Story by Luis Carrión | last modified January 11, 2012

Pima County's first Earthship is "landing" in southwest Tucson, Arizona!

A house in the Tucson Mountains seeks to raise the bar on “green” construction in Southern Arizona. James and Elizabeth Wilson recently completed construction on the home that they say is the first "earthship" in the area.

Earthships, Wilson says, are the ultimate form of sustainable construction, built largely from recycled materials and relying primarily on solar energy and harvested rainwater.

Wilson explains he learned how to build his earthship from Michael Reynolds in Taos, N.M. Reynolds' vision is for these homes to be entirely self-sustaining and in harmony with the surrounding environment.

Pima County's first Earthship is "landing" in southwest Tucson, Arizona!! This amazing structure is being built from recycled and indigenous materials such as old car tires, aluminum cans, glass bottles, and the desert southwest's most abundant earthen material - adobe.

This building technique was started back in the 70's by New Mexico architect Michael Reynolds and has grown in popularity and spread worldwide. It was not that long ago that Pima County saw its first straw bale home, and now - almost 40 years after its advent - Pima County will see its first Earthship, and the timing couldn't be better.