- cross-posted to:
- solarpunk@slrpnk.net
- cross-posted to:
- solarpunk@slrpnk.net
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I really like the idea but I get the feeling that the Earthship org is a sex cult. The guy running it exclusively recruits college aged people and he sends the men off to ram earth in tires. I think the idea needs to be modernized. Using a sledgehammer to ram earth is extremely laborious and the whole “only use found materials” thing is kinda dumb.
From what I’ve watched/read the builds are using at most 50% recycled materials, which is still pretty good.
As for the cultish aspect, I think anyone can enroll in their “courses”, and considering how many tires need ramming nobody would say no to lots of helping hands. I haven’t heard of any abuses or scandals regarding those, but feel free to share them as a warning to anyone who might be intrested in attending their courses, including me.
I think when they invented the idea back in the 60s/70s that it was a great idea to just use found materials. Land is expensive enough - so if you could just build an awesome house out of crap… then go for it!
But today we have new green building technologies. Like… they used to just use tar and gravel shingles to roof the buildings and that was where water was shed into their drinking water cisterns. Yuck. We know better. Why are they still advocating for using rammed earth tires? We have new green cements that are low psi but they suck CO2 out of the air and they have plenty of thermal mass.
Honestly I want to see the next generation of earthship inspired dwellings. Use modern materials and construction techniques. Maybe one off-shoot will be 3d printed earthships.
I think the reason tires are used is because they already exist, basically everywhere now, and aren’t going to go away otherwise.
I think there are at least two other reasons, too:
One, sweat equity matters. I know I value pieces of furniture I built myself more than furniture I bought, even though the furniture I bought is better quality - because what I made myself represents my skill and my labor and my commitment. And in a throwaway culture, creating that emotional commitment to clothing or furniture or a home matters.
And two, rammed earth tires require no supply lines, no 3D printers, no expensive tools or complex chemistry, no gas or electricity, even. Just used tires, local dirt, and local labor. If global supply chains fall apart and resources get scarce, people can still build Earthships - and the people who are building them now will be able to teach others how to build them in the future.
They are also generally free or very cheap if you are willing to haul them away.
As i understand it though, the labor intensity of the overall build makes the earthship just as expensive, if not more so to build than conventional housing, even modern eco housing. You really only save money if you put in the thousands of hours of work yourself or with volunteers.
Ive always wanted to do it, but it’s a serious commitment that may not make actual sense anymore.
‘Ship’ means ‘vessel for navigation’ so I do not like - if it doesn’t travel
The earth is winding its way through the universe. Then again we don’t exactly have a steering wheel or brake pedal.
By that definition everything is a ship, making the word useless.
In the morning i roll out of my bed ship and go to my toilet bowl ship where i drop a doody ship in the toilet water ship
We are navigating to a better more sustainable world.
Over the years I’ve accumulated like less than 10 used tires; hauling more would have same impact (or higher) as using local rocks, clay, even wood from thinning.
Eco building is no one-size-fits-all, you’ve got to use what you have and use your imagination - that’s the main lesson earthships teach us. There is absolutely NOTHING special about particulars. Design is cool that’s for sure, but then again, not my style.
Myself, I steer more to the school or Mark Oehler and Paul Wheaton, although using their ideas directly is totally infeasible in my place (it’s a swamp), the approach is very exploitable.
Very cool!! The architecture reminds me vaguely of the Xanadu Houses (which I was obsessed with as a kid, they had one in Wisconsin I visited a couple times).
I grew up near the one in Kissimmee FL and drove past it all the time, I always wanted to check it out but never got the chance to because my parents weren’t interested.
I went to the one in Wisconsin twice! I insisted on going, even though my family too thought it was lame.
But I still think it’s cool so the joke’s on them!
@Sandevistan I had never heard of this. Looks rad.
