The other half of the earth is the part that humans have and will continue to occupy with cities, towns, villages, farms, mines, roads, energy systems and the other elements of our constructed way of living. We must replace our current ways of doing these with an ecological civilization, in which every element follows the regenerative model of natural systems. For example, today we build many buildings with concrete and steel frames. These are made of raw materials that are mined from the earth and processed with enormous amounts of polluting energy. Instead, we could build out of biologically grown materials such as timber from sustainably harvested forests, capturing carbon, providing good, long term local jobs, and making buildings that are naturally better insulated and nicer to be in. We need to apply such thinking to literally every aspect of human production.
