A one-month adventure to build our future Academy is over… With some friends, we keep the good times alive as we cruise together first to Santa Fe and later Los Angeles. We party and make it last, a bit longer. We add days to our month in Taos, a beautiful adventure; an adventure of great learnings: I acquired technical knowledge, I met inspiring people and I celebrated life in the majestic scenery of the Taos Mesa. Imagine a gorge across this high plateau surrounded by snow-caped peaks where tall pines stand in the middle of those yellow and rusty Aspen patches that make fall so colorful. Somewhere on this plateau one can encounter “earthships”… Houses that take care of their inhabitants, habitats that provide for all the basic needs and comfort of their dwellers. Shelter, water, food, waste & sewage, (renewable) energy… those basic needs are still, for too many people around our globe, a daily issue. When one looks at the state of our world, one might feel desperate; some prefer to get inspired. The Earthship Academy is a place to meet those people, eager to build a brighter future. This article is about what I learned during those four weeks of learning, sharing and having fun. Build the change you want to see in this world 😉 For me, the adventure started two days before official Day 1. I must thank Lisa -aka “Muddy”- for driving from Phoenix to Albuquerque on the 29th and from Albuquerque to Taos on the 30th of September. Diana, Tim, Jorge and Dan joined. Once in Taos, we met with Juan, Liss, Jason, Kate, Rich, Victor, Nadine… Already a lovely team. 1st of October is our first day: “Welcome!”. Lauren greets us and talks about the history of the academy, the internships opportunities, the rules, usual planning, general information about Taos, etc. This introduction allows us to meet the mates: 27 students from Australia, Argentina, Wales, Britain, Canada, Ecuador, Mexico, Germany, Greece, France and of course, the United States of America. We are all invited to share about our paths and motivations. We carefully listened to many inspiring stories and beautiful goals. This first day is also the opportunity for us to discover our accommodations. I sleep at the “Architect’s Office”, a four-room earthship, next to the classroom and worksites, shared with five great people. Great! At this point, I understand that this month will most probably be about three things: learning, sharing and having fun. Learn Biotecture: Achieve sustenance through the encounter of Earth phenomenon. The general planning pattern is one day in the classroom (lectures) and one day on the job site or in labs (practical activities). We learned about the history and evolution of the earthship concept and types, basics of earthship construction techniques and earthship operations, how to read earthship construction drawings, building permit process for earthships, earthship maintenance, and much more. Why do we learn all that? In a nutshell, we learn about the “six existential needs” of humans and how to practically answer them through housing integration in its environment. The ultimate objective is to transcend the economy and defeat the dogma; to provide Sustainable Autonomy For Everyone (SAFE). What we learned is the results of decades of trial and error. We learned some practical wisdom that empowers us to build more resilient futures, one tire at a time. What is an earthship? Tim, our welsh mate, interviewed Michael Reynolds. He makes the video available for us on YouTube. As stated by Tim: “What is an Earthship? We discover just that and discuss Earthship principles with the founder of the Biotecture movement, Michael Reynolds. In our exclusive interview with Mike, we discuss the fundamental factors of Earthships, the growing need for sustainable homes and what's next for Biotecture and the Earthship movement. Dive into the Earthships of New Mexico with our house tours - Including Greater World Community, Castle and REACH communities. We were given the chance to explore EVE, Vellecitos, Lemuria, Phoenix, Simple Survival Earthships, Gravel Pit and the privilege to see some private Earthships. Filmed during the Earthship Biotecture Academy, October 2018.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LjHFAbBJr4 Six existential needs Do you know how your basic needs are met? How wasteful are those solutions? how resilient is that system? One can, and one should, control how basic human needs are met. At Earthship Biotecture, we learned about the six existential needs and how the place we call home can take good care of those needs, for us:
Comfortable Shelter Earthships integrate thermal/solar heating and cooling systems to maintain an ideal temperature inside the house all year-round; whatever the conditions outside. To do that, we integrate thermal mass in our building: the mass will capture the heat and redistribute it when needed. We also integrate sloped windows on the south face of the house (in the northern hemisphere) to make sure that we get the light from the low-winter sun inside the house and still block the light from high-summer sun. This front part is usually a greenhouse and also acts as a buffer zone between the other rooms and the outside world. When desired, conduits and vents ingenuously use the power of convection to condition the air in the building. Finally, good insulation is also key to making this house a cozy home. Water Harvesting “Turn the cup the other way around.” Why let rainwater run when we can catch it, store it, filter it and use it in our home? We learned about the roof configuration, the roof material, the silt, the cistern type and the filtering and pressurization of the Water Organization Module. Moreover, we reuse water several time! Read the “Sewage Treatment” for more information about water reuse. Food Production “Do not build walls, make longer tables.” One amazing thing about Earthships is the jungle environment you can have inside. Earthships fully integrate plants in their design; Earthships are gardener friendly. The greenhouse in front of the house offers different micro-climates to experiment with and to grow a wide variety of foods. One can combine and integrate several food production systems such as vertical agriculture, mushrooms, aquaponics, warm farm, etc. As described earlier, the way eartships manage water allows to grow food inside and outside the earthships without using extra water. (Solid) Waste Management Earthships are built from repurposed material, even better than reuse or remanufacture! If you do not see garbage but appreciate it as resources, you might acknowledge that tires, for instance, are so abundant! Tires are now a worldwide local resource… and offer several advantages: tires are good thermal mass, bear heavy loads, do not rot, do not burn (once buried / covered), are earthquake resistant, are low-tech and the related building method is universal. We also use aluminum cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles, reclaimed material… Another example? Cardboard for insulation: it rates impressively in terms of insulation efficiency (R-value). As a result, on an average, 50% of an earthship is repurposed material. Sewage Treatment Let’s transform our crap into gold! What about eating a locally-grow banana as you look out at snowy peaks of the Taos mountains? What if I told you that this banana grows in the water from your shower; that this water is also used to grow other foods; that this water is also used to flush your toilets. It does not end here: the sewage is digested in a sceptic tank and then reaches and EvapoTranspiration (ET) bed where trees grow proud and strong in the middle of the Mesa desert. We call it a “zero discharge system”. Electricity Production What if the grid is not accessible or what if electricity from the grid is not available anymore? Earthships are about self-reliance and, thus, integrate their own production storage and distribution system for electrical power. We mainly learned about the common Earthship Biotecture setup: PhotoVoltaic (PV) panel + lead-acid batteries setup. We design the system in accordance with needs and environmental conditions. Other As previously written, we learned a lot. The Academy also encompasses:
Share The highlight of the Academy is our group: a diversity of stories, skills, cultures united in a common desire to build. We shared meals, tips, inspirations, aspirations, knowledge, friendship, time, ideas, laughs, dreams … For instance, we organized several workshops after academy hours to learn from each other (humanure composting, permaculture, yoga, reggae). We were also sharing a lot among housemates. Nine of us were staying at the “Architect’s”, many others would come to share good times and nice meals. It was not always spick and span… but this place was alive and joyful. Have fun! Taos is surprising. More generally, New Mexico is surprising! I think one of the reasons why is because it is a well-kept secret 😊 People are friendly, nature is amazing and there is always something cool to do. For instance, in Taos, we had several great evenings at the Taos Mesa Brewery, the hot springs and even the ski valley; live music, outdoor bliss or simply good times with friends at the Hive, the Castle, the Pyramid… For instance, in Albuquerque, some of us wandered among hundreds of air balloons at the balloon fiesta. I also enjoyed beautiful evenings with Bob my ABQ CouchSurfing friend. For instance, in Santa Fe, we enjoyed the art galleries and the unique experience of the Meow Wolf, its interactive artwork and its fine electronic music parties… A trip in itself. Let’s cut the blablabla, a good video is worth a thousand words! So, thank you Nadine for this awesome video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FuSjigqB_Y Complementary and subjective remarks
Go futher… Eartship Biotecture:
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