When I was a teen, I lived for the Whole Earth Catalog, homesteading, building geodesic domes, solar power, communes, and other hippie fever dreams. But even back then, when I was literally making my own granola, Michael Reynolds' concept of the "Earthship" seemed too crunchy granola. I suspected that building a house out of garbage — tires, cans, bottles, hay bales, rammed earth, etc. — seemed a bit much; likely fraught with issues.
But there were parts of the Earthship concept that I thought were smart then and still think so today — things like passive solar heating, ground convection cooling, berming, rainwater collection, greywater reclamation and re-use.
In this video on the excellent YouTube channel, Living Big in a Tiny House, host Bryce Langston visits an off-the-grid Earthship in Adelaide, Australia. This Earthship, while utilizing all of the Reynold's concepts, also touches on another niche building idea that is currently all the rage: The tiny house. This Earthship is a tiny(ish) 750 sq. ft.
And you have to admit, those bottle wall mosaics look pretty cool.
