One of the challenges with summer is that I can’t really be everywhere at once (And Lord knows, I’m so popular that the invitations are just a’ flowin’). And after taking 12 Southwest airlines flights in little over a month, I really don’t want to. (I also never want to wait in one of their freakin’ lines again to get a seat. Wtf is that about, really?)

Now, part of me does indeed roll my eyes at the idea of any event in Aspen (Jim, do you remember when we drove through and couldn’t afford ice cream? Yes, more than 10 years ago, but I blush as if it were yesterday. But also, I’m still not sure we could afford ice cream there now. Perhaps a nice glass of water sans ice for those of us who are peasants). But also I roll my eyes at Aspen as the host for ideas (Idea #1: Create a culture only of obscene wealth and (self-proclaimed) ski bums who work for the obscenely wealthy.)

Ahem. Woke up on the overheated grumpy side of the bed, apparently. Anyway, the Aspen Ideas Festival is about the ideas that shape our time. It has famous guests (Alan Greenspan, E.O. Wilson), and famous sponsors (GE–Boo, Hiss! Chevron–Boo, Hiss!), but it also seems to give us an idea of what is on the public agenda).

Here’s one account from Jacob Gordon at Tree Hugger (Note to Katie about books below: you might like Natural Capitalism for when you’re reading economic theory in your spare time):

Janine Benyus’, book Biomimicry holds a place of honor in the canon of modern sustainability alongside Natural Capitalism and Cradle to Cradle. Benyus is a nature writer turned biomimicry evangelist who travels the world inspiring audiences with the delightful logic of nature/technology holism. In her talk, she outlined the basic principals of biomimicry, which involve drawing on nature’s R&D for three basic areas of innovation: mimicking form, mimicking process, and mimicking ecosystem. She emphasized how biomimicry is not the practice of harnessing living organisms or systems to do our work for us (she recalled an example of a goat engineered to excrete spider silk from its mammaries), but learning from how living systems have evolved to solve problems and survive.

Examples she gave ranged from food crops that resemble the natural intermingling of native species, to cars that cut through the air the way fish are cut through the water. Bringing “biologists to the design table” is one of Benyus’ highest goals, and the Biomimicry Guild is the branch of her movement that trying to facilitate this synthesis. One of the most remarkable things about Benyus’ list of biomimetic applications was that each one she summarized was in some stage of realistic development, whether in a university lab, or imbedded in products on the market. She even made a suggestion or two on where forward-thinking investors might want to sink some of their money.

In any case, I wish I had gone. I’m very interested in sustainable business practices.