earthship

While in new mexico with Cam, Hayley, and baby Ender, we made our way to Taos where there is a big community of Earthship homes. (I know, the name is so 80's, but try to look past it). I saw a video on homes made of garbage when I was a young tween and I have wanted to experience them first hand ever since. Earthship walls are made of used tires, bottles, and cement. They are completely off the grid, they filter their own water, supply their own energy, and have zero impact on the environment. The only thing they rely on that they don't make or recycle for themselves is propane for cooking. There is a greenhouse attached to the house that you can grow food or flowers in all year long, ours smelled like geraniums and I was in heaven.

There is a definite style to the ones that we saw, but it doesn't have to be constructed or decorated that way. These ones have a hippie vibe to them, but don't be fooled-you still have hot running water, cable, internet, refrigerators, you name it. When we woke up in the morning it was in the fifties outside, but the house was still in the seventies, all from natural heat retention. We left the house for the night and went to dinner, and when we came back it was tricky to find the right neighborhood in the dark. All of the homes are really low to the ground, and the whole neighborhood was dark. Other houses on either side of the earthship neighborhood had a million lights on, but the earthship neighborhood was just blending into the hillside with little or no lights on (by energy conscious choice, not because they don't have power).

It was pretty amazing. It really makes you think about the way you live now, and why.