We discovered recently that the interest in keeping architecture generally environmentally above board is probably salient more in theory and less in reality, but we've been given new hope by discovering the Self-Sufficient Housing competition, sponsored by the Advanced Architecture Institute of Catalonia. Jury includes people like Greg Lynn , Aaron Betsky, and Jacob van Rijs, so while we're still waffling as to how much legitimacy that actually lends, they're at least totally famous --even we hipsters have heard of them. Registration and submission deadline is September 19. Here's what we're working with:

Architecture does not offer the responses to current environmental issues that might be expected from it. Instead, the enormous influence of its historical legacy shapes thinking around today's design solutions, limiting innovation.

In fact, contemporary buildings might be artificial natures. We believe that housing - where human inhabitation takes place - should take its cues from the trees: it should be tied harmoniously to the surrounding environment, taking only the indispensable resources (energy, water, etc.) and generating recyclable waste that follows natural cycles.

The main goal of this competition is the development of self-sufficient dwellings in which technological elements are essential components of a new architectural concept and not only a reflection of an attachment to conventional ideas about houses.

The building location is open to the designer's choice, so the project can be proposed to accommodate local conditions in any region of the world.

Translation:

People need to move on.

It's your planet. Respek.

Don't just own your dishwasher. Love it.

And don't worry, we hardly expect you to know where Catalonia is exactly anyway.