The cycle continues and the family member has to choose the way of washing this cloth towel. it's embodied net energy is less than that of the paper towel. Another way of reducing the amount of energy a house expends in the window setup in that house. The larger the windows, the more light that comes into the home, and the less lighting is need to keep the house comfortable. (Steffen) There are many ways in which humans could quicken -- in a humane way -- reindustrialization from the petroleum based overshoot industrial society of the present to a more diverse, efficient and flourishing society based on energy sources such as solar, wind geothermal, water, resource production, and creativity, as well as on such values as compassion, altruism and fairness.

Rainwater harvesting, a well-known practice in the poor economies of the world, is catching on in the United States. By feeding a metal gutter spout into a collection of, say, 55-pound barrels, one can have water reserves for such nondrinking uses as watering plants, flushing toilets, and washing laundry. The vector of resource waste, such as looming stricter water conservation laws, has revitalized the capture of rainwater. The average American uses 101 gallons of water a day at home in the yard. Factor in agricultural and industrial water use and that rises to an average of 1,430 gallons per day per person. Twenty five 55-pound barrels fill in a few hours of torrential. Santa Monica's new library sits atop a 200,000-gallon rainwater cistern, and the city just kick started a rainwater rebate program for homeowners.

In fact, San Francisco now puts $100,000 toward how-to-worshops, rebates and discounts on rainwater catchment tanks. Such efforts, furthermore, help...

Asphalt covered roads, sidewalks and parking lots repel storm water, leading it down storm drains and into creaks instead of into soil -- big flushes of storm water in water treatment systems can force raw sewage into the ocean. Overloaded streams can lead to flooding which damages salmon habitats.
Water catchment tanks may be key to a new, sustainable way of life for families. The California drought is anticipated to be the worst in modern times. Already thousands of acres of crops are fallow, with no sign of slowing. Furthermore, the Northern Sierra snowpack for the winter of 2008 turned out to be 51% lighter than usual. According to the Los Angeles Times, the state is nearly out of water, leaving it with prayers of rain and a dwindling Northern California supply. Los Angeles has already begun allocation of water. (Thill)

Cultures across time and space saw their relationships with nature in a myriad of ways, many of which succeeding so much in their niche as to improve the environments they inhabited. What follows, is a quick look at how other cultures have interacted with nature. There are many examples from South America of indigenous living harmoniously off their landbase. The Kayapo, for example, subsist primarily on the produce of their gardens and managed forests. Their societies, despite their subsistence methods, were discovered to be large and complex and their ceremonies plentiful and rich. One Kayapo family, it was found, in its fifty-year lifetime, may clear just ten hectares of forest. A Kayapo swidden, furthermore, will remain fecund throughout its fallow, and once the land does finally return to canopy forest it will have been enriched by the process. A Kayapo swidden