ABSTRACT
Currently, a sustainable lifestyle is voluntary, an option that we can choose or not, and to many people, it is considered an inconvenient one. It requires us to drive less, turn the thermostat down in the winter, perspire in summer, put ugly solar panels on our roofs, . . . the list goes on and on. For the most part, we as a society have chosen not to make an all-out effort to resolve the earth’s impending environmental problems because as Brian Edwards contends, “The problem is not a lack of knowledge but the reluctance of consumers to prioritise low energy design. Sustainable housing is constrained by consumer attitudes, not technical uncertainty. In fact, some have suggested that the resistance to sustainability is 80 percent cultural . . .” 1 Certainly, the changes anticipated in this book will only happen when we have little or no choice, as they seem to represent in the minds of the public a diminishment of convenience and by association—comfort. This perceived loss of comfort may be true to a certain extent, but there are tradeoffs that might make one’s change of lifestyle much more palatable, maybe even more fulfilling than our present, more destructive and consuming one. Regardless of our desire to avoid these annoyances and retain the status quo in our lives, it is entirely likely that the timeframe that mankind can continue on its current destructive path will be shorter than many expect and may well be upon us by mid-century, if not sooner.
