EarthHome
Sustainable Homes
The Earthship is an inspiration. The name might sound silly, but the Earthship is the brainchild of architect Michael Reynolds, who has spent much of his life designing and building sustainable architecture.
He has been working on the concept of "building from garbage" since 1969. Initially the structures were very primitive and experimental. But today his ideas have been implemented all over the world and completely function in the way they are intended.
While sustainable and net zero homes are a long way from being accepted into maintstream housing, many people including myself, have taken interest in building them. Some people want to live green, others like the concept of financial and personal independence. Regardless of reasonings, we have all found our answers in these amazing buildings.
Beauty and Freedom out of Garbage
One of the things that attracted me personally to rammed earth sustainable homes was their ability to free you from dependence on the utility system. As a society, we have become completely dependent on others to provide us with things like electricity, water and heat. This works out fine until some sort of emergency happens. Of course, at this point, people get angry and it's easy to blame the utility company or the government for not "rescuing them", but is that really fair or realistic? Blame doesn't ultimately matter if you have no water or heat! Sustainable homes are the answer to this problem.
The other benefit of an earth home is that they use recycled materials and are energy efficient. I don't consider myself an environmentalist, activist or a tree hugger, but the fact that it's better for the environment is a nice bonus. Being green has not always be synonymous with comfort and affordability (pick one!). Fortunately an earth home has been able to provide both, and the more you care about the environment, the more you can customize the home to your liking.