Why Sustainable Building Methods Matter-

We are one of the millions of species nature put on the face of beautiful Earth. Nature provided each species with a unique ability of survival. I believe our survival technique is our brain power. We have evolved from being primitive and living in the caves to not just building shelters, but building homes, building cities and even countries. Our nesting instinct is the strongest. Our built environment-  intense. It needs a great deal of time, labor and money. Our building methods are far more severe than how nature builds. It involves using a huge amount of natural resources and artificial materials. It consumes tons of energy and creates unfathomable amount of waste. It alters our natural environment and  exerts tremendous pressure on our real home, our planet Earth. 

We cannot rewrite our past, but we can most certainly make a shift from the present day’s unsustainable practices. As the most progressive species on earth it our utmost responsibility to create our built environment in harmony with our natural environment and make it conducive for life of the future generations to come.

Its quite true that we really need to take care of the grater problems and the smaller problems take care of themselves. When we decide to be the responsible species, and work hard towards making our home a better place, we include ourselves in the sphere of benefit as well. I believe specifying a sustainable materials is one of the important steps towards the big change we wish to make in our built environment. Specifying sustainable materials (which are renewable, naturally occurring, are sustainably developed and easily bio degradable) and specifying green processes (which will constantly work to minimize the adverse impact of manufacturing) can be our hope of mimicking nature’s way of constructing a world . A world, which is made up of -non (less)toxic, low energy consuming, non (less)polluting, reusable (thus waste reducing), multifunctional, durable and biodegradable products. A world, which is full of lush green, fresh, bright , vibrant and peaceful environment. Instead of  waste, pollution, toxic and contaminated environment.

When we began making informed decisions about the materials, the manufacturing processes and how we construct our world it can only help us on a personal level by offering us a healthier environment, cleaner air to breath, reduced levels of toxic fumes to breath, increased sense of well being, and a truly safe environment that all of us deserve.

The durability, long lasting quality, energy efficiency, and renewability of the sustainable materials can also bring about the cost benefits, which in fact is the primary factor in our decision making.  Therefor specifying sustainable materials is extremely vital , especially in the Architecture and Planning community. It can be a first step towards restoring our ecological, geological, environmental as well as our social and economical balance.