The fact that it takes only months to grow grass for straw makes it an eminently renewable resource. Bamboo , the Earth's fastest growing grass, has a tensile strength equal by weight to steel. Apparently in the 40's the lumber industry saw bamboo as a threat and lobbied congress to ban its importation. Folks like Kyle are working hard to help us catch up in our ability to grow and build with this most useful material. The next time you load up a stove with split firewood, imagine stacking the wood as a wall, with mortar between the wood pieces.
Logs are a natural building material, and many folks love the warm, natural feel of a log home.
However, building a log home adds to the demand for an already stretched natural resource. The most important thing in building a log home sustainably is to where a company's logs come from and how they are harvested. One final form of sustainable shelter that is light on the land, flexible, affordable and accessible is fabric-based shelter. The best-known forms of fabric shelters are teepees and tents. I know families who live in tents and find them workable, but most folks would feel cramped living in tents or teepees year-round.