Introduction
If you are thinking about one day building your own 'eco home' or want to live self-sufficiently then this diary is written for you! Welcome to the start of this journey and sharing. I invite you to engage with me and ask questions, to which I will endeavour to answer you all!
This Remarkable Diary of an Earthship Eco Builder is many things. It will be a fantastic learning opportunity as I delve into some of the theory and knowledge behind sustainable building. It will also cover some technical aspects of building with my own pictures of the build and links to good resources for more in depth information. I will share my story and what I learned through my own experiences of eco building for my first time. I have learned a lot during my first, and subsequent builds, and will offer you my best advice and ideas for you to be able to fulfil your eco building dream. I will also introduce you to some other great people here on Steemit, who are involved in many related topics, and have also been a big part of my journey.
Anyone Can Do This! (ok almost anyone)
I managed to achieve my dream of self-building an Earthship without any prior building experience. I learned on the job and was lucky to have the help and support I needed, and at just the right time! So now I can share with you and help you to achieve your dreams, which I can assure you are very possible. If I could do it, with a VERY ambitious and grand design, in an extremely challenging location, and with almost no technical support whatsoever, then I KNOW you can. Once we get to the end of this adventure, I will be very happy when you can say that you feel the same! And if you ever decide to embark on this eco building ourney, I am always available for support, networking, questions, and any help I can offer for free. This is what I have already been doing for quite a few years now, and so now I am happy to expand my outreach to Steemit!
What is Sustainable Living? What is Sustainability?
There is no universally agreed definition on what sustainability means. There are many different views on what it is and how it can be achieved. The idea of sustainability stems from the concept of sustainable development which became common language at the World's first Earth Summit in Rio in 1992.
The original definition of sustainable development is usually considered to be:
"Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Bruntland Report for the World Commission on Environment and Development (1992)
(SOURCE: http://www.globalfootprints.org/sustainability)
In order to be sustainable, you have to be having no negative effects. If you have even a slight negative effect, then over time it will just get worse and eventually it will be unsustainable. Thankfully this concept works the other way too! If we are sustainable with an overall positive effect, then over time things improve! The more sustainable we are, the quicker and better things improve.
A very important feature of sustainability is that everything works in harmony. What that means is that one idea or approach, or by product, will have multiple benefits to itself as well as other things. There is generally no patching up, or covering over problems to make something work. When we do something sustainably, it usually works so harmoniously that we keep finding more and more benefits. This is very much the case with sustainable building and in particular with Earthship Biotecture.
What is Biotecture?
The word 'Biotecture' was coined by the inventor of the Earthship approach, USA born Michael Reynolds. He uses this word to describe a type of building that uses some of the principals of architecture, but harnesses the power of nature to deliver everything you need for a home to operate and keep you watered, fed, warm and dry. Finally, I get to use my Biology degree! There is no question that a Biology degree is much more useful than an architecture degree when you are building with the Biotecture approach. In fact, what you come to find is that everything seems to be the exact opposite of architecture. The whole approach, priorities and way of building is totally different. You will see many examples of these differences and the multiple benefits as you read on.
Diagram of the Systems of an Earthship
Biotecture Water Management
Staying Warm In Winter Time
Off Grid Doesn't Mean Basic
There is a common misconception that living off-grid means going back in time to the stone age or a very simple way of life. Whilst there are many people who prefer to live a very simple life, and give up most of the things that the developed world hold sacred; living off-grid does not mean you have to give up your creature comforts or way of living at all. That is a personal choice! When you see the finished result of Earthship Karuna, you will see a home that is not only totally off-grid and sustainable, but also a very luxurious home that has all the modern systems and conveniences that you would come to expect in any other very nice modern city type home. If I have to go away somewhere, to even a very nice hotel, I miss my Earthship so much! I hope you will agree when I show you some pictures of how my Earthship looks!
Interior of Earthship Karuna
Beautifully Tiled Mandala Bathroom with solar powered Jacuzzi
Botanical indoor planter cell growing various ornamental plants and vegetables and herbs.
Self supporting roof, with an openable and huge 14ft skylight.
Reused 100's of glass bottles for stained glass effect.
The Year 2001 - A Dream Was Born
In 2001 I was 28 years old. I had graduated university with a biology degree that I studied for five years for, and never used it. I had picked up web development very early on, and by 1997 I was already learning HTML and making some interesting web sites. Oh how I loved Netscape V1.2. There was no Google. It was early days! I was enjoying myself and learning the craft of the future, but I also had other interests, and ambitions. For me money was never going to be enough. I have a great love for nature, people, animals and life.
Having travelled extensively since a very young age, I have seen many ways of living! I have learned and seen how happy I, and others have been when surrounded by good close friends & family, and having a simple life. I have very rarely met contented happy people in cities, or countries that are based and focused on the economy and materialism. I travelled for the first time to India in 1997 and that experience stuck with me forever. That journey taught me many things, but most relevant to this story, is that India gave me new priorities in life. These priorities were simple ones, and ones that bring about happiness and a rich abundant life.
As this story unfolds, you will come to know that living in an Earthship or self-sufficient home is about many many things. It is not just an ethical choice, or a building type choice, it is also a lifestyle choice. When you start to live off-grid, and self-sufficiently, you embark on a break out from the matrix / zeitgeist. You start to unplug yourself from the normal, dependant, vulnerable, and highly controlled way of life that many people are used to in cities and highly developed countries. When you are truly self-sufficient and out of debt you take away one of the main sources of stress: buying food, paying the bills, covering the mortgage or rent, and holding on to your job to allow this to survive. This is just the start, we also can look at the environmental issues and great need globally to build smarter and better. Our global population is rising, and with it the poverty level and inequality of wealth in all forms. To compound this issue, the cost of living is also hurtling up! We are moving toward a very unsafe and unsustainable future if we continue to build and live in the same way that we have been doing.
So one day whilst I was a young man, searching out my meaning in life, an old friend called me. His name was also Alex, and I think that after that phone call I haven't even spoken to him since! He was just meant to deliver me this gift, and he did! I didn't really understand what he was trying to tell me, other then I should go and see this guy Michael Reynolds talk about Earthships. He was coming to Brighton in a few days, and I should go! I'm the type of person who follows his instincts and intuition, and so even without any idea what this was all about, I just went!
Earthship Biotecture Seminar, Brighton UK 2001'ish
Sometimes, we get taken on a totally new track, in a heartbeat, even when we weren't even looking for it. This was one of those days! I sat somewhere near the back of a pretty big hall. There were around 200 people there of all ages and backgrounds. There was a buzz in the hall, and Michael was stood at the front speaking whilst using slides. What he proceeded to explain to us was so amazing, made so much sense, and offered so many amazing benefits, that I doubted whether what he was saying was really true. But it wasn't based on fantasy, or any super complex rocket science. He told us what an Earthship can offer us, and then proceeded to explain exactly how it was possible.
Here is how the whole lecture started:
IMAGINE... living in a home that cost you nothing to heat or cool
IMAGINE... building this home yourself
IMAGINE... growing you own vegetables year round in this home
IMAGINE... no utility bills
IMAGINE... easily available "limitless natural resources" to build this type of home
IMAGINE... a more earth friendly civilisation
IMAGINE... Earthships!
We will cover some more details on exactly what Earthships are, and why they are so amazing as we read. If you are keen to learn more and read a none technical post with a bit more detail, please see:
@eco-alex/10-reasons-why-earthships-are-freakin-awesome
Watch A Short Movie To Learn More
Earthships 101 part I
(5:20 minutes)
http://earthship.org/Systems/
Radically Sustainable Buildings.
". . . the Earthship is the epitome of sustainable design and construction. No part of sustainable living has been ignored in this ingenious building."
Michael Reynolds, USA
The core principals of Earthship Biotecture can be split into 5 areas. Each principal provides us with one of our basic survival and comfort needs.
Water
From the sky (rain & snow melt). Uses it four times.
Electricity
From the sun and the wind stored in batteries and supplied to your electrical outlets via a prepackaged power system.
Sewage Treatment
Indoor and outdoor treatment cells contain, use and reuse all household sewage (greywater and blackwater). Use any kind of flush toilet.
Comfort in Any Climate
From only the sun and the earth. Maintain comfortable temperatures all year with no fossil fuels.
Food
Healthy and free, grown from interior and exterior botanical cells. All plants are highly functional and play a direct role in taking care of you.
The Dream was Born
So by the end of this 2 hour lecture my whole life vision was warping and changing before my very eyes. It was intense! I also wasn't alone! I know now that SO many people who witnessed this also got the bug. In fact, at the very end as everyone was leaving Daren Howarth (who later became a good friend and colleuge) made a call out. He invited everyone who was interested in building an Earthship to put their names down and sign up! The only thing was he didn't have a pen! People were starting to file out and the moment was being lost, in this small detail of not having a pen! I spotted this and sprang into action. I had a pen! So I gave it to Daren and he got around 60 people to sign up, including me! And that simple, small decision marked the very beginning of my entire Earthship story.
The First Earthship In Europe (Low Carbon Network, Brighton, UK)
Not much time passed before Daren and I talked and thought about how best to move this idea forward. We had a great list of people with varied backgrounds and skills, and together a group that could pull this off. We had no money, of course, and just wanted to do something even if it wasn't for ourselves. So the decision was made after some debate, that we would make this Earthship as a show house, and a model for Earthships in the UK. It would be the UK headquarters for Earthship outreach and promotion. All we needed was somewhere or someone to build it for, and then get funding. This basic idea came together very quickly, and before long we had formed the Low Carbon Network as a not for profit company. We had a core group of around 5 directors of which I was one, and around 50 people who came to monthly meetings and had a great interest in this idea and wanted to help however they could.
What resulted was that we got great support from Brighon & Hove City council. Today they are the only borough in the UK that have elected the Green Party, so we were lucky really that we were doing this in the right place. The council agreed on the very first meeting and by a good majority, to donate some land in Stanmer Park near Brighton for Earthship Brighton to be built on. They gave us a free lease to the land, and the idea was that we were going to build an office and meeting space for the group of people who were already there doing great work in many eco related areas. One of these people I would like to mention is @nature-jon. Jon is very involved in Earthship outreach as well as other things, and spends quite some time holding workshops and teaching his skills. @nature-jon was also one of the most engaged and active volunteers during the build of Earthship Brighton. We will hear more from him soon on his blog.
I was responsible for fundraising, and within a short three months period, had managed to get funding from two companies who were offering money for good environmental projects. This money totalled about $300,000 and would hopefully be enough to take this project to completion. As a first of its kind it was going to be much more expensive than normal as we had to figure everything out for the first time in our country.
So the planning and planning happened very smoothly and very quickly. The build started and did take a few years to complete. It ran over budget and there were delays etc.. Whilst I had been involved in all the planning and meetings, I never actually got to see the build at all! It was ironic really, but I had met and married an American woman and emigrated to the USA just as the build was happening. I would have to learn hands on another time!
Earthship Brighton was a very successful build and project. It has won many awards and is quite well known today. You can visit their website to see more www.lowcarbon.co.uk.
Earthship Brighton, Stanmer Park, Brighton, UK.
So this is how my adventure started. At that time, I knew that this was something I wanted to do for myself, but really had no idea of the details. I did know that I wanted to be out of the city and in nature. I didn't know what country I wanted to live in and also with many other life changes going on, I kept this dream alive in my heart, and let my life unfold.
In the next part of this Diary I will write about the search for my spot, and some other very interesting and important things that can really help you to manifest your dreams.
I hope you have found this interesting! If you still want to read something else about why I think it is SO important to do this, please check out a post I wrote:
Self Sufficient Living, providing real security in an uncertain world
@eco-alex/6chqzu-ecotrain-seva-self-sufficient-living-providing-real-security-in-an-uncertain-world
If you would like to watch a VERY good movie and documentary to learn more, please watch this movie:
New Solutions Movie
New Solutions Movie
Whilst you are here why not check out the ecoTrain highlight posts, with 12 great passengers on board!
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