mike reynolds story is here:
http://videosift.com/video/earthship-the-garbage-warrior-full-documentary

And raise our meatbags in an earthship?
In reply to this comment by enoch:
In reply to this comment by lurgee:
*promote


i love you and want to have your babies!

In reply to this comment by lurgee:
*promote


i love you and want to have your babies!

Yeah, I couldn't disagree with him more. I once subscribed to his opinion, but I found when I engaged with the environmental movement how much thought and effort goes into those who are truly committed to enviro issues, and how much they achieve.

And the suggestion that recycling uses more resources than using new ones each time is outdated and bullshit.

Forgive the self-link, but I sifted this a while ago. It's a brilliant doco on recycling that is totally worth a look: http://videosift.com/video/Earthships-and-the-Garbage-Warrior

I replied at the video to keep the comments together.

In reply to this comment by kymbos:
Thanks, curiosity. I saw Michael Reynolds speak last night, and found it amazingly motivating.

I have just bought a very environmentally unfriendly 50s weatherboard house, and am trying to find ways to make it more sustainable. At the moment it loses so much heat out of ceiling to floor single glazed windows, and it has no thermal mass to speak of. I'm toying with the idea of a tyre wall through the middle of it, but it's not a particularly practical solution.

But he made the point last night that every existing house has potential to be made more sustainable. You just have to think outside the square and come up with innovative solutions

Thanks for your links, I'll have a look.

Very interesting designs. There was some initial concerns about the tires breaking down and causing seepage into the ground; however, they were able to prove that the breakdown of the tires is primarily caused by sunlight. Since these tires are not exposed to sunlight, this eliminated that concern. There is also the benefit that these "pounded earth" houses are extremely hardy against adverse weather.

Here is their main website (looks like they've revamped it quite a bit since I was there last):
Earthship main website

Two videos with more explanation on the construction:
Earthship construction part 1
Earthship construction part 2

***

If you are interesting in intelligent house design, there are many websites out there. If you are looking for a more conventional house structure that is still decently self-sufficent, you should take a peek at the site below. It uses multiple method to control the internal climate. Very interesting read that hopefully many help some people include some items that increases the efficiency of their homes.
David Allan's Solar Home

Part of the appeal of the earthship is that you can grow a portion of your own food using the resources. Another alternative would be using a dome greenhouse. There are many different designs/companies that use dome greenhouses with a large pool for thermal mass and either a solar/electrical driven fan or expanding wax tubes (to push open vents) for ventilation when it gets too hot. I'm completely unaffiliated, but here is one website of a company that makes domes:
Growing Spaces' dome greenhouses

Personally?... Well, I would like to build something more along the line of David Allan's home, but include some of the ingenious water use/control of the earthships.

Upvote for the music alone Hey P have you ever heard of EarthShips? I know..flaky name, but a cool alternative housing idea. Folks build a house with old tires with rammed earth in them. You don't see them in the end because it's stuccoed.

His home has the look of the "earthship" design. The houses main building material are dirt rammed car tires stacked w/ rebar inside. It creates a thermal mass that absorbs heat from the sun and releases it in the house at night. One side of the house is earth protected and the other side is all windows. It's said they are pleasant in summer without much a/c cooling needed.
It sounds hideous, but once you're finished construction you never see the tires.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthship