein is a powerhouse in the bodies of almost every animal. p53 is a tumor suppressor, protecting cell DNA from damage, initiating repairs when it detects damaged DNA, and kicking damaged cell out of the body when necessary. Greenland sharks have a more robust p53 protein than other animals, allowing them to be more highly attuned to protect against and repair DNA damage.

Biomimicry, nature preservation, and biodiversity conservation is vital for human health Among its many attributes, nature is a research lab, pharmacy, library, and archive. The species with whom we share this planet hold the answers to every question we have. It takes time, effort, and funding to study nature and find these answers.

By employing biomimicry (the emulation of nature’s design genius, such as the adaptations of the Greenland sharks that give them such great longevity), protecting nature, and safeguarding biodiversity, we are providing ourselves with a source of unlimited creativity, knowledge, and wisdom. Our lives, and the lives of all beings, are intricately intertwined. Nature will help us thrive if we care enough to help nature survive.

creativity

Destruction can be a new beginning

Christa Avampato
Redwood trees sprout from burned trees in Yosemite. Photo by Chris Daines. Creative Commons license. https://www.flickr.com/photos/staticantics/4966177427/

For most species, including humans, wildfires represent a dire threat. But against all odds, fire’s fast-moving flames, smoke-filled skies, and relentless heat don’t always signal death in nature. Some species have evolved extraordinary adaptations to turn destruction into an opportunity — a gateway to survival and even proliferation. Their stories reveal how nature’s resilience and ingenuity can flourish in the face of destruction, and how following their lead can help us do the same.

1. Pyrophilous (“fire-loving”) beetles

Commonly known as fire beetles, these species have infrared sensors that detect heat, and antennae receptors that detect smoke. Together, these sensors and receptors guide them to the fires from up to 80 miles away. But why would a beetle want to fly into the fire?

Scorched forests provide them with everything they need to help create the next generation — the intense heat lifts the bark from the tree trunks where the beetles lay their eggs; without competition from other insects and free from the threat of predators, the larvae have the decaying wood as an abundant food source.

These beetles also jump start the rewilding process after a fire to help rebuild the ecosystem. As they break down the decaying wood, they speed up the recycling of nutrients into the soil and accelerate the growth of new plants and trees.

How can we put the beetle’s adaptations to work for us? Studying the structure of their sensors and receptors could help engineers and designers develop tools to help us identify fires from long-range distances, allowing us to deploy fire fighters and resources earlier and more quickly to extinguish them sooner and more effectively. These beetles also teach us that within the ashes of destruction lie opportunities for something new to grow and begin the process of rebuilding.

2. Woodpeckers

Black-backed, red-cockaded, and white-headed woodpeckers see post-fire landscapes as tasty buffets. They feast on the beetle larvae abundant in these areas. The woodpeckers keep the beetle populations under control to balance the newly forming ecosystems recovering from wildfires. The open, grassland conditions that are present in the early stages of forest recovery are perfect places for woodpeckers to nest and forage for food.

Woodpeckers show us that places that don’t look perfect can often be perfect for our needs.

3. Redwood trees

After a fire, redwood trees sprout new seedlings. This process is known as epicormic sprouting. They store energy in dormant buds under their bark. Even after centuries, these buds can sprout. They also sprout new growth from the roots of burned trees. This ability to resprout from dormant buds and from their roots, even after the tree dies, gives redwoods an advantage over tree species that reproduce through seeds alone.

Redwoods developed this adaptation to prepare for difficult times, giving them the best chance of propagating the next generation, even if the trees themselves wouldn’t live to see that future themselves.

These three species are exemplars of how to survive and thrive through difficulties and disturbances. Right now, we’re facing multiple, painful challenges in our world. Feelings of hopelessness and helplessness are understandable. Life on Earth has existed for nearly 4 billion years, and nature has faced a constant barrage of challenges throughout and adapted. Beetles, woodpeckers, and redwoods are three examples of how to rise to and overcome challenges: always seek opportunity everywhere, even and especially in the places that don’t sparkle and shine; contribute and be part of the rebuilding community; in times of plenty, prepare for times of scarcity.

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Nature has the lessons we need to learn. We can benefit from nature’s nearly 4 billion years of accumulated wisdom if we are willing to put aside our own egos. Are we ready and willing to be nature’s students?

creativity

How nature rebuilds after a fire

Christa Avampato
Photo by Caleb Cook on Unsplash

In 2009, my New York City apartment building caught fire. I lost nearly everything I owned, and I almost got trapped in the building. I’ve written a lot about that incident, the terrifying PTSD that followed, and the therapist and friends who helped lead me out of the darkness I’d shoved down my entire life up to that point so I could fully step into the light for the first time. (You can read some of those pieces here and here.)

Watching the coverage of the LA fires and doing whatever I can to help people there wasn’t triggering for me. However, it did leave me with a profound sadness because I know first-hand how painful it is to lose everything and then face the difficulty of rebuilding my life and my mental health. It’s a long and winding road. Fire physically, chemically, and irreversibly alters everything it touches, us included.

When I’m sad, confused, or lost, I often turn to nature. As a biomimicry scientist, it’s become a habit for me to ask, “What would nature do?” Nature has faced fire for hundreds of megaannums; the first evidence of it appears in the fossil record about 420 million years ago, with charcoaled plant remains. (By comparison, the mass extinction of dinosaurs happened about 66 million years ago.) When destroyed by fire, how does nature rebuild? Time, variety, and assistance.

Rebuilding requires time
The dramatic before and after photos of a fire may lead us to believe that the rebuilding begins as soon as the fire is snuffed out. However, without plants to anchor the soil, storms that follow wildfires can cause even more damage through massive flooding and erosion. The post-fire damage can continue for years.

After my fire, my PTSD caused years of difficulty, long after I had a new home and had replaced my belongings. This was also true when I finished active cancer treatment many years later. The effects of life-altering events cannot be immediately known. Healing isn’t linear and it often takes longer than we’d like. The impacts unfold at a pace that we don’t control. Give yourself the space and grace to take it all in, process it, and move forward on whatever timeline you need.

Rebuilding requires variety
After a fire, nature re-establishes itself by re-anchoring the soil. Native plants that have that ability are the first to take root. That includes hardy varieties of grasses, trees, and shrubs that can survive through harsh conditions. Their ability to stabilize the landscape paves the way for an even greater variety of plants to return with time.

When we’re rebuilding, we can feel overwhelmed. We want everything to immediately go back to the way it was, and the fact that we know it can’t be that way can leave us feeling paralyzed. Focusing on one step at a time and prioritizing immediate steps that make other steps possible, can help.

When I moved into my new apartment after my fire, I had 2 plastic CVS bags of belongings and an air mattress I borrowed from a friend. The emptiness of that space gave me so much anxiety. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and asked myself, “What do I need right now?” I needed a toothbrush, a towel, and some soap. So, I went and got those three small things. That was the groundwork I needed on that first day, in that first moment. The rest could wait.

Rebuilding requires assistance
While these native plants begin to grow, invasive species will often try to muscle their way into the space. Rewilders and forestry experts will often give nature a hand by removing invasive species, allowing native plants the time, space, and resources they need to grow and develop.

My PTSD was an invasive species. Anxiety, nightmares, and suicidal thoughts tried to set up shop in my mind and body. Sometimes they succeeded. One time I woke up sitting on the sidewalk crying. I had no idea how I got there, nor how long I’d been there. My PTSD was causing me to have blackouts.

I was afraid to be home, and I was afraid to not be home. Every siren was cause for internal alarm, and New York City has a lot of sirens.

Friends and my therapist offered to help, and though I tried to brush them off, some were persistent. They were my rewilders. They showed up against my objections and began to help me pull the weeds of PTSD from my mind and body. It wasn’t a pleasant experience for any of us, but it was necessary. Without them, I wouldn’t be here. The PTSD would have taken over, preventing my recovery.

When you go through something traumatic, ask for and accept help. When you see someone going through trauma, don’t wait to be asked to help. Show up and lend a hand. None of us get through recovery alone.

Encouragement for Angelenos
Los Angeles, we’re with you. You’re not alone in any of this. This whole nation cares what happens to you, and we’ll continue to care and help you get back on your feet. The ground is already being seeded with love, donations, and generosity. The road to recovery will be long and difficult, and we’ll be there to build it with you. Nature has given us the blueprint.

creativity

Sign up for Togetherhood – my nature newsletter

Christa Avampato
Sign up for Togetherhood – my nature newsletter

In my free weekly LinkedIn newsletter called Togetherhood, I share stories about nature’s wonders. Many of the posts are about my area of expertise— biomimicry. As a product developer, I apply nature’s designs to the human-built world to create a sustainable planet.

Read published posts and sign up to receive future posts here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/togetherhood-7273771832221089792/

A little more about the newsletter – in case you need more convincing to subscribe 😉

1. Why this, why now

Right now we have a window of opportunity to halt and reverse the impacts of climate change. That window won’t be open forever, and if we are to protect and advance progress we need to act, together, now. I hope my stories about the wonders, wisdom, and beauty of nature will inspire all of us to take action to love, safeguard, and regenerate nature.

2. The kind of community you’ll find in the Togetherhood

This community is rooted in love, joy, respect, and curiosity for all species. We are here to learn together and support each other.

3. When I’ll share new stories

I’ll post once a week on Saturdays. I don’t have any plans to make this a paid newsletter. The content is free. It’s my gift to the world to share my expertise, support nature, and inspire wonder.

4. Join me in the Togetherhood

An old growth forest is one of my favorite environments and metaphors for life. It has wonders above and below ground. Every being in a forest is connected to every other being. It’s a web of life, literally and figuratively. I want the Togetherhood to be an old growth forest of stories. Let’s go have an adventure, together.

Read published posts and sign up to receive future posts here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/togetherhood-7273771832221089792/

creativity

Sharks were my career coaches

Christa Avampato
Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

I became a biomimicry scientist because of sharks.

I was on my way to work in 2018 listening to an episode of the Ologies podcast with Alie Ward. She was interviewing Dr. Chris Lowe, a leading shark researcher. He explained that sharks have an incredible self-healing adaptation. The ocean is a dangerous place, and sharks often sustain deep wounds. To stave off infection and promote rapid healing of their wounds, they have mucus on their skin that’s rich in a complex carbohydrate called glycan that has a unique composition. When Dr. Lowe talked about this, my product developer mind started spinning. If we could determine what unique component of the shark mucus promotes healing, we could apply that knowledge to healing human wounds. (This research is on-going, and in 2023, researchers determined mucus on the skin of sharks is rich in a complex carbohydrate called glycan that has a unique composition distinct from other fish.)

Years before I listened to this Ologies podcast episode, my boss, Bob G., had introduced me to Janine Benyus and her work in biomimicry — the sustainable application of adaptations in the natural world to the human-designed world. Working with Bob was my first product development job.

Growing up, I was a science and math kid. I abandoned my dream of being a scientist because a college professor my freshman year told me I, “had no mind for physics.” (More on that experience and how I DO have a mind for physics in a future article!) Instead, I majored in economics and history, continuing to love science as a personal passion. This Ologies episode promoted me to look into biomimicry as a bridge between my love for science and my business career in product development.

When I got to work, I Googled to see if there might be a biomimicry class I could take. What I found was that Arizona State University and Janine Benyus had just established a biomimicry graduate program. It was virtual, relatively affordable, and the application window was open. I applied, got accepted, and graduated. After that experience, I went on to get a master’s degree in Sustainability Leadership at University of Cambridge, and I’m working on bringing together all the aspects of my career — writing, storytelling, business, product development, and biomimicry — to build a better world for all beings. Biomimicry changed my life and career, and continues to help me evolve, grow, and thrive.

Looking back, I see now how all those threads made their way into my life through different avenues because I’ve always followed my curiosity, wonder, and joy. We don’t always know how the pieces of our lives and career will fit together. It sometimes takes longer than we’d like because the circumstances of our world need to evolve to catch up with us. Trust the timing of your life. Keep learning. Do the best you can with what you have where you are right now. What you seek is also seeking you. Eventually, you’ll find what’s meant for you and it will be worth all the effort.

creativity

Static electricity is nature’s gift that feeds us

Christa Avampato
Photo by Christoph on Unsplash

Static electricity may not top your list of things you’re grateful for this holiday season. It’s definitely on the nice list because the food we eat and enjoy wouldn’t be possible without it. Here’s a wonder of nature that changed how I see food.

Simply put: Plants grounded in soil have a negative charge. Bees have a positive charge. When a bee lands on a flower, the pollen jumps onto the bee due to the attraction of the opposite charges. (This is the same electricity transfer that happens when we walk across a carpet and then touch something that gives us a little shock.) When the bee flies away with the pollen, the flower now has a neutral charge. When a second bee arrives, that bee skips the neutrally charged flower knowing all the pollen has been taken by the first bee. This means the second bee doesn’t waste their time, energy, and resources on that flower, and moves on. Over time, that flower will build up a positive charge and pollen again. Once that happens, another bee will again be attracted to the flower and the cycle repeats. This is how plants are pollinated and serve as the base of our food system.

Imagine if we could embrace that communication that occurs between bees and flowers. How much time, energy, and resources have we wasted in relationships, jobs, or environments that we knew weren’t right for us? Rather than embracing the wisdom of a bee, we work so hard to try to make it work and it falls apart. Many times, it’s no one’s fault. It just wasn’t a match. It’s better to just move on and find the places where we can experience equal and generous reciprocity — a place where we can offer our gifts and receive the gifts of others.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this wonder of nature, envisioning how this principle could transform my life and our shared world. How might we align talents and gifts, matching needs and resources to create sustainable change? How might we build systems that appreciate, value, and utilize everyone’s contributions so that everyone has what they need? Answering these questions is the work that lies ahead for all of us, and nature is our wise and successful guide.

creativity

Hope is a Renewable Resource

Christa Avampato
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2053590/episodes/16000698

With everything happening in the world now, hope may feel in short supply. I’ve got something that will help. I had the honor of being a guest on the Art Heals All Wounds podcast with host Pam Uzzell. 

During our conversation, I share my journey from growing up on a rural apple farm amidst adversity to becoming a climate advocate. I talk about my passion for reshaping the narratives and storytelling around sustainability and human design, and how my process of healing from cancer in the depths of the pandemic gave me perspective on healing the planet and the collective responsibility we all share for our planet’s future. This echos what the climate scientist, Dr. Michael Mann, calls “channeling dooming into doing.”

I also make the case for kindness (especially in urban settings), the urgency of transitioning to clean energy, and my plans for fostering environmental restoration, rewilding, and community engagement so we grow stronger together. Thank you, Pam, for the opportunity to talk about everything I love.

Listen to our conversation at https://www.buzzsprout.com/2053590/episodes/16000698