EARTH HOMES - The New way of living
Updated: Dec 3, 2020
I remembered when earth homes or living off the grid was considered "crazy". Whenever I would bring it up to my friends, they would most the time give me that crazy look like O.K Jenn. You are one hippie lady. Now with this pandemic, people are finally opening up the idea. Imagine living in a home that is not only eco friendly but self-sustainable. You never need to make any essential runs unless you want to. You have a garden in the back growing all the things you love to eat. You are surrounded by a community that believes in the same value as you. You can do trades of seeds, food, or even gathering of dinners. It's a never-ending project until you feel it is and there will be people around who would love to help one another build a great earth home. This idea isn't something of the imagination no more but reality. There are over thousands of earth homes around mostly in new Mexico.
Micheal Reynolds, An architect, built the first Earthship in the 1970s. It is pretty clear by now the way we live on this planet is not that stable and that secure, not to mention that ecological. Forests were being cleared for timber and toilet paper while trash was exponentially increasing. To solve those two problems Reynolds built a house made of beer cans. When that was successful he then started using tires and bottles to build structures.
What are the six things all humans need to survive? Food, energy, clean water, shelter, garbage management, and sewage treatment. An Earthship meets ALL of those requirements.
What? that's crazy how does it work? A traditional Earthship is built into the ground. where the grounds help regulates temperature. Windows on the south side of the building create warmth and sunlight helps grow food. The great thing about these is that you can build yours however you like it. You can add solar panels to your roof and even build a rainwater collector. The sky is the limit.
Since the COVID 19, an interest in Earthhomes spiked. It's awesome to see the interest raising so fast. It reassures me that people are indeed waking up and taking their lives into their own hands. Why live in a cramped apartment when you can live in a home outside of the city with everything you need and more. Financially it is better as well. Building one or buying one could cost around 70,000 but once built, you wouldn't need to pay for electricity bills, water bills, rent, or mortgage! The only thing you would need to pay for monthly is property taxes and of course any other added things you want such as the internet. The monthly bills are what people are drowning under. When you start to put all these factors together, Earthhomes and living off-grid seem like a pretty good idea haha.
I mean how great is it to live in a community of love and creativity. To have less stress of all the city life and to embrace and soak in what planet earth and nature has to offer. Growing your own food free of pesticides and chemicals. The feeling of accomplishment with everything you build with your own hands. We are capable and we should start moving towards this kind of living if we want to continue to thrive as humans on this mother planet we call home.
Now I know not everybody can just up and find a Earthhome especially people who live in cities like New York or a suburban home in Texas but the broad takeaways that everyone can consider are being more self-sufficient. Be more independent. Let's stop depending on companies to meet our needs and let's venture out and learn things ourselves. If something like this pandemic were to happen again, we can take care of ourselves. Grow our food and even understand how to filter rainwater or create our own electricity. It isn't far fetch, it isn't crazy, Its human. we are evolving and learning from experiences. I can see these kinds of homes along with other kinds of homes people have done such as build a community over water using trash that has floated in from the ocean. We are adaptable and that's how we survived for so long on this planet. Along the way, we got comfortable with the companies who provide us with easy access to food, medical, water, electricity, and a place to call home meanwhile working long hours to pay for all of these. Depression rates are up because people are not happy. How can you be when there are no accomplishments. Just working to live.
I am very excited to see our human race looking for different ways to live and is opening up to the idea of living off-grid. I can not wait to see how this planet will be 10 years from now. I hope this blog has spiked an interest in you as well. perhaps you will be living in an Earth home not too far in the future. I hope I will be.
Reynolds believes in this idea so much he has launched his own Earthship academy for those who are interested in building their own homes. You can find all the information here in this link
https://www.earthshipglobal.com/academy-sessions
As for now, If you would like to start on something to be more self-efficient, I would recommend a small garden perhaps on your balcony or hanging outside your window to building garden boxes in the backyard. Once you grow your food and eat it, you will feel so good like you can literally do anything. you have the confidence to live on your own and not stress if the grocery stores are closed. Another simple but great skill to learn is to pickle things in cans. Here are some videos to get your started : ) Have fun and do share what you have created.
8 vegetables you can grow in your tiny Apartment all year round
How to make a garden at your apartment condo
The complete guide to fermenting every single vegetable
Earthship underground house TOUR- Sustainable and net-zero living
It is the time my friends! we are stepping up and the only way we can save this planet and our race is with love and compassion. We are only humans learning from our mistakes every day and growing. Let's not let the fear of failure stop us from reaching our highest potential. we are in this together. United as one. one race, the human race. Sending love to you and your family
Jennifer Nguyen
