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Book Cover
E-book
Author Peterson, M. Nils, 1976-

Title The housing bomb : why our addiction to houses is destroying the environment and threatening our society / M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Rai Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Published Baltimore : The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013

Copies

Description 1 online resource (viii, 212 pages)
Contents Introduction -- Household dynamics and their contribution to the housing bomb -- How home ownership both emancipates and enslaves us -- "Housaholism" in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem -- Household dynamics and giant panda conservation -- Defusing the housing bomb with your house -- Individual and local strategies for defusing the housing bomb -- Macro-scale strategies for defusing the housing bomb -- Conclusion
Summary Have we built our way to ruin? Is your desire for that beach house or cabin in the woods part of the environmental crisis? Do you really need a bigger home? Why don't multiple generations still live under one roof? In this book, leading environmental researchers sound the alarm, explaining how and why our growing addiction to houses has taken the humble American dream and twisted it into an environmental and societal nightmare. Without realizing how much a contemporary home already contributes to environmental destruction, most of us want bigger and bigger houses and dream of the day when we own not just one dwelling but at least the two our neighbor does. We push our children to "get out on their own" long before they need to, creating a second household where previously one existed. We pave and build, demolishing habitat needed by threatened and endangered species, adding to the mounting burden of global climate change, and sucking away resources much better applied to pressing societal needs. "Reduce, reuse, recycle" is seldom evoked in the housing world, where economists predict financial disasters when "new housing starts" decline and the idea of renovating inner city residences is regarded as merely a good cause. Presenting irrefutable evidence, this book cries out for America and the world to intervene by making simple changes in our household energy and water usage and by supporting municipal, state, national, and international policies to counter this devastation and overuse of resources. It offers a way out of the mess we are creating and envisions a future where we all live comfortable, nondestructive lives. The "housing bomb" is ticking, and our choice is clear - change our approach or feel the blast
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [179]-205) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Housing -- Environmental aspects -- United States
Housing development -- Environmental aspects -- United States
Human ecology -- United States
Urban ecology (Sociology) -- United States
Ecological houses -- United States
Sustainable urban development -- United States
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Infrastructure.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
Ecological houses
Housing development -- Environmental aspects
Housing -- Environmental aspects
Human ecology
Sustainable urban development
Urban ecology (Sociology)
United States
Genre/Form Detective and mystery fiction
Detective and mystery stories.
Form Electronic book
Author Peterson, Tarla Rai
Liu, Jianguo, 1963-
LC no. 2012051093
ISBN 9781421410661
1421410664