The Biophilic Design Initiative (BDI) brings together leading experts in the field with the goal to achieve broad adoption of Biophilic Design within the greater design community. It has become clear that recent climate reports lay out a dire future of climate-change challenges. At ILFI we proceed with hope and drive toward our mission of living a future we all want to live. Our Biophilic Design Advisory Members recently issued the statement below:
On behalf of the International Living Future Institute’s Biophilic Design Initiative Advisory Members, this position statement affirms the use of biophilic design strategies to support health, happiness and high-performance buildings within the larger context of climate change. The statement is part of a larger academic effort on the part of the Advisory Members, with the full text to be published this winter.
Climate change is the single greatest global threat to social stability, economic prosperity, environmental and human health. The hydra-headed legacy of improvident natural resource extraction and utilization strategies threatens to render portions of the biosphere unlivable and bring significant hardship upon the rest. We have the ability to anticipate and, to some degree, attenuate some of these disruptions through our built environment practices. As a community of biophilic design practitioners, researchers and enthusiasts, we recognize our collective responsibility to elevate the themes related to climate change and health. To encourage more widespread adoption of biophilic design strategies, our traditional value propositions (most commonly: beauty, stress relief, and productivity) must broaden to prioritize adaptive resilience. The highest accolades our buildings can and should aspire to include supporting climate stabilization, site ecology and environmental health. We must strive to create “habitat” for ourselves as well as the larger natural community to collectively flourish in radically changed and changing conditions.
Please take the time to read the article, “Biophilic Design and Climate Change: Performance Parameters for Health” by our BDI Advisory Members to learn more about the impact of biophilic design in the midst of climate change.
As the home of the BDI, ILFI supports this statement and invites you to take action. Sign up for the BDI newsletter today to learn more about what you can do to mitigate climate change.
You can also donate to support our work toward a living future.
Written By
Tim McGee is the Biophilic Design Manager at the International Living Future Institute (ILFI), where he brings his career exploring the interface between biology and design to optimize the possibility for a thriving, regenerative, future.
Previously, Tim founded LIKOLAB, a small creative agency that brings nature’s insights to transform business strategy. He also co-founded Biomimicry New England, a non-profit dedicated to establishing nature and natural systems as an important resource for education and innovation. Tim is an alumni of IDEO and Biomimicry 3.8, where he spent the past decade building the capacity of organizations to look to nature for innovation. He is a frequent national and international speaker on looking to nature for insights, inspiration, and creating impactful change. Tim enjoys writing and his work and insights have been featured in Fast Company, Smithsonian, Zygote Quarterly, and Treehugger.
When not at the Institute, Tim teaches Foundations of Sustainable Design at MCAD, and savors living a simple life on idyllic Bainbridge Island with his family.
