Living simply isn’t always simple. When Alan Boye first lived in sustainable housing, he was young, idealistic, and not much susceptible to compromise—until rattlesnakes, black widow spiders, and loneliness drove him out of the utilities-free yurt he’d built in New Mexico. Thirty-five years later, he decided to try again. This time, with an idealism tempered by experience and practical considerations, Boye and his wife constructed an off-the-grid, energy-efficient, straw bale house in Vermont.

Sustainable Compromises chronicles these two remarkable attempts to live simply in two disparate American eras. Writing with hard-won authority and humor, Boye takes up the “how-to” practicalities of “building green,” from finances to nuts and bolts to strains on friends and family. With Walden as a historical and philosophical touchstone and his own experience as a practical guide, he also explores the ethical and environmental concerns that have framed such undertakings from Thoreau’s day to our own. A firsthand account of the pleasures and pitfalls of living simply, his book is a deeply informed and engaging reflection on what sustainability really means—in personal, communal, ethical, and environmental terms.

简单的生活并不总是简单的。当Alan Boye第一次住在可持续住房中时，他很年轻，很理想化，而且不怎么容易妥协--直到响尾蛇、黑寡妇蜘蛛和孤独把他赶出了他在新墨西哥州建造的无公用设施的蒙古包。35年后，他决定再次尝试。这一次，博伊和他的妻子用经验和实际考虑来调和理想主义，在佛蒙特州建造了一个离网的、节能的、草包的房子。

《可持续的妥协》记录了这两次在两个不同的美国时代进行的简单生活的非凡尝试。博伊以来之不易的权威和幽默的笔触，探讨了 "绿色建筑 "的 "方法"，从财务、螺母和螺栓到对朋友和家庭的压力。他以《瓦尔登湖》作为历史和哲学的试金石，以自己的经验作为实践指南，还探讨了从梭罗时代到我们自己的时代，对道德和环境的关注，这些都是此类事业的框架。作为简单生活的乐趣和陷阱的第一手资料，他的书对可持续发展的真正含义--个人、社区、道德和环境方面--进行了深入的思考。