The idea of sustainable architecture isn't new. Historically most of the inhabitants of earth have lived in completely green dwellings. But we've moved on as a society and a tee-pee just isn't going to cut it anymore. We love our comfortable homes. We can't get enough of hot showers and flushing toilets. Take away the TV and laptop and you've removed the heart & soul of the new American consumer. There isn't really anything wrong with that in and of itself, but what happens when we turn a blind eye to the effects of our consumption? Sure anyone who has lived in an old house south of this campus knows the costs of drafty windows and uninsulated attics on their wallets-50 bucks a month in utilities for 8 people?! Wha?-but what about the effect that those drafty windows have on the environment? Is living in a "green" house affordable for the masses? Is it even possible? What even is a sustainable dwelling? Is the technology available for us to be better citizens in the ecological world? And then there are the objections about the aesthetic qualities of sustainable architecture. "It looks like a spaceship" a friend told me when I asked what he thought about a LEED certified house. "But would you live in it?" I asked. "Maybe for a week or two." Is it ignorance that keeps us tied to the old ways or are the old ways so familiar by now, that to imagine a house looking anything other than the house we see in our minds is too foreign to be comfortable.