Monday, October 8, 2012 11 AM Eastern Time On VoiceAmerica Business
Listen on Monday.  Your company is trying to develop the technology that will change the world. Who do you need on your team? An engineer, a computer scientist and....a biologist. Yes, a biologist at every technology R&D meeting is what Janine Benyus, founder of both the Biomimicry 3.8 Institute envisions for the future. Biomimicry, a term coined by Benyus in the mid-90's, is an emerging discipline that uses brilliant designs and strategies developed by nature over the last 4 billion years and applies them to solve problems for humans. Biomimicry hopes to transform the world into a more sustainable place by mimicking the ways ecosystems are self-sustaining in nature. By looking to the natural world for inspiration, biomimicry challenges the conventional wisdom that man-made technologies are inherently superior to what we find in nature and asks, " What does nature do better than humans ever could imagine?" Join Kate Ebner and Janine Benyus, biologist, innovation consulant, and author, for a conversation that invites you to look for solutions to life's challenges in nature.
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Councilman Joe Cimperman's Revolutionary Vision of Cleveland
 I have a vision of a city where our children are as well-loved as they are well-fed. I have a vision of a city where our grandparents are teaching kids their grandkids age about all the traditions from the different corners of the globe where their ancestors came from. I have a vision of a city where no plot of land in Cleveland is considered decorative- where everything is made, like Marge Piercy's poem, "to be of use."
I have a vision where our grocery stores, once we get our hoop houses going, can provide local food so local that it could have been grown in the lot across the street. I have a vision that the kids in every one of our schools in Cleveland will have an understanding of where their food comes from. They understand that bananas don't come from a can and apples don't come from a shelf- they grow. I have a vision where people in our community aren't hungry anymore because we've decided that we're going to blend municipal, agrarian and humanitarian code together so we can take care of ourselves. I have a vision where our hospitals aren't as full- fewer people are there for heart treatment because they're eating healthier so instead of places of illness, hospitals become places of wellness.
I have a vision where people feel that food is something that helps bring them together. Food is something that provides an entry point into other people's worlds. I like to imagine the city as a giant picnic table where everyone brings something different to share. And it would probably be on one of those cold, sunny, crisp September afternoons in Cleveland when the harvest is in and there's a sense of relief from summer, people are getting ready for winter and sharing with one another and the people say to themselves, "This is one of the most extraordinary moments in my life."
I just have this vision that food can be one of those things
that brings people together so that we don't ask anymore, "How do we end racism?" or "How do we end classism?" Share your table with someone. There's something revolutionary about feeding each other.
I have a vision that we are going to be that city that takes care of each other, embraces each other, that grows so much of our own food that we share it with communities all around us, but certainly that provides it for every single man, woman and child in Cleveland. My vision is that we're happier, healthier, better-fed, that we're a city of gardens, orchards, chicken coops and bee hives. I want Cleveland to be a place where through its dining room, its kitchen, and its lunchtime tables, cares for one another in a way that transcends any "ism" that humanity can put on society and how we treat each other.
-Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman
Visionary Leader, Extraordinary Life 10/1/12 Listen to the Councilman's entire interview with Kate Ebner by clicking here.
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Recently in the Nebo blogosphere
Re-read a post by Kate Ebner that echoes the power of transformational thinking in communities highlighted by Joe Cimperman's radio program this week. Check back next week for a new post on Mentor-wise.
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