housing crises, building green

2 new articles from worldwatch:

"Can Green Designs Solve A Housing Crisis?"

... The wave of green building innovation is not unique to Pine Ridge. As individual green homes are built in towns across Indian country, mostly by volunteers, interest within the wider Native American community is growing. "Because of our community and our high needs - economic development and sustainability - [green housing] is a perfect fit for us," said Karen Diver, chairperson of the Fond du Lac Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.

... On some of the poorer reservations, many say the government is not doing enough to provide for housing. Despite HUD's efforts to encourage green construction, some activists are convinced the federal government opposes alternative construction material because it would divert money from preferred federal contractors. "The people operating the housing system, HUD, they are opposing this because they have no profit in this," said Richard Boyden, founder of the Sioux advocacy organization Operation Morning Star. ...

"Green Building Goes Mainstream"

also, more about green building and a link that i wanted to make a note of for a while: earthship biotecture (via colbert report interview of michael reynolds)

bonus: watch the green building episode of the dhlovelife show