Many people all over the planet know of Earthships. But few really know what they are and fewer still know what the effort is really all about. Some think they are just buildings made of old tires – “what a neat idea” – they think. Others think they are solar buildings made of recycled materials – “great”. Still others are aware of the fact that they are an attempt (getting quite successful) at making totally sustainable homes from by-products of our society. Even this is still an incomplete understanding.
Plants of various types and species once covered the planet. Their existence made the planet more. They contributed to – they were – the nature of the planet. Now, it is humanity that is becoming the nature of the planet. There is a major difference. Plants have a way of unconsciously and continuously making the planet better for themselves and other creatures. Humans have a way of consciously and continuously making the planet worse for themselves – and for plants and other creatures.
My reaction to this is that the more we interact with and learn from plants and the Earth, the more we will learn about our own survival. Our life methods must evolve to be more like those of plants. Intelligence or not, plants have it together on the Earth – we don’t.
The Earthship concept is an effort to slowly evolve humanity in a direction – a method of life – that continuously improves that life by its very nature. This involves changing building methods, changing utility methods, changing living methods, and ultimately changing thinking and understanding methods. This is a journey, the destination of which cannot be perceived – only imagined.
The Earthship concept must be elastic enough to presently conform to existing dogma while strong enough to evolve that dogma in the future. It will cause some pain in terms of disruption of the “tried and true”. It will enter every arena that exists and grow like a virus as it effects the thinking of what happens tomorrow while flavoring the reality of what is happening today.
It is now only a seed being planted everywhere. As this seed grows, we will find that we are making homes and sanctuaries for plants instead of human leaders, kings and politicians, because it is plants that will truly be guiding us and nurturing us, not human leaders, kings and politicians. We have recreated the world – it doesn’t work. Now we must find the humility to follow and emulate other forces on this planet. The Earthship is the vessel toward that end.
Michael Reynolds
Once upon a time…
there was a man born on to a vast continent on a very large planet.
The man had a curse; or maybe it was a blessing.
He had to keep moving west on the vast continent or he would die. He spent many years, like a nomad, slowly migrating west. He actually got quite used to and accepting of his life condition. He found a horse, eventually, and he rode the horse west for many, many years. He grew very fond of the horse. It became his friend. He decorated it with blankets and straps and jewels. It became a significant part of his life, his tradition, his culture, his identity.
The man existed for many years not even questioning the nature of his existence, understanding that this was his life… always moving west. He had accepted it, adapted to it and even embellished it with his horse. He would be quite happy forever riding on his horse and slowly moving in a westerly direction.
One day he and his horse came to a rise on the horizon as he had done many times before. He had always looked out from a rise in the terrain in the past and contemplated what lay before him on his endless journey west. This time was different. This time he saw, off in the distance to the west . . . a vast and endless sea.
The turmoil in his brain began immediately. It was almost panic. There was no way to ignore it. His horse, his tradition, his culture, his identity . . . none of these would keep him alive . . . just moving west would keep him alive and he was going to need a boat, not a horse.
Fleeting, feeble, pathetic thoughts of teaching the horse to swim; building a boat that would carry the horse as well; even pretending it was not true . . . flashed through his mind as the panic tuned to desperation while he moved closer and closer to the sea. But . . . he, at least, had something. He had a small window of time to come up with a plan before he reached the sea.
Miraculously, his view from the rise in the horizon allowed this. His window of time, if he used it right, would allow a transformation of some kind – probably both physical and mental/emotional – i.e a transformation outside of himself and within himself would be required . . . to continue living.
This is our story – the story of humanity here in the twenty-first century on the earth. When we look out into the distance on our journey here on Earth; we now see something different than ever before. The earth is changing. Resources are becoming depleted. Fresh water is becoming scarce. Populations are growing. Present methods of living are aggravating the condition of the earth and its ability to support human life. We are approaching, and soon we will reach, “the sea of change”. We will need to escape from our tradition, our culture, and our identity to survive.
We will need to learn to turn the horse into a boat and . . .
the dross into gold.
