What better way to show our love for Mother Earth than to create a beautiful nature dwelling that uses recycled materials and natural supplies from the earth?! These amazing structures are called "earthships". Many earthships are designed to catch and use water from the local environment, normally harvested from rain, snow and condensation; they are also designed to collect and store their own energy from a variety of sources (solar panels, wind turbines, etc.). You can be completely off-the-grid in an earthship...and when combined with a garden and farm, you can be quite self-sufficent too!
I think earthships are stunningly gorgeous! The earth-rammed walls (made of either compacted "earth": dirt, sand, and sometimes cement; or with a collection of recycled old tires packed with earth) create a warm and inviting space; the floors are also typically made of rammed earth which supports holding in the thermal heat collected from the passive solar. Windows are placed on sun-facing walls which admit lighting and heating ("passive solar"). These large passive solar windows are also generally used to provide lighting for an indoor greenhouse. Earthships are often horseshoe-shaped to maximize natural light and solar-gain during winter months.
I love how earthships utilize so many natural and recycled materials! To live in a home sculpted with your own hands with stucco and earth, and a home created by so many things that would otherwise be packing a landfill would feel incredibly empowering, rewarding, and benevolent.
Not only are so many of the walls created with old recycled tires, plastic bottles, and aluminum soda pop cans, but many of them are embellished with lovely illuminating windows made of glass bottles (some colored) creating a kaleidoscope of colors with an almost art deco design. Isn't it amazing how beautiful a home can be with using recycled supplies?! My husband, Joe, and I would love to build an earthship of our own someday...along with having a garden/farming homestead!
To find out more about Earthships, please check out the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthship
This post was contributed by Jessica of Eco-Friendly Freckles
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