Page 4 - Green Builder Magazine March 2015 Issue

EDITOR’S NOTE By Matt Power, Editor-in-Chief

The Inside Scoop

2

Outdoor Habitats for Indoor People

To reduce our ecological footprint, we must create outdoor living
Nspaces that offer no cause for rejection.
O INSECTS, PLEASE. No cold we’re innately oriented
breezes. No high humidity toward enclosed spaces:
or blazing sunlight. No
unpleasant smells. Keep “The finding that
noise to a minimum—and emerges is that we are
basically an indoor spe-

that includes crickets, frogs cies. In a modern society,

and birds. Give us something to look at. total time outdoors is the

Protect our privacy. Wildlife is welcome, most insignificant part

except crows, raccoons, skunks, rats, bats, of the day, often so small

wolves, spiders or snakes. that it barely shows up in

Homo sapiens are squeamish about the total.”

discomfort or inconvenience of any kind— The research also

and are far more indoor-oriented than you found very little variation

www.greenbuildermedia.com 03.2015 might think. In fact, while doing some between different

research recently on the human “need” for contact with nature, geographic areas in the U.S. In other words, if you’re a

I came across some fascinating findings. Southern Californian, you spend just as much time indoors

A study in the early 1990s conducted by Lawrence as a person in northern Maine. And modern people, as far

Berkeley National Laboratory and the Environmental as we can tell from existing records, are not much different

Protection Agency (EPA) assessed how people spend their from their predecessors.

time in the U.S. The results, seen in the pie chart, are eye- So, now what? Do we throw up our hands, shrug, and say,

opening. But the U.S. is not alone. In 1989, Wayne Ott “well, that’s human nature?” I’d suggest, instead, that we work

conducted a global literature review of sociological studies to shift the balance back toward outdoor life.

on how we spend our time as a species. His conclusion: The Green Payoff. This information carries important

subtext for the building industry for two reasons: First,

National Human Activity Pattern Survey: Where Time Is Spent heating and cooling account for the biggest share of
shelter’s greenhouse gas emissions. We need to spend
Total n = 9,196 more time outdoors, less time conditioning the air inside
our dwellings. And we need to build and live in smaller,
Total Time Spent less resource-demanding spaces. Even a tiny house feels
Indoors (86.9%)

livable when it’s attached to a large, comfortable outdoor

In a Residence (68.7%) deck. Second, this data helps us understand why indoor air
pollution has become such a health problem in the U.S.—

and how critical it is that we address this aspect of green

Outdoors (7.6%) building in every project.
So, here’s the challenge for builders, architects and

In a Vehicle (5.5%) manufacturers: Can you create all-season outdoor spaces that
address all of the comfort concerns of would-be residents,

Office/Factory (5.4%) Other Indoor Location (11%) even the relatively trivial concerns? It may be tough going
Bar/Restaurant (1.8%) at times, swimming upstream against human nature, but

Cave Dwellers. As is apparent from this research starting at the design phase with a landscape plan for your
conducted in the early 1990s, Americans spend vastly project site is the only way. Just make sure it’s quiet, private,
more time indoors than outdoors. Source: The National beautiful and irresistible, like some of the outdoor living areas
Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS), 1994 featured in this, our annual eco-landscaping issue. GB