This book is about the global need for sustainable building. The number of people on earth and their use of the resources of the planet for energy make it necessary to build differently. The planet is showing serious signs of stress. According to Dr. David Grissmer, my sister's husband, as we all rode together recently through the melting Columbia ice field in Alberta, Canada, "The consequences of global warming are potentially catastrophic, and since the preventative strategies are likely to take decades to work, even if the chances are small that humans are the cause, we need to begin to address the issue." I knew this was a guarded statement from a physicist about what had possibly caused the changed ecosystems in our world.