Save the whales
We know that climate change presents a real threat to biodiversity. Preserving biodiversity is an end in itself, but there are also economic benefits from conservation. For example, the pharmaceutical industry invests a huge amount in capturing the pharmaceutical potential of biodiversity and species information.
Biomimcry is another fascinating area where humans benefit from biodiversity. Biomimcry is emulating or taking inspiration from nature to solve problems. Janine Benyus gave a great presentation on biomimcry at TED, which I’ve embedded below.
I came across another interesting example of biomimicry today that crosses over to the other half of climate change response: mitigation and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.
Whale Power is a start-up company that is taking inspiration from whales to make more efficient wind turbines. Whales have tubercles on the leading edge of their fins where as the wings we design always have a smooth leading edge. But it turns out the unsteady flow over this more complex shape increases lift and reduces drag much better than manmade designs.
So now we have one more reason to save the whales. Who knows what else we might learn from them.
