Jane helped build this house — Alternatives to Anger 001

This blog is the first of a series suggesting how we can all do good things during this crazy time in our communities. Watch this space.

My new friend, Jane, helped build a house, an “Earthship” in Zuni, New Mexico by connecting with Earthship Biotecture, an agency she discovered in 2015. Earthship is a sustainable autonomous design-build company that helps people build houses that address all six human needs: Food; Energy; Clean water; Shelter; Garbage management; and Sewage treatment. Of her own experience Jane writes the following:

[Jane] “In July 2018 I helped build this Earthship that was a humanitarian build for a vet clinic in Zuni New Mexico.

Architect, Michael Reynolds started building this type of building in Taos NM in the early 1970’s. Earthships are an environmental sustainable building built from 50% recycled materials, tires, bottles and natural plasters made of a mixture of sand, dirt, straw and pigments, producing their own solar power and water.

Tires are used as the foundation by pounding dirt into them and becoming 400 pound bricks that are stacked 12 levels high like a brick wall.

The south face is glass encompassing a greenhouse to grow your own food with the other three sides earth bermed to retain the sun’s heat and keep the house cool in the summer.

The metal roof collects the rain water into cisterns located in the berm as the dirt is added to the west and east sides.

We were a team of 15-20 people that got this building to this stage in 30 days. There have been more people since our departure that have used natural plaster to finish the walls and floor of this building. Jane’s photos accompany this text.

[KJG] Generally, Earthships Biotecture describes its work:

• We build autonomous homes, you can see some of our projects in our portfolio.
• We teach people to build autonomous homes at our Earthship Academy and seminar lecture series.
• We encourage people to learn about sustainability at our at our Visitor Center or our Nightly Rentals
• We organize sustainable development and humanitarian projects all over the world

People ask, what is an Earthship? We are definitely not talking about the Starship Enterprise. An Earthship is “a type of house built with natural and recycled materials with energy conservation in mind. It is designed to produce water, electricity, and food for its own use.”

So, does Jane live in an Earthship? No, but for most of the year Jane does live in Lac La Hache in the beautiful Cariboo region of the BC interior. Built by her father in 1958 and extended in 1982 it measures 600 sq/ft with bedrooms located upstairs. She plans to renovate this summer, adding a downstairs bedroom and extending the living area in order to age in place. Even at home, for Jane, small is beautiful, and sustainable living is the life for her.

As social and environmental chaos surround us all, there are things we can do, projects in which we can participate, programs we can support that will make the world a better place. Well done Jane, well done Earthship Biotecture, and so many others.