Greetings Tasmanian Earthship and sustainable building supporters!

After much waiting there's finally an Earthship event coming up for Tassie

Come along if you've heard about Earthships and want to find out more or would like to sign up and join the movement starting across Australia to bring this radical sustainble architecture and living model to us here!

Week one of the first academy session of 2013 has been eventful and is already coming to a close.  We have 33 students attending from all around the world with the same goal in mind: learning and sharing Earthships.  Orientation was early morning on Monday, where everyone arrived at the Visitor Center for a meet and greet.  Kirsten Jacobsen, our Academy Director, led the introduction to the students, followed by a talk with Mike Reynolds in the classroom.  

What better way to tear the walls down then to build new ones out of.... tires!?

The walls I speak of tearing down are the metaphorical ones we put up ourselves as people. These "barriers" that safe guard our security. What security? Perhaps..... our comfort zones? Our Houses? Our Food? Our Entertainment?

On February 9th,
Originally over 100 RSVP's were made on a day to be rather cold and icy. A "Prelude to an Earthship" for the community to come together and work together towards a Greater Life for ourselves and the Drive to do so.

...in Taos, New Mexico

by James Galletly from theownerbuilder.com.au

‘These are the most sustainable houses I have ever seen, and if these are the most sustainable houses, then this is how I should build.’ That was my first response to seeing Garbage Warrior, a documentary about renegade architect Michael Reynolds and his quest to build truly sustainable homes.

The Earthship is Michael’s answer to the challenge of sustainable housing. Put simply, Earthships are radically sustainable buildings, constructed with recycled materials. They are far from conventional, but they work, extremely well, and that is why Michael has been building them for over 40 years.

Colin Jenkinson says he and his fellow crew members have become pretty adept at scavenging used tires for building walls on Earthships. For years, crews would scour shops or backyards looking for tires, and haul them to the Earthship community west of the Río Grande Gorge.

A pending agreement with Taos County could make getting used tires much easier, while at the same time saving taxpayers the cost of getting rid of them.

The county has proposed a contract under which the Solid Waste Department would take used tires from its collection sites and deliver them directly to the Earthship community. The goal is to reduce tipping fees at the regional landfill, and cut the time and cost of having to slit and bale tires.

“It’s ideal,” says architect Mike Reynolds, creator of the Earthship concept and founder of Earthship Biotecture.

from Earthship Chile

I'm from Chile two weeks ago we had an earthquake of 6/7 richter, our tire wall stand without problems and our wall is just tires no concrete on it ... enough evidence for me that Earthships are earthquake-proof .

Sorry about my English not mi native language hope you understand.

Greetings from Chile.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003696586770

CNN homepage: A Home made of beer cans. http://cnn.com/

Building a home one beer can at a time

From 1971 to 1977 the Environmental Protection Agency hired freelance photographers for a project called “Documerica.” The goal was to capture photographs relating to the environment, including everyday life.  More than 15,000 photos from the project now reside in the National Archives.

The time has come to get serious about sustainability. We have had over 200 years of resource pillaging, growth addiction and economic aerobics. We have divided and conquered. Harmony is long overdue. Lets turn plagiarism into collaboration and thrive just as nature intended it.

Join Duuvy Jester for a fun, informative talk in the heart of Brunswick. He will be discussing the philosophy, science, physics and practicalities that live within the belly of the world that is Earthship. Hear all about his experiences in the Earthship academy out on the mesa in Taos, New Mexico.

By Debra Atlas

Millions of people in the Philippines live in (relative) darkness. The cost of electricity is beyond the means of many, so residents of poorer communities resort to candles or kerosene lamps, which pose serious health and fire hazards.