Biomimicry for a Healthy Planet
by Megan Clendenan and Kim Ryall Woolcock
Orca Book Publishers, 2021
ISBN 978-1-4598-2464-5 (hc)
$19.95, 48 pp, ages 9 – 13
orcabook.com
Two BC authors have crafted a resource to show how human innovations can be based on natural designs. Rather than using toxic chemicals or fossil fuels to build things, the work shows how natural materials and energy sources may be utilized instead. Aerodynamic trains based on bird shapes can glide more efficiently using less power, batteries based on algae rather than toxic chemicals show real promise, and a limestone-producing bacteria has recently been used to make self-repairing concrete. The authors suggest that biomimicry holds hope for a future green revolution.
Classroom Connections: Design Like Nature is part of Orca’s “Footprint” series and, like others in the series, it boasts a glossary, complete index, as well as online and print resources. With more than sixty colour photographs and accessible text, it truly is an appealing book for classrooms or school libraries. The work is available in ePub and PDF versions, and the Orca website has a variety of teacher resources including a worksheet for Design Like Nature.
Review by George Sheppard.
This review is featured in Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Spring 2022 issue.