The honeymoon is over. For decades we in the west have enjoyed a constant influx of cheap consumer products, but at the expense of manufacturing jobs in the US. We have indirectly benefited economically, in the form of cheaper goods and more consumer spending power, from the low wages and poorer working and living conditions throughout Asia. But, there is never a free ride. While we filled our homes with the latest electronic gadgets, toys, cars, and bought new wardrobes every year, we did it at the expense of workers who were not paid fairly and worked in poor conditions, and at the expense of our planet as manufacturing was taking place in regions where toxic substances and emissions were not regulated well or at all, not to mention at the expense of manufacturing jobs at home.

China’s staggering growth is related to the western consumer’s insatiable demand for more stuff. More demand equals more manufacturing plants, equals more energy consumption and more pollution. China overtook the United States as the leading emitter of carbon dioxide about a year ago, and its emissions are now increasing about 10 times faster than in the United States.

Currently, prices of Asian goods are on the rise. The global homogenization taking place through technology, information and communication is enabling Asian workers to see how the “other half’ lives, and coupled with rising inflation making it even more difficult for workers to enjoy a reasonable standard of living, the labor force is beginning to demand fair wages and better working conditions just as workers here and in Europe made those demands in the early and middle part of the 20th century. Also, with the world taking notice, Asia is taking seriously the need to better manage its greenhouse gas emissions and we are beginning to see the implementation of cleaner, and pricier, production technologies with the attendant, unprecedented, construction boom. All of this upward cost pressure is becoming too much for Asian manufacturers to absorb , and the cost of goods manufactured in Asia will creep, or in some cases shoot, upwards.

So, how exactly is this good for the green building movement? There are huge macro-economic forces at play here, but it may come down to the age old principles of supply and demand, or in this case demand and supply. As Asian manufacturers start passing on higher costs to consumers, inevitably demand for Asian goods will decrease. Higher priced mass-produced Asian products may approach the price of competing, pricier, goods produced closer to home, increasing demand for products produced locally. Buying locally-produced products is a better choice for the environment because, even if the product is not inherently “green” by virtue of being made from sustainable and/or non-toxic materials or an energy efficient manufacturing process, all things being equal buying local reduces the embodied energy in the product by substantially reducing the amount of fossil fuels burned in the product’s transportation to the consumer. Indeed, under the LEED for Homes guidelines, using materials manufactured within 500 miles of the home earn credits toward LEED certification.

Asian inflation may have the result of stimulating our local economy and, over time, if it’s not cheaper to manufacture overseas, perhaps manufacturers will opt to bring their mass-production operation back to the US, helping the economy overall and not just the green building movement .