Agriculture is only about 10,000 years old and it has shaped today’s cultures fundamentally. Agriculture enabled population growth and the population explosion of the past 50 years. Agriculture is also what has brought forth culture as we understand it; it is specifically agriculture that enabled the development of the first great cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Agriculture was a new concept then, as we moved from a nomadic lifestyle and collecting our food through hunting and gathering, to settling down and harvesting food from the same surrounding area year-in and year-out. The hunter-gatherer lifestyle permits nature to renew itself naturally, while agriculture, if not practiced wisely and in tune with nature, depletes the soil – and then what?

Agriculture is the unification of nature and man. We exhibit our current disconnection from nature through the type of agriculture we have created – soil-depleting monocultures that require outside chemical input to produce food at the expense of environmental and human health. However, the significant growth of the organic (funny - until about 150 years ago all agriculture was organic), sustainable (better than organic), and biodynamic (the best) agricultural movements demonstrates an emerging awareness of the deep connection between ourselves, nature and our food supply. We exist as part of nature, not apart from nature, and strictly on the basis of light and water. Without nature we do not exist. Sacred agriculture!

That is what we’ve heard many times since beginning the planning process for our new energy efficient house. The most extensive argument may well have been around the merits of triple-pane windows. In northern Europe triple-pane windows are now standard for new construction, and Canadians use them already extensively. But here in the US energy awareness is still in its infancy and we kept being asked “what do you want to do that for?” In comparing windows, I found that Canadians build better frames, which makes a big difference, and they use orientation and climate specific glazing for optimal energy savings. European casement windows have a much tighter fit than the double-hung windows typical for here because of the different frame design. Passiv-Haus windows are the platinum standard, it tops them all (price included!).

Thinking ahead, Germans are already talking about quadruple windows!