Learning from place: Nature tools to power local climate solutions

What if the answers to today’s biggest climate challenges were already all around us—woven into the soil, expressed in the trees, encoded in the feathers, fins, and fungi of our home bioregions?

Nature has been solving complex problems for billions of years. From the shape of a leaf to the structure of a beehive, life on Earth has evolved countless strategies to adapt, endure, and regenerate. Today, a new generation of nature-based tools is helping us learn from these systems and apply their wisdom to human challenges.

One Earth’s Bioregions Navigator offers a new map of the world based on ecology, not political borders. The Biomimicry Institute’s AskNature platform serves as a guide to the strategies life has already developed to survive and thrive. Together, they provide a pathway for climate action that begins with understanding your region and designing for its future.

Bioregions: Nature’s map of the world

One Earth’s Bioregions Framework reimagines the world map, not by arbitrary borders, but by the ecological systems that define our planet’s living fabric. Dividing the Earth into 185 unique bioregions nested within 14 biogeographic realms, this scientific framework serves as a roadmap for place-based conservation and climate action. Each bioregion encompasses distinct ecosystems, species, and climate patterns, along with rich cultural histories and local knowledge.

Accessible through One Earth’s interactive Bioregions Navigator, this tool empowers users, from educators and policymakers to philanthropists and grassroots organizers, to understand the ecological identity of any region on Earth. It offers a way to see not just where we are, but what life-supporting systems we are part of and how we can help them thrive.

Conservation with context: Bioregions in action

The Bioregions Framework is already being employed by conservation scientists and decision-makers around the world to prioritize ecosystem protection, guide rewilding efforts, and align policy, investments, and land management with ecological realities. By grounding climate solutions in the unique ecological conditions of each bioregion, the framework avoids one-size-fits-all approaches and supports strategies that work in harmony with nature.

It also helps communities and organizations identify the most effective climate solutions, whether that means preserving old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest, restoring grasslands in the Great Plains, or protecting mangrove coastlines in the Caribbean.

AskNature: A field guide to life’s genius

If the Bioregions Framework shows us where we are, the Biomimicry Institute’s AskNature platform helps us understand how nature works. AskNature.org is a freely accessible, ever-expanding database of nature’s time-tested strategies, featuring more than 1,700 solutions and hundreds of bio-inspired innovations.

Curious how desert plants survive extreme heat? Or how fungi distribute nutrients through vast underground networks? AskNature brings these insights to life through detailed profiles, curated collections, and educational resources used by everyone from engineers and educators to community leaders.

But AskNature is more than just a database. It’s an invitation to reimagine human systems by asking one transformative question: How would nature solve this?

The AskNature Hive: A global community of changemakers

To deepen engagement, the Biomimicry Institute created the AskNature Hive, an online community where members explore themes such as wildfire resilience, climate adaptation, and water stewardship through a nature-informed lens. Hive members participate in live speaker events, book clubs, networking sessions, and “social swarms” designed to spark collaboration and share breakthroughs in real time.

It’s a place where forest ecologists exchange insights with product designers, where regenerative farmers connect with systems thinkers, and where ideas inspired by nature evolve into actions rooted in place.

Bridging tools: Learning from location, designing with Nature

Together, the Bioregions Navigator and AskNature offer a powerful progression. First, understand your bioregion—its climate, ecosystems, species, and stressors. Then, explore how nature has adapted to those challenges. This is the essence of biomimicry: learning from organisms that have already solved the problems we face and applying those lessons to design more resilient human systems.

From flood-resistant housing inspired by mangrove roots to cooling strategies modeled after termite mounds, biomimicry offers sustainable solutions that time-tested, locally adapted, and optimized for life.

“Biomimicry is an approach to problem‑solving that is deeply humbling and hopeful. It feels a bit like coming home.” — Lily Urmann, Technical Manager, AskNature Hive.

Collaboration over competition: A climate movement rooted in unity

At a time when the climate crisis demands rapid and coordinated action, more climate-focused organizations are choosing collaboration over competition. One Earth and the Biomimicry Institute are proud to be part of this movement, working together to connect ecological knowledge with practical tools that empower local action. 

In a field often siloed by sector or specialization, this shift reflects a growing understanding that we all share the same planet and the same goal: a just, biodiverse, and climate-resilient future.

By making nature’s tools more accessible and aligning our efforts, we can build a stronger, more unified ecosystem of solutions—one that helps communities not only survive, but thrive, in every bioregion on Earth.

How you can join us

🌎 Explore your bioregion with the Bioregions Navigator.
🔍 Discover nature’s genius at AskNature.org.
🐝 Join the Hive and get one month free.

Nature has already done the hard work. Now it’s our turn to listen, learn, and act.