Guardian article on Earthships in Canada
- Tell me about the story in your own words.
- Tell me why the event interested you.
- Write about the impact of this event/development on society, culture, science, or on the environment.
- What would be a good area for further investigation, or what further questions would have in this area based on what you read?
In Canada, the Native Americans (First Nation People) have a housing shortage, and many people live in cold, tiny, broken down houses or trailers. This article was about a First Nations woman named Francine who lived in a crowded trailer with her disabled daughter and her five grandchildren. Francine was chosen to receive a new, donated home–a sustainably-built “Earthship”. Earthships are built of recycled materials, especially old tires that are packed with dirt and buried under adobe mud. These tires and other parts of the building keep the cold out and the warmth in, or in hot months, keep the house cool inside. Earthships are built so that they capture the sunlight (both through windows and solar panels) and circulate the air. These Earthships are “off the grid”–they use solar energy and capture water from rain and snow. Grey water (used water from sinks and showers) is reused to flush the toilets and water the plants. The man who invented Earthships forty-five years ago is named Mike Reynolds. He has built these homes for people in Haiti, India and Sierra Leone, and now believes that Earthships could help First Nation people in Canada like Francine, who suffer from a housing shortage or substandard housing like her trailer.
This article interested me because my family and I are staying in an Earthship in Baja California right over winter break. I was curious about how the house we are staying in was built.
The impact of self-sustaining homes (off the grid) built from recycled materials on society and the environment is very positive. In the case of the First Nations people in Canada, and people in other developing countries such as Haiti, these houses provide comfortable and safe housing, which will improve their lives. These houses are not very expensive to build, because they are made of recycled materials and because big groups of interns from the Earthship Project help build them. The houses are good for people because they pay less for electricity and water. Reusing old tires is good for the environment because tires are toxic and end up in landfill, but in Earthships they are used to keep the temperature of the house comfortable.
Sadly, in our Earthship, we are not off the grid right now because a hurricane hit here two years ago and blew out the solar panels. The owners have not been able to afford new panels quite yet, so we are plugged into regular electric power. We are also not using the recycled water system because it rarely rains in this part of Baja California, so water is trucked in. However, the design of the house does keep in the warmth and cool air flows through the circulation system. Also, our Earthship (like all Earthships) has cut off bottle bottoms built into the walls to provide light and warmth. A question that I have for further research is: What is the ideal climate for an Earthship to be built in, so that all the systems work? Also, can Earthships be built anywhere, such as San Francisco? I am also curious about how the founder Mike Reynolds, came up with the design of the Earthship.