Earthships
An architectural concept that I find compelling and important to consider is the earthship. Earthships are designed to function off-grid with minimal outside dependencies. They generate on their own the small amount of electricity they use. They collect rainwater for drinking, and reuse wastewater for growing food either outside or in greenhouses. Organic wastes are reused as fertilizer.
Earthships are generally constructed largely from reclaimed materials such as glass bottles and car tires. Some designs even employ sun-powered convection cooling that can keep temperatures under control in hot climates, without requiring any hazardous refrigerants. Once built, the overall amount of work needed to keep the earth-ship functional and comfortable is relatively small, allowing the residents to enjoy slow-paced, relaxed life styles close to nature.
The earthship concept isn't without issues, however. For the most part, earthships are built by individuals, couples or small groups who are seeking to escape an unsustainable, mismanaged civilization. They are projects of self reliance rather than schemes to save the planet. Earthships are virtually unmentioned in mainstream politics and media, and thus for much of our population are either not on our radar, or serve as infotainment content on YouTube, and appear not to be widely regarded as serious solutions.
The startup requirements for an Earthship involve having money, learned skills, and land. This presents an equity concern in a world where the vast majority of our population now live in an urban setting without ownership of land. Many people live paycheque to paycheque putting the startup costs out of reach. For those of us living sedentary office-worker lives without any hands-on experience, the idea of running off and building for ourselves carries unacceptable risk and unfathomable sacrifice.
In an increasingly hostile climate and an unstable geopolitical situation, our globalized trade network is showing it's vulnerability. More and more people are realizing that doing nothing also carries unacceptable risks, while governments make performative-at-best efforts to address our many crises. The self-reliance projects of a few privileged people will not change the fact that millions of people and their governments are still trapped in the exploit-for-profit economy, driving, often blindly, the planet's evolution.
The small earthships of today could, however, still play a prototypal role. The ability to perform agriculture and other work in controlled, protected systems with inputs no more complex than simple air, water and sunshine will be critical to climate resiliency, while offering simple, safe, and comfortable lives for the people within. The relevance of the earthship in fighting climate change may come down to leaders adapting the concept to be able to grow and accomodate hundreds to thousands to millions of people.
But I believe it can be done.
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