The increasing demand for energy and products places ever increasing pressure on these natural resources. The norm of natural resource extraction and use is not sustainable. Ecological design is a significant step toward reversing the current unsustainable pattern of resource use. ARDC is implementing ecological design concepts in a number of projects currently and sees this work as offering real world examples of sustainability within the Appalachian region. One of the tenets of ecological design is locally based decision making and planning.
Every voice is important in the design process.
Whether at the level of a single house, school, community or bioregional level, design solutions respond to local circumstances. This means designing small scale, climate adapted buildings using local materials and talents, thus adding value without leaving the community or bioregion. Designs are evaluated according to their life cycle environmental impact. It is the bionetwork of which we are a part, which physically supports our lives. It produces the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and the ground upon which we walk.