Earthship Chronicles
Part IV: Earthships and Beyond
Kicking the earthship idea up a notch & other complementary concepts for a more harmonious life on earth
Having gone through the Earthship Academy, and lived in an earthship for a month, I have some thoughts. As I conveyed in Part I: Why I went to Earthship Academy, my principle interest starting out on this journey was to figure out if earthships really work and how easy would it be for me, or anyone else, to attain one. And as a climate person, I am always on the look out for opportunities to incorporate more sustainability and climate action. Here are some things I think could really build upon the earthship idea and take it to the next level.
1. Utilizing More Eco-Construction Materials
There are actually 2 parts to this. The first is organizing the stream of waste materials that could be repurposed and up-cycled as building materials. Currently, it is too impractical for the average person, even one who has the financial resources and desire to build with reclaimed waste materials, to source such materials. A significant amount of time and effort is required to source enough of the materials and then to haul them to the location of your build. Time and effort are scarce resources. There is untapped potential in waste that could be used as building materials out there. It just needs to be organized and processed into some feasible — hopefully as short as possible — supply chain. Though we don’t need it to be a global supply chain or that would defeat the goal of sustainability. Local, Local, Local.
The second part to this is actually seeking out alternative, more eco-friendly and sustainable building materials, to replace some of the more questionable ones. For example, the production of cement is a huge carbon emitter and polyiso foam insulation is made from fossil fuel. Some things are unavoidable in the meantime, but where we can replace with alternatives we should find a way. And if there is no way yet, create the way.
There are a bunch of more sustainable building materials out there, like hempcrete, straw bales, and using wool for insulation. I’m particularly excited about the potential of mycelium, like what US-based Ecovative (not an endorsement) created with MycoComposite or UK-based BIOHM (not an endorsement) has been developing with mycelium insulation. Or check out this research being done to look at the potential for growing mycelium into wool textile as a building material. We need to support R&D in the area of green construction materials and make them more accessible and economical to the masses as fast as possible.
2. Incorporating Permaculture
In order to be truly sustainable, we have to zoom out and look beyond the dwelling alone. This is where permaculture comes in. We need to work with nature so that it not only continues to provide us with food, water, and other resources we need to survive, but also maintains ecosystem health. An earthship by itself cannot sustain us long term. We need BOTH a viable sustainable autonomous dwelling AND a healthy functioning ecosystem. The two combined will also help us to adapt and be more resilient in the face of climate change.
As the father of permaculture, Bill Mollison, puts it: “It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing for their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.”
In many ways, earthships’ design is based on permaculture principles. A well designed and managed permaculture will not only provide us with the resources we need to survive, but also manage water resources; reduce risks from droughts, floods, and fires; protect biodiversity; provide habitat for plants, animals, insects, and pollinators; build healthy soil; drawdown and store carbon; and more! If the ecosystem is healthy and thriving, then we will also be healthy and thriving because we are a part of it.
3. Building Intentional Community
In order to construct such labor intensive off grid, sustainable autonomous, dwellings and create permaculture, we need the mutual aid of a community. No person is an island unto themselves. Our globalized economy entails that most of us are dependent on faceless others all over the world for so many essential goods and services. And we have seen how utterly vulnerable and helpless we are when supply chains failed in the middle of the Covid pandemic. Unless you are making a concerted effort to purchase your food produce from your local farmers or other ways of sourcing goods and services locally, most of us won’t ever meet or have any personal relationship with the people who produce the goods we buy. In order to attain this more harmonious way of life that is healing for the planet and us, we need to build a much more connected community based on real in-person relationships. A type of interdependence that is the antithesis of the impersonal one we currently have.
I’ve drawn a great deal of inspiration and hope from Helena Norberg-Hodge and Local Futures who advocate for a localization revolution that is rooted in connectedness with each other and our natural world.
Of course building intentional communities is challenging at this juncture of our societal evolution because post-industrial societies have been so disconnected and isolating. Many of us never learned how to be really connected with others as part of a tight knit community. We need to find a way to rebuild that social trust and to recognize that, if we are to get out of this climate mess we’ve created, we will need each other in very real ways. Moving towards a more localized economy could certainly be one way of rebuilding that social trust.
4. Scaling Up Earthships
The public sector can play a significant role to help make sustainable autonomous dwellings like earthships more accessible to the masses. Firstly, local and state governments need to reform building codes and the permitting requirements and processes in order to lower the barriers to access. Secondly, they need to incentivize and invest in R&D to speed up the innovation of eco-building designs and materials.
As covered in Garbage Warrior, Mike Reynolds spent years in legal battles with local and state governments over his earthships’ experiment. Laws and regulations relating to things like building codes and waste water treatment have shaped some of earthships’ design over the years. Some are not entirely a bad thing, but they also restrict design innovation. These regulations create barriers in terms of time and cost, as well as specific design aspects. We had a class just on how to navigate the permitting process. It turns out that just because you want to build an “off grid” dwelling doesn’t mean that you can build what ever you want, how ever you want, or where ever you want. At least, not in jurisdictions and countries that have more stringent laws and regulations. Reforming building codes, zoning laws, and permitting requirement and processes would really help make more sustainable autonomous dwellings like earthships more accessible to more folks. Organizing for advocacy is likely necessary in order to push for such reforms.
There is also real opportunity for climate policy and public, as well as private, investments to be directed towards R&D in eco-construction materials and sustainable autonomous dwellings’ design. We do not have another 45 years to experiment with building design when it comes to the climate emergency we’re facing. We also need to invest in building capacity in construction skills needed for these unconventionally designed homes. The majority of us do not have the time, resources, inclination, nor skills to build sustainable autonomous dwellings.
Another potential benefit of sustainable autonomous housing, and one that Mike Reynolds is hopeful earthships will contribute to, is in helping to address the cost of living and affordable housing crises. I have no doubt that an earthship with no heating nor electricity bills, harvests rain water, and capable of growing food, would help with the cost of living crisis enormously — as long as one manages to build one in the first place. This is another area the public sector could play a key role. For instance, there could be public programs to build, or incentivize the building of, sustainable autonomous housing as part of an affordable housing and/or climate policy. Once the cost of the construction has been paid off and/or subsidized through some financing mechanisms, the inhabitants would be freed from the burden of heating & cooling, electricity, and water bills. In the longer run, the public sector would be relieved of the burden of responsibility for maintaining a vast electrical, water, and sanitation systems.
5. Other Eco Building Techniques & Designs
Sustainable autonomous dwellings may or may not meet all the criteria of an eco-friendly home. Some folks who want to go off-grid are not necessarily prioritizing the use of eco-friendly building materials nor attempting to minimize use of fossil fuels. There are certainly a ton of sustainable features in an earthship — as I covered in Part II — but depending on what climate and environment, and where in the world, you will be building your home, there are other building techniques and designs one could draw from.
Traditional building techniques of the native inhabitants in any locality are always a great knowledge bank that can be drawn upon. Many traditional cultures adapted to the environment they lived in for millennia using locally sourced natural building materials. For instance, in hot and humid tropical countries with a lot of rainfall, raising the house off the ground using stilts help to keep you cooler in the hotter months and dry(er) in the monsoon seasons that often come with flooding. A center pitched roof with large overhang can help direct the hotter air upwards and heavy rain away from the house.
As were taught at Earthship Academy, there are no hard and fast rules with how to build a sustainable autonomous dwelling. Innovation and adaptation are encouraged to suit the needs, preferences, circumstances, and environment of the human dwellers. The design principles are the key aspects to be pursued. For those of us primarily concerned about the climate and ecological crises we are facing, and seeking a way of living that is more harmonious with earth’s natural phenomena, it is worthwhile to cast the net wider and continue to look to wisdoms and knowledge ancient and new.
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Read other blogs in my Earthships Chronicles series:
Part I: Why I went to Earthship Academy
Part II: Earthships: Design & Build
Part III: A Month in an Earthship
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Resources:
Eco Build Lab — Great resources on all things off-grid build
For a primer on permaculture, check out this great resource on Oregon State University’s website as well as more videos on Andrew Millison’s YouTube channel.
