Good nests reflect their environment. They embrace and grow from regional amenities and resources.
DEFINING THE PROBLEM Between 2000 and 2008 a surprising US export to China surged by 916 percent. The export wasn’t capital goods such as aircraft/ motor parts or technology. It wasn’t industrial/chemical goods, and it wasn’t agricultural products such as corn or soybeans which we usually see as some of the top major US exports. The unlikely US export to China that saw this dramatic increase was US cast-off’s, namely scrap metal, waste paper, and the like (Allen, Jodie). In 2010, from New York and New Jersey ports alone, the US exported 6.6 million metric tons of cast off’s throughout the world with 3 million metric tons of that export destined for China (NY/NJ Exports to China Abound).
FIG. 17 (2010 Exports from NY & NJ Ports per Million Metric Tons | US Dept. of Commerce).
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The need to conserve, reuse, and better manage our natural resources grows ever more critical with continued overpopulation and climate change. At the same time technology is enabling a more mobile, interconnected, and global culture. Today, our ideas, resources, and economies are more interwoven than ever before. With this paradigm shift we need to broaden our definition of what our resources are, and how we adapt to meet the challenges of the 21st century. It is becoming imperative that we evaluate the effectiveness of how we handle the resources that we already have, which we have significantly invested in to mine, harvest, produce, manufacture, distribute, and/or construct. Is it really in the best interest of our local and national economies to export reusable and recyclable goods such as scrap metal and waste paper then continue to mine and manufacture more of those same goods thereby gradually depleting our reserves of that resource? Is an existing building much different of a resource than a refined ore? The figure below illustrates typical energy end use profiles for residential and commercial buildings in 2011 as opposed to the nations energy consumption for transportation and industry. This study states that: “In 2006, the operating energy of residential and commercial buildings in the United States constituted roughly 39 percent of total