Housing changes to benefit the environment
One of the factors contributing to global warming is the rapid disappearance of land. Huge swaths of earth are being paved or developed as housing or commercial space at an alarming rate. As we all know, without enough land to nurture trees, crops and other flora our atmosphere will become too rich in carbon dioxide. This will further encourage the warming of our climate as well as being disastrous for food production.
Right now, about 15-20% of the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is the result of our tearing down forests and other vegetation for our own use whether it be for farming, industry, housing or recreation. In every country, land is being altered and vegetation destroyed to support manufacturing, crop growth and the increasing need for housing. Many countries with limited land, like Japan, build high-rise apartment buildings to conserve their farmland and the natural habitat of their native wildlife.
Other cultures put a premium on “home” ownership and think of detached, independent dwellings as “homes”. Indeed, in some countries you are not considered a success until you have a plot of land to call your own on which to build your house. This attitude is very detrimental to wildlife and contributes greatly toward global warming and climate change. Cities continue to sprawl outward, gobbling up land and driving wildlife farther away to compete in smaller areas of natural habitat. Not only does this upset the balance of nature, the paving of the land and building of houses holds in the natural heat of the sun longer, prompting a hotter climate and more demand for energy.
California is a good example of the cost to the earth of massive residential development. It is estimated that an acre of land is being developed for every nine people and out of every six acres in the state, one has been paved over between 1990 and 2004. During this period, half a million acres were “developed”, about 70% of it agricultural land. At the present rate, another two million acres will turn into concrete by 2050.
The answer, obviously, is to begin building up, like Japan. When most people think of apartments, they picture tiny little cubbyholes that are devoid of comfort or personality with no place for children to play. Some imagine that apartments are unsafe and others just want as much privacy as possible. As space becomes scarce, though, creative architects are coming up with ideas that would be thought too fantastic decades ago.
Greenroofs, a concept that has been around for awhile now, puts gardening atop apartment or office buildings. The idea is catching on as apartment buildings are being designed with green space for human comfort as well as global health. Families that live in such buildings are able to enjoy spacious and safe balconies, common play areas, green spaces and gardens all in a communal setting that is as private and safe as an individual house.
As with so many other solutions to global warming, changing our attitudes is the key to altering the behavior that has led to our climate problems and other damage to our planet.
