身处蜗居，淡然安居

人类社会的发展始终是要付出代价的，而在过去几百年的快速现代化进程中，人口过剩、流动迁徙等因素造成人类的生存空间也在不断变化调整。近年来，随着房价的急剧攀升，金融气候的莫测不定，我们对房屋面积大小的期许也更是在缩水。这也激发了人们对自我居住空间的全新思考，随之而来的是一股颠覆传统住房观念的时尚安居新潮。伦敦集装箱城、日本“胶囊旅馆”和北京“胶囊公寓”等经济实惠的居住理念的兴起，便充分说明了如今我们需要的只不过是像蜗牛壳一样的容身之所而已。不过，正如本文作者所言，居所的存在并不一定和环保有冲突，低碳的绿色家园也日益受到人们的关注。相信人类可以在环境和需求之间找到一个平衡点的同时做到蜗居又安居，舒适又环保，何乐而不为呢?

Ever dreamed about living in a mansion, surrounded by beautiful objects and the most modern and time-saving conveniences that money could buy? What if you wanted all of these things but your conscience as a world citizen was such that you could not justify the negative impact that having such a home would have upon the environment and the world? What kinds of choices would you have and how much of a difference could you make?

Currently, a range of options are becoming more readily available worldwide for eco-living. Throughout Europe, there are various types of sustainable housing solutions being utilized today. In London, prefabricated steel shipping containers are used in a variety of applications, such as commercial businesses, schools and community centers and live/work spaces. The Scandinavian company Ikea has set up energy efficient ready-made homes for sale in Germany. In addition to more sustainable housing options, hotels such as the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Copenhagen are offering guests an opportunity to earn free meal vouchers by producing electricity on specially adapted exercise bikes.

In Asia, where space has often been associated with luxury and prestige, ideas such as the famous “capsule hotels” in Japan are now in vogue in heavily congested cities like Beijing and have been modified to include apartments. Hotels in New Zealand are outfitted with dual-flush toilets to conserve water and one hotel in Christchurchincludes rooms with no windows but a full compliment of light therapy technology to offset the lack of natural sunlight. Other hotels make it a practice of letting their clientele choose to have their linens cleaned with every-other day or weekly service, to minimize excessive water consumption.

Daily lifestyle choices and habits also are an important way that people throughout the world are working to minimize their carbon footprint. According to an article in theChina Daily (12/03/2009), an online group called the “Low-Carbon Tribe,” is actively promoting a lifestyle in a “relaxed and fashionable way,” where members can cut their energy usage by modifying the choices they make—such as taking the stairs instead of elevators and utilizing public transportation instead of driving to work each day.

Still others are making choices which change what and how they eat. Eating locally grown foods and organic products has become both feasible and fashionable with organizations such as Canada’s 100 Mile Diet, leading the way. Communal villages, such as the Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in the United States, are taking it one step farther by combining the concepts of an inclusive sustainable lifestyle within a small, rural community.

These lifestyle choices reflect who we are and what we believe to be true. Some feel it just as important to live in the moment as it is to live with a vision or plan for the future. In the not too distant past, many people viewed success as having the highest paying job, the most expensive car and the largest home but times have changed with the collapse of world economy. Today, many view those superficial desires as greedy and simply out of touch with the rest of humanity.

Arguably, one of the most significant choices for many Americans is his/her home—where the majority of a person’s or family’s income and time is spent. Currently in the United States, there seems to be movement away from the McMansion style of home to smaller, more thoughtful and sustainable structures. Perhaps the idea of “bigger is better” and “you can’t take it with you” are now becoming outdated and outmoded ideologies—especially with the near collapse of worldwide financial structures.

Green Construction and Zero Energy homes are now coming of age in a very uncertain and unstable economic climate. With dwindling (and growing ever more costly) natural resources and a surge in the interest of eco-lifestyles, the business of remodeling or building “green” is on the increase—despite the sometimes higher cost of eco-friendly supplies and the challenge of procuring and locating one hundred percent green products when building.

A Zero Energy home uses various materials and cutting-edge technology to keep energy consumption low or “zero”, while utilizing sustainable products both inside and outside. Some popular ways to produce energy is to install solar panels, utilizeThermomax heat (solar heated vacuum tubes) and harness wind power. Sustainable components include wood that grows rapidly (such as bamboo and alder) and recycled materials (such as glass and salvaged lumber). In addition, some homes are utilizing roof gardens to capture water which can be used later for irrigation and water supply around the property.

The interesting part of green construction is that not only are the components and their sustainability measured, but also their performance. For example, heating a home using solar panels becomes much less effective if the windows in the house are not properly insulated or treated to keep the heat in and the UV rays out. In this way, an energy efficient house is then judged by the sum of its parts, not just one component. So, in order to build a zero energy or efficient green home, many details, much experience and some ingenuity is necessary.

Another fascinating thing about green homes is their link with nature and the positive effect they have on living organisms—both human, and otherwise. Where many homes are often built and finished (paints, carpeting, misc. furnishings etc) with toxic or chemical materials, green homes are actually often built and constructed with products that are of nature or less allergenic. Instead of becoming a dead zone—a place where humans remain separate and disconnected from nature, the space becomes something which embraces and nurtures nature.

With all of these positive attributes concerning eco-living, will the green construction movement and a low carbon lifestyle gain popularity and become the predominant trend of the future? For certain, as a new world financial structure struggles to emerge and a dramatic decrease in natural resources continues to plague our planet, we will continue to search for solutions—and hopefully they’ll be ones which place our environment as well as our humanity in a place of prominence.

住在一座豪宅里，室内的陈设极尽精美，还配备着钱能买来的最先进也最省时的设施，这样的生活，你有没有梦想过呢?想象一下，你的确想得到这一切，同时又觉得自己是个世界公民，不能接受这样一座房子带给环境和世界的负面影响，这样的话，你又该怎么办呢?你能够有一些什么样的选择，又能够起到多大的作用呢?

目前，一系列的环保生活方式正在变得越来越容易实现，在全球范围内都是如此。在整个欧洲，各种可持续住房解决方案如今正在得以应用。在伦敦，预制钢板集装箱在商业场所、学校、社区活动中心和居住 / 工作空间中都得到了广泛采用。北欧的宜家公司也已开始在德国销售节能的组装房屋;可持续住房的种类越来越多，除此之外，哥本哈根皇冠酒店之类的旅馆也在向顾客提供赢取免费餐券的机会，鼓励他们去骑一种特别改制的健身脚踏车，以达到发电的目的。

在亚洲，空间往往弥足珍贵。日本的“胶囊旅馆”闻名遐迩，这类概念如今也开始在北京之类严重拥挤的城市里流行起来，还有了“胶囊公寓”的新发展。新西兰的旅店用双冲水模式的马桶来达到节约用水的目的，克赖斯特彻奇市的一家旅店更是配备了一些没有窗户的房间，自然光的缺失可以通过大显身手的光疗技术来得到弥补。还有一些酒店定下了规矩，让客户选择每隔一天或是一周清洗一次床单，为的是尽量减少水资源的消耗。

日常生活方式与生活习惯的一些改变也是世界各地的人们减轻碳排放的一个重要方式。《中国日报》(12/03/2009)上的一篇文章说，有一个名叫“低碳族”的网络群体正在积极倡导一种“轻松时尚的生活方式”。该群体的成员会通过改变个人选择来降低能源消耗——比如说，用走楼梯来取代坐电梯，每天上班的时候不开私家车，改乘公共交通工具。

还有一些人的选择是改变自己的饮食结构和习惯。对于加拿大“百哩饮食”之类的先锋组织而言，食用本地出产的食品和有机食物不仅可行，而且时尚。在美国，“跳舞兔子环保村”之类的公共村落在这方面还要走得更远，它们将包罗万象的可持续生活方式理念融入了一座小型的乡村社区。

这些生活方式上的选择反映了我们的本质和信念。有的人觉得，未雨绸缪、计划长远的生活与及时行乐同样重要。不久以前，很多人还认为成功就意味着拥有高薪工作、开豪华汽车、住豪宅。不过，随着世界经济的崩溃，时代风气也发生了改变。今时今日，不少人都觉得，这些肤浅的欲望不光是贪婪的表现，还意味着与其他人群的彻底脱节。

大概对于许多美国人而言，最重要的抉择之一无疑是住所——一个人或家庭的绝大部分收入和时间都会投入其中。当前，美国似乎兴起了一股潮流，那就是搬出豪宅，住进更舒适体贴的小型可持续建筑中。也许，“越大就越好”和“今朝有酒今朝醉”之类的想法已经日渐过时——尤其是在全球金融结构近乎瓦解的情况下。

在极其不明朗、极其不稳定的经济形势中，绿色建筑和零能耗住宅正在日趋成熟。随着自然资源不断减少(其价格也不断上扬)，人们对环保生活方式的兴趣也日益高涨，这样一来，改建和兴建“绿色”住宅这一行业便逐渐兴盛起来——尽管有些时候，环保材料的成本更高，在修建过程中搜寻和获取绝对的绿色产品也不是一件易事。

采用各种材料和尖端技术之后，零能耗住宅可以将能源消耗降到最低，甚至有可能做到真正的零能耗，与此同时，建筑的内部和外部采用的都是可持续能源产品。常用的一些能源生成途径包括安装太阳能电池板、采用Thermomax集热工具(太阳能加热真空管)和利用风力。可持续建材则包括能快速成材的植物(如竹子和桤木)和回收材料(如玻璃和浮木)。此外，还有一些住宅会利用屋顶花园来储水，既可以供日后灌溉之用，还可以为住户提供水资源。

绿色家园的有趣之处在于，需要考虑的不仅是建筑的各部分结构及其可持续性，还包括这些东西的实际性能。举个例子来说，假如住宅的窗户没有进行恰当的隔热处理，或是不能在防止热量散失的同时阻挡紫外线，利用太阳电池板取暖的效力就会大大减弱。从这个角度来说，节能住宅的性能就应该通过整体而不是部件来进行衡量。因此，要想构筑零能耗住宅或是高效绿色家园，你就必须关注细节，具备丰富的经验，同时还得有一定的独创性。

绿色家园还有一个迷人之处，那就是它与自然的关系，以及它对生命有机体——包括人类和其他生物——所产生的正面积极的影响。不少房子的建造和装修材料(油漆、地毯、组合家具等等)都含有害物质和化学成分，绿色家园则往往是用自然或致敏性较低的产品建造而成。前者会让室内空间成为一片死亡地带——一个让人类孤零零地与自然隔绝开的地方，而后者则让室内空间变成拥抱和滋养自然的乐土。

既然环保的生活方式拥有这么多的优点，绿色建筑运动与低碳生活方式会不会受到欢迎，成为未来的主导潮流呢?人们正在奋力构建新的世界金融体系，自然资源的急剧减少也还在继续折磨着我们的星球，毋庸置疑的是，我们还会继续寻求解决方案——但愿未来的种种方案能把环境和人性都摆到非常重要的位置。