12.8 Agriculture
351
• Sustainable gardening is among the most crucial and effective sustainability
practices that people could follow. Some of its practices and benefits are the
improvement of soil, use of native plants, trees, and shrubs for creating beautiful
landscapes as well as using all renewable resources provided by nature.
• Other crucial home gardening practices that promote sustainability are compost,
maintenance techniques, planting native and climate-appropriate plants, and
saving seed.
After going through this chapter, do you believe that you have a role to play
in sustainability? Explain if you believe you have a role to play.
(continued)
Case Study 12.1: Biomimicry
Fig. 12.1 Velcro image
People have relied on nature as an inspiration throughout the history of
humanity. By examining plants, animals, and natural processes, we can learn
what is functional and non-functional. These observations are helpful for
engineers during the design process as well as for inspiring new inventions.
There are numerous examples of biomimicry, with Velcro being among them
(see Fig. 12.1). Velcro is a product designed to imitate cockleburs that tend
to stick to animals and people. The first invention/case study of biomimicry
is airplanes, which are modeled after birds. This can be seen through the
airplanes’ body shapes that resemble birds’ wings and the falcon beak. The
Morphing airplane wings tend to change shape in accordance with the speed
and flight period (Mathews 2011). This is inspired by different varieties of
birds that have wings of different shapes. The variety of wing shapes affect
the speed of flight. In addition, fish-inspired airplane wing design enables
351
• Sustainable gardening is among the most crucial and effective sustainability
practices that people could follow. Some of its practices and benefits are the
improvement of soil, use of native plants, trees, and shrubs for creating beautiful
landscapes as well as using all renewable resources provided by nature.
• Other crucial home gardening practices that promote sustainability are compost,
maintenance techniques, planting native and climate-appropriate plants, and
saving seed.
After going through this chapter, do you believe that you have a role to play
in sustainability? Explain if you believe you have a role to play.
(continued)
Case Study 12.1: Biomimicry
Fig. 12.1 Velcro image
People have relied on nature as an inspiration throughout the history of
humanity. By examining plants, animals, and natural processes, we can learn
what is functional and non-functional. These observations are helpful for
engineers during the design process as well as for inspiring new inventions.
There are numerous examples of biomimicry, with Velcro being among them
(see Fig. 12.1). Velcro is a product designed to imitate cockleburs that tend
to stick to animals and people. The first invention/case study of biomimicry
is airplanes, which are modeled after birds. This can be seen through the
airplanes’ body shapes that resemble birds’ wings and the falcon beak. The
Morphing airplane wings tend to change shape in accordance with the speed
and flight period (Mathews 2011). This is inspired by different varieties of
birds that have wings of different shapes. The variety of wing shapes affect
the speed of flight. In addition, fish-inspired airplane wing design enables