Nature's way
Does biology hold the secret of successful product design?
"It's too late to be right or righteous," says environmentalist Paul Hawken, who makes no bones about consulting for companies like Wal-Mart and Ford. Given the problems facing the earth, he said, he's willing to sit down with anyone sincere about addressing these issues. Hawken, founder of retailer Smith & Hawken and co-author of "Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution," believes companies should integrate biomimicry - the art of designing things by imitating how nature operates - into their products. Taking his own advice, he's launched a firm that will make cheap solar panels based in part on how the plant world converts sunlight into energy.
NEXT: Rebuilding America
"It's too late to be right or righteous," says environmentalist Paul Hawken, who makes no bones about consulting for companies like Wal-Mart and Ford. Given the problems facing the earth, he said, he's willing to sit down with anyone sincere about addressing these issues. Hawken, founder of retailer Smith & Hawken and co-author of "Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution," believes companies should integrate biomimicry - the art of designing things by imitating how nature operates - into their products. Taking his own advice, he's launched a firm that will make cheap solar panels based in part on how the plant world converts sunlight into energy.
NEXT: Rebuilding America
