Great Profiles

It was a picture on a wall.

It showed an old, dead tree and some pueblos in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Bryony Schwan walked around the conference room of the Biomimicry Institute and paused in front of the photo.

The tree was leafless.

Its broad trunk had diverged into branches, which formed dozens of intricate limbs that wandered skyward. Measured rooftops of sun-baked pueblos rose behind the tree and accentuated its meandering lines.

It was a photograph hanging on a wall – her photograph.

Bryony, the executive director of the Biomimicry Institute, has always seen things differently.

To her, a dead tree is art, a problem is a challenge to find a solution, and environmental and social injustices are the starting point for improving the world.

Recently, she has been seeing the effects of a deteriorating environment. An avid gardener, she has noticed semi-tropical plants being sold at nurseries. It’s getting warmer earlier and colder later. Polar bears are drowning and resources are being used up.

So, she is focusing on creating a more sustainable planet.

The Biomimicry Institute, a not-for-profit organization, offers a solution for problems facing the environment today. Biomimicry is a transfer of ideas, designs, and strategies from biology to sustainable human systems design.

For example, an ape can teach humans how to self-medicate, and a termite is the inspiration for a cooling system that doesn’t use air conditioning and saves energy. Leaves are the models for creating a better solar cell.

“It’s a whole new way of looking at the world,” Bryony said. “People are so desperate for something hopeful, and biomimicry is that hope.”

Walking to the next picture in the conference room, she explained her photo – a close-up of dried mud and rocks.
The mud had dried and cracked in tight, sporadic lines. Scattered over the top of it are a handful of small pebbles that are pink, green and blue.

“I’ve always been intrigued by the colors, patterns, and textures of nature,” she said.

Bryony, who grew up in Zimbabwe, first became involved in the environmental movement when she moved to Montana. As she flew above the state, she saw clear-cuts for the first time.

“I was horrified,” she said. “I couldn’t believe that someone would take an entire hillside and chop down every single tree.”

While she was working toward a degree in environmental studies at the University of Montana, she volunteered with organizations such as the Alliance for Wild Rockies and Friends of the Bitterroots.

As she began participating in the environmental movement, she noticed the need for a women’s environmental group.

“I wanted to help women find a place to contribute and feel supported,” she said. “Women’s talent was being wasted. All the leaders were men.”

So, in 1995 she graduated, quit her job, and founded a non-profit environmental justice organization know as Women’s Voices for the Earth.

“Raising money and being taken seriously were the hardest parts (of starting the organization),” Bryony said. “People didn’t understand what we were. They thought we were a bunch of silly, hysterical women.”

After working from morning until night seven days a week for four years, Bryony proved she was more than a silly, hysterical woman. WVE gained national recognition as an effective and successful organization working towards understanding the links between toxic pollutants and women’s and children’s health.

“It took absolute perseverance,” Bryony said. “Usually if somebody tells me I can’t do something, I’ll say ‘Watch me.’”

Gail Gutsche, who helped Bryony found WVE in 1995, has seen that attitude in action, and says it applies to more than just environmental issues.

“She is tenacious,” Gutsche said. “She is an activist on all levels. Anything that is unjust interests her: mistreatment of people, animals, climate, whatever.”

That’s how – although Bryony believes reading People magazine is the most boring thing in the world – Leonardo DiCaprio once captured her attention.

Gutsche recalled Bryony’s reaction to finding out that a Leonardo DiCaprio film, “The Beach,” was going to destroy a natural beach in Thailand by bulldozing natural sand dunes and cutting down coconut trees while filming for the movie.

Bryony protested the environmental infringement and sparked an international controversy until, eventually, 20th Century Fox was forced to pay for the beach’s restoration.

Sam Steier, Co-Director of Education for the Biomimicry Institute, said Bryony’s many experiences with interpersonal communication have been integral in her success.

“She is a very good leader,” he said.

The next picture shows the Haleakala Volcano Crater in Hawaii. Bryony had been backpacking on the island with her women’s travel group. On another wall, the Missouri river winds brightly though a valley as the sun glints off of it. She had taken the picture during a break from canoeing the river.

One statistic was all it took for Bryony to found another organization, this one allowing others to partake in the outdoor reverie she has practiced all her life.

The social statistic showed that girls generally lose confidence when they reach puberty.

So, she founded a program called GUTS!, or Girls Using Their Strengths. It involved rafting down the Salmon River, backpacking near Flathead Lake, and participating in other outdoor activities to raise the confidence of pre-teens.

Bryony has a rafting history herself. She is a certified whitewater raft guide and recently got back from a river trip down the Grand Canyon.

“I’ve been waiting for that trip for fourteen years,” she said. “There were no motors for 21 days, no commercial anything. It was just nature and silence.”

Though she doesn’t have much free time, Bryony has many hobbies to turn to.

“She is an interior designer, a gourmet cook, an artist, a photographer…,” said Gutsche. “And she is accomplished in all these facets.”

The outdoor adventurer is learning to play the guitar and has been reading about the intersection between spirituality and quantum physics. Bryony also admits to having a weakness for wine, good conversation, and pets, of which she has four – three cats and a big dog, all from the humane society.

“My biggest problem is there are not enough hours in the day,” she said. “I don’t know what people mean when they say they’re bored. I’ve never been bored in my life.”

This photo is labeled “Rattlesnake Creek.” It shows a rock resting halfway in the creek and halfway out. A current has pushed dozens of single pine needles into perfect alignment against the rock, like stitches sewing it to the river.

Bryony’s house is carpeted with ceramic tiles she made herself, and she has taken all the photographs lining the conference room walls.

As a young girl, she was surrounded by creative influences. Her mother, who moved to Zimbabwe from South Africa to escape the injustices of apartheid, was a painter and made a living by creating illustrations for books.

Bryony attended college in South Africa and got an art degree that focused in ceramics.

Her experiences in Africa, she said, have been the foundation for many realizations in her life.

“I had an amazing childhood. I grew up around lions and zebras,” she said. “I have a deep-rooted love for the natural world.”

Africa’s contrast to the rest of the world also opened her eyes. After college, Bryony yearned to see the world, so she went to London.

“Europe was much more populated and tamed,” she said. “Africa was still really wild and untouched.”

When she came to the United States, she was more prepared for a “tamed” environment, but she wasn’t prepared for the corruption she saw in the media and the government.

She noticed immediately the parochial biases of American media. She saw front page stories about cats being stuck up trees, but saw nothing about the rest of the world unless it directly pertained to the U.S.

“I was appalled at the news,” she said. “It was shocking how little people knew about the rest of the world. Even underprivileged people in Africa had a broad education, or were at least interested about the rest of the world.”

The government was also a source of disappointment for Bryony. After learning about countless dictators that had been supported by the U.S., including even Saddam Hussein, Bryony started to question the government’s validity.

“I always thought the U.S. was this amazing country, a shining beacon for democracy,” she said. “But my idealistic ideas were blown out of the water.”

She has seen her own country, Zimbabwe, crumble under the dictatorship of President Mugabe. And she has had to watch the U.S. ignore it.

“(Mugabe) has destroyed the country, killed thousands, squashed all political opposition,” she said. “But the U.S. does nothing because there is no strategic value. Where are our principles?”

She also questioned the integrity of a local state senator a few years ago. So, she ran against her in the next election.

Bryony, who wasn’t well known and didn’t have as much money as her opponent, lost the race. However, she said she did receive 34 percent of the votes and exposed several suspect political actions the woman had taken.

“I’ll probably run (for office) again,” she said. “But not right now. I’m busy.”

In the meantime, Bryony has a lot on her to-do list.

Just last week, she traveled to Mexico City where she worked with a university on a project to implement biomimicry in their curriculum. She is also helping to produce a kid’s CD of nature songs with local artist Amy Martin.

Oh, and she needs to talk with Al Gore as soon as possible.

She had been hiking at Blue Mountain when she took the photo. A fire had just swept across the mountain, leaving only charred remnants of trees.
But in the foreground, golden, wispy grasses seem to sway, hopeful against the tall, black figures looming behind them.

“See? Even after a fire there is beauty,” Bryony said.

It seems that Bryony’s life has been one fire after another, injustice after injustice. But the grasses have always been there too – she has made sure of it.

“I’m scared of what could happen to the world,” she said. “But I’m hopeful. I’m not optimistic, but I’m hopeful. Optimism is based on facts, but hope is based on faith.”