| Much has been made of alternative building | | | | a distance, and can be harvested and processed |
| materials considered to be green, or | | | | in a customized fashion for specific needs. |
| environmentally friendly, but one of the simplest | | | | Another possible benefit is more subtle; a culture |
| ways to build green is to use materials that are | | | | that has to rely on its own resources for the raw |
| available locally. | | | | materials to provide shelter and other necessities |
| It has only been within the past century or so | | | | of life has a large stake in protecting those |
| that use of remotely harvested or manufactured | | | | resources, and will likely develop methods of |
| materials has been extensive; for most of human | | | | harvesting that assure long-term sustainability. |
| history, people of ordinary means built homes and | | | | Some of the most popular alternative building |
| public buildings largely from materials available | | | | materials [ have come from sharp individuals who |
| within a few miles of their local environment. In | | | | took a look at their own environment and came |
| the heavily forested northern part of the U.S., | | | | up with creative solutions for their housing needs, |
| that means wood frame homes; in the | | | | while others are an adaptation of centuries-old |
| Southwest, that means adobe. In parts of | | | | techniques. Straw bale housing is a fairly recent |
| mountainous Peru, stone houses are predominant, | | | | building practice in the U.S., but in parts of Europe |
| and in areas of tropical Southeast Asia, traditional | | | | straw bale housing has been built for over a |
| native housing has been built largely of local | | | | thousand years. |
| woods, grasses, and bamboo. | | | | And then there are subterranean homes. These |
| Using locally available materials makes sense for a | | | | homes, a radical new idea in the U.S., use the |
| number of reasons; one is that transportation | | | | earth's own insulating ability to create an easily |
| costs, including the cost of energy consumption, | | | | heated home; but it's not nearly as new as one |
| are much less than when using materials that | | | | would think. Human beings have taken advantage |
| have to be shipped across country or imported | | | | of this type of housing situation for thousands of |
| from other continents. The materials can also be | | | | years, but we didn't call the shelters homes; we |
| available much more quickly than if shipped from | | | | called them caves. |