The US produces 200 million tons of surplus straw that goes to waste every year. Instead of needlessly cutting down trees to build houses, we could use this excess of straw instead. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that America's farmers harvest enough straw to construct approximately four million, 2,000 square foot homes in a single year.

The grains needed for straw are available in nearly every region of the country. This means that straw-bales can be shipped locally, so that way less fossil fuels are burned to transport lumber from more distant locations. And, as the second largest producer of greenhouse gases, it is the United States responsibility to shorten transportation routes wherever possible, so as to stem the flow of global warming.

Not only is the construction of straw-bale houses better for the environment than that of traditional homes, but once a straw-bale house becomes a home it is still beneficial to the environment. While it takes approximately $36,000 a year to heat and cool an average sized traditional home, a straw-bale house costs less than half as much to heat and cool for a single year. This dramatic difference in climate-control costs is due to straw's superb insulating ability. Not only does this benefit the consumer's wallet, but it is good for the environment because less energy used to heat and cool the house means less fuel that the power plants have to burn to generate electricity.