When architect Douglas Cardinal was studying at the University of Texas many years ago, he used to drive to the college through the Rocky Mountains from his home Alberta, Canada. “I was inspired by those forms,” Cardinal told an American journalist. “They helped me realize architecture should come from the natural environment of a place.”

While Canadians are familiar with Cardinal's highly original work, he is not alone in taking inspiration from nature and preferring curves (曲线) to straight lines. As a key contributor to an international movement known as organic architecture, Cardinal has had his work and views presented in the book New Organic Architecture: The Breaking Wave by British architect David Pearson. In his book, Pearson expresses the meaning of organic architecture with examples of amazing buildings by 30 architects from 15 countries.

For example, in New Caledonia, Italian architect Renzon Piano has designed a village inspired by native cottages and their relationship to nature. In Palm Springs, California, American architect Kendrick Bangs Kellogg has created a desert house that looks like a bird. The house is earthquake-proof (抗震的) and stores the sun's heat, letting it out at night.

“There's a growing awareness of the need for all architects to influence the environment as little as possible,” Pearson said. “What is new is to link the newer environmental awareness to the passionate (充满热情地) design that can come out of looking at nature and its forms.”

“Organic architecture is rooted in a passion for life, nature and natural forms,” Pearson writes. “Its free-flowing curves and expressive forms are in agreement with the human body, mind, spirit. In a well-designed organic building, we feel better and freer.”

Cardinal has won an award for his new work. “There's a countless variety of forms in nature, and I am continually inspired by observing all these forms,” says Cardinal.

We see art everywhere around us. In public parks, city squares, shopping streets and public buildings, we find modern art objects on display. Classical art, such as valuable paintings, precious statues and other fine arts, usually ends up in the collections of museums, companies or rich people.

Both art and architecture have a history of ages. All forms and ways of expressing the beautiful things have been explored. In the case of architecture, many buildings designed in the past have proven beautiful and served their purposes. Governments and companies could save millions of dollars by building or copying designs of architecture of buildings from the past. There are still many designs for buildings made by famous architects that were never realized. Besides, some people find modern architecture ugly. So why should we pay a lot of money to architects for designing new buildings?

The same holds for modern art, both paintings and statues. Many storerooms contain enough art lo decorate all public buildings and other public places. There is no need to create more art, and as with modern architecture，many people find new art difficult to understand or appreciate.

Given these facts, why are architects and artists asked to create new art works? The answers have to do with the function of art in society today. First of all, the function of art is to decorate. Art works make our living environment more beautiful. Another function of art is enriching real life. Art helps people to learn to think creatively. In art things are not always what they seem to be. Very often you can hardly tell what the funny art objects are. People need such creative moments. Finally, art is often seen as a way to instruct the audience. Statues of heroes from the past remind us of our history. Paintings and other art objects can also help us realise which goals we should set for ourselves.

Because ideas about society change and every period of time has its own taste, there is always a need for new art. We can still appreciate the beautiful art works made in the past but they are often too valuable to be placed in public buildings. Besides, they also often need special protection.

Sea urchins (海胆) are small creatures, but what’s really remarkable about them is that they eat anything that happens to float by. They have really sharp teeth they use to rid rocks of algae (海澡), which makes them pretty valuable especially in places like Hawaii where algae are threatening the coral reefs. In the summer of 2019, 500,000 of them were used to deal with the algae.

The problem started when non-native algae were introduced to the ecosystem of Kane’ohe Bay in the 1970s. Because they had no enemies, they ended up taking over the bay, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The algae blocked sunlight from reaching the coral, which in turn affected the local fish because they changed the chemistry of the water.

That's when the NMFS turned to sea urchins that loved to devour the algae. But they had to grow to the size of a cherry tomato before they could be used. Since 2011, sea urchins have been grown and used to handle the algae problem. Some of the funds are available due to an unfortunate incident.

In 2005, a ship was grounded on a shallow reef near Kane’ohe Bay. When the ship was removed, 20 acres of reefs have been damaged. When there is environmental damage, the NMFS and other agencies receive funds from the wrongdoers and the funds are used to restore the damage. Some funds were spent on other projects like the sea urchins.When they are large enough, divers carefully place them on the reef.

Algae isn’t the only thing that threatens the coral reefs. Climate change and the effects of fishing and tourism in the area also endanger the coral reefs. But turning to sea urchins instead of man-made solutions seems like the best way to go.