The Importance of Better Buildings. Natural Solutions in a Modern World

Shelter is a human necessity, a concept that has evolved throughout history. The current industrialized world's concept of housing is just another stage, albeit a pervasive one, in the evolution of shelter. This current stage is unsustainable, however, as it uses an unnecessarily large number of resources and pollutes the atmosphere with carbon and other harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, there are alternative forms of building to respond to the issues created by the current built environment and limit the impact caused by buildings. Embracing these sustainable techniques is the next step in the evolution of shelter.

The challenge therefore lays in creating and raising in the broader public an awareness of the harmful effects of current building practices. As part of this process, significant questions must be posed. For example, how and why are buildings, particularly suburban tract housing and skyscrapers, constructed the way they are currently? What are the effects of these structures on society, both from a climate change perspective as well as from a human happiness perspective? What role does the profit motive play in driving the construction of suburban houses and skyscrapers? What are the ramifications of current society remaining heavily dependent on the extractivist industry as it moves forward?

Answering such questions and subsequently setting out specific criteria to be followed in the construction of any building and demonstrating how using natural materials meet these criteria are key in creating a much healthier built environment. If alternative buildings were constructed more widely in the industrialized world, it would create a more sustainable society in many ways, not the least of which by altering the guiding philosophical principles that have contributed to what has become a heavily consumptive way of life.

Bringing better building techniques to the forefront of the construction industry is the challenge, and education is the key tool in meeting this challenge. Everyone involved in the alternative building industry is to some degree a teacher and as such must be prepared to effectively promote learning about a more sustainable life, not just to potential clients but to society at large.