The Housing Bomb

Why Our Addiction to Houses Is Destroying the Environment and Threatening Our Society

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Biological Sciences, Ecology, Nature, Environment, Environmental Conservation & Protection
Cover of the book The Housing Bomb by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu, Johns Hopkins University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu ISBN: 9781421410661
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Publication: December 15, 2009
Imprint: Language: English
Author: M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
ISBN: 9781421410661
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication: December 15, 2009
Imprint:
Language: English

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 The Housing Bomb, leading environmental researchers M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Rai Peterson, and Jianguo Liu 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.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

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 The Housing Bomb, leading environmental researchers M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Rai Peterson, and Jianguo Liu 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.

More books from Johns Hopkins University Press

Cover of the book Righting America at the Creation Museum by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Cover of the book Exquisite Masochism by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Cover of the book Ending Medical Reversal by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Cover of the book The Coming of Democracy by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Cover of the book Junkyards, Gearheads, and Rust by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Cover of the book Confronting Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Cover of the book Handbook for Health Care Ethics Committees by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Cover of the book The Vulgar Question of Money by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Cover of the book Politics in the Corridor of Dying by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Cover of the book How NATO Adapts by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Cover of the book The Literature of Reconstruction by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Cover of the book Nudging Health by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Cover of the book The Resilience of the Latin American Right by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Cover of the book Native Memoirs from the War of 1812 by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
Cover of the book Environmental Problems of the Greeks and Romans by M. Nils Peterson, Tarla Peterson, Jianguo Liu
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy