10 Reasons Why EarthShips Are F!

#%ing Awesome
Earthships are 100%sustainable homes that are both cheap to build and awesome to live in. They
offer amenities like no other sustainable building style you have come across. For the reasons
that follow, I believe Earthships can actually change the world. See for yourself!
1) Sustainable does not mean primitive
When people hear about sustainable, off-the-grid living, they usually picture primitive homes
divorced from the comforts of the 21st century. And rightfully so, as most sustainable solutions
proposed until now have fit that description. Earthships, however, offer all of the comforts of
modern homes and more. Ill let these pictures do the talking
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2) Free Food
Each Earthship is outfitted with one or two greenhouses that grow crops year-round, no matter
the climate. This means you can feed yourself with only the plants growing inside of your house.
You can also choose to build a fish pond and/or chicken coop into your Earthship for a constant
source of meat and eggs.
3) Brilliant Water Recycling
Even the most arid of climates can provide enough water for daily use through only a rain-
harvesting system. The entire roof of the Earthship funnels rain water to a cistern, which then
pumps it to sinks and showers when required. That used grey water is then pumped into the
greenhouse to water the plants. After being cleaned by the plants, the water is pumped up into
the bathrooms for use in the toilets. After being flushed, the now black water is pumped to the
exterior garden to give nutrients to non-edible plants.
4) Warmth & Shelter
The most brilliant piece of engineering in the Earthship is their ability to sustain comfortable
temperatures year round. Even in freezing cold or blistering hot climates, Earthships constantly
hover around 70Fahrenheight (22Celsius).
This phenomenon results from the solar heat being absorbed and stored by thermal mass or
tires filled with dirt, which make up the structure of the Earthship. The thermal mass acts as a heat
sink, releasing or absorbing heat it when the interior cools and heats up, respectively.
The large greenhouse windows at the front of the house always face south to allow the sun to
heat up the thermal mass throughout the daytime.
5) Energy
Solar panels on the roof and optional wind turbines provide the Earthship with all of the power it
needs. As long as youre not greedily chewing through electricity like a typical first-world human,
youll never be short of power.
6) Freedom
With all of your basic needs provided for and NObills each month, youre free! You dont have to
work a job you hate just to survive. So you can focus your time on doing what you love, and
bettering the world around you.
Imagine if the entire world was able to focus on doing extraordinary things instead of just making
enough to get by. Imagine if even 10%of the world could do this. What would change?
7) Easy to build
At a recent Earthship conference in Toronto, Canada, a married couple in their forties shared
about how they built a 3-story Earthship by themselves in 3 months. They had never built anything
before in their lives and were able to build an Earthship with only the printed plans. They did not
hire any help, nor did they use expensive equipment to make the job easier.
If one man and one woman can do this in 3 months, anyone can do it.
8) Cheap
Earthships are exorbitantly cheaper than conventional houses. The most basic Earthships cost as
little as $7000 (The Simple Survival model) with the most glamorous models costing $70,000 and
up, depending on how flashy you want to be with your decorating.
With these cost options, Earthships can fit the needs of everyone from the least privileged to
the most worldly.
9) Made of recycled materials
Much of the materials used to build Earthships are recycled. For starters, the structure is built with
used tires filled with dirt:
If theres one thing were not short of on
Earth, its used tires! There are tire dumps
like the one pictured here in every country
in the world. There are even places that will
pay you by the tire to take them away.
The walls (above the tires) are created by
placing plastic and glass bottles in
concrete. When the Earthship team was in
Haiti after the earthquake, they employed
local kids to both clean up the streets and
provide all of the bottles required for
building their Earthship. Plus, they look
pretty sexy.
10) Think Different
The most powerful thing Earthships do is force people to think differently about how we live. If
housing can be this awesome, and be beneficial to the environment, then what else can we
change? What else can become more simple, cheaper and better at the same time?
Its time for us to re-think much of what we consider normal.

Think Earthships are cool? Me too. Thats why Ive joined up with some people to create a
community of Earthships and to make sustainable communities go mainstream! Its something we
call the Valhalla Movement.
Want to know more? Read more about it on ValhallaMovement.com, and like us on Facebook.
By Jordan Lejuwaan
9.274 people are f ollowing Jordan Lejuwaan. Be the f irst of your f riends.
Hey, I'm the creator of HighExistence. I love inspiring others to follow their bliss, which in turn
fulfills my own. I live for traveling, late-night conversations and moments of intense clarity or
intoxication. I also run a company that sells crazy shirts and rave clothing :)
My Blog Posts Follow Me Add to G+Circle
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jordanc 10.19.2012 at 2:44 pm
Ive been considering building an earthship now for a year or two. Think you could grow weed in the
greenhouse also?I was interested before this idea poped into my head, now it makes the Earthship that
much more appealing haha Please hit me back with opinions and thoughts. (First post btw) Thanks HE!
jordanc 10.19.2012 at 2:46 pm
ps: you can also find the How to build your own earthship on piratebay.org. Imon vol 2 out of three now.
Very inspiring!
Pedro Palhoto 01.22.2013 at 4:50 am
It would be great if Open Source Ecology project designed a machine to pound dirt automatically into
tires, just like the Liberator (earth brick press). That would free up a lot of time.
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