Earthship Biotecture on CNN International - Monday, September 3

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Earthships: Future-proof buildings

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Half buried in the dry, red earth of New Mexico, are a series buildings, unconventional in appearance and radical in design. They're Earthships - sustainable, self-sufficient homes -- and the 50 or so that are scattered outside the New Mexico town of Taos, constitute the Earthship world community.

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They are the brainchild of Michael Reynolds, a motorcycle-riding son of the counter-culture movement of the 1960s and 1970's. Having trained as an architect in Cincinnati he moved to New Mexico to experiment with his designs, ride motorcycles and avoid the Vietnam War.

From building houses using aluminum cans in the 1970's to the state-of-the-art Earthships currently being built around the world, Reynolds has devoted his life to building self-sufficient homes. It's been an evolutionary process.

Steel and aluminum cans, tires and other reclaimed materials are all used in Earthships, but they are far from primitive frontier cabins. Rather they are self-sufficient, off-grid homes that provide their own water, power and heating.

Long time residents of Taos, Tony Marvin and his partner Katy Grabel are recent converts to Earthships, which seem to be a way or life as much as a place to live.

"Having been here for more than 18 months now, it really has exceeded all our expectations. It really is quite an art form, and we're not roughing it by any means. Reports are that it is the best functioning Earthship to date utilizing all the latest technology," says Marvin.

Self-sufficiency at heart

All Earthships are built around a few core concepts.

Water is collected from rain or snowfall and stored in large underground cisterns. It is then used a number of times, first for bathing or washing it is then recycled into "gray" water which is used to flush toilets before being taken out of the internal water system as "black" water. It is then treated and then used to water the Earthship's plants.

As Michael Reynolds says: "If water is falling from the sky, and it is on the majority of the plant, it's crazy not to catch it."

read more at cnn.com

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