I do not say that we have to go backwards and live old life style. Expansion is so important to increase the quality of life, but have to think twice before we concrete the earth.
Olden day farmers are an good example for us. Building materials used to build their houses were taken from the nature and could be given back to the nature without doing any harm to the nature.
This cylindrical thing here is a rice or grain storage capable to keep rice/grain for years preserved. It made from special clay and lime mixture. It takes out the moisture from the rice or grain to outside atmosphere through the porous clay leaving the right dryness/dampness for the rise to survive for a long time. The structure is such even a heavy rain will not contaminate the rice or grain. I is insulated in a natural way because of its design.
This house was made with mixture of clay. Raw timber were been used for the structure. Hey (dried rice plants) used as roofing. Believe me, there was heavy rain when I was inside this house, but not a single drop of water came from this roof.
These houses were abundant by farmers’ long time ago. We could find few people living there. They said they are temporary staying in these houses because the are working around that area. The old traditional structure still exists. Very few these style of houses exits today in Sri Lanka. Most of them either demolished and rebuild with concrete or renovated with concrete.
You can see a plastic tube cumming from the roof. This is the only plastic I could find in this house. I suspect the temporary occupants are trying to get electricity or some other thing from the roof. This was a disappointment for me because things going to change soon.
Photographs were taken by myself while traveling around Sri Lanka