1. EARTHSHIP HOMES: Trash-Dwelling & Green Living
October 24, 2012
By YaKenda McGahee
At first glance, The Greater World Earthship Community seems like something straight
from a Star Trek episode. A harsh, 650-acre, Northern New Mexico desert landscape dotted with
buildings that more closely resemble intergalactic space ships than single family homes. And the
similarity doesn’t end there.
“We will eventually have 130 Earthships,” explains Earthship Academy Lead Instructor,
Ron Sciarillo. “Each home is a cell that independently takes care of its inhabitants.” In-dependent
of public utilities and completely off-the-grid, these unique homes are one man’s solution to the
global garbage, waste and pollution epidemic.
[INDEPENDENT CELLS, OFF-THE-GRID]
Earthships are fueled entirely by Mother Nature. Solar energy from the rooftop solar panels
fuel heavy-duty batteries which, in essence, power the entire Earthship. “Those batteries go into
what we call a power organizing module. And that system is the brains of the whole building,”
says Sciarillo.
Indeed it is a living, breathing organism generating its own electricity, heating and cooling
itself and constantly collecting & treating its own water.
“So Earthships use zero water when it comes to flushing,” explains Sciarillo. “And 40% of
all water in conventional homes is for flushing the toilet.” That water conservation comes by way
of a complex, but brilliant filtration system designed by Earthship engineers. Here’s how it works:

2. 1). Water from rain, snow and dew is first captured in rooftop cisterns, and then
funneled into a clean water filter.
2). The filtered potable watered is then stored in a clean water tank until it is piped to
the kitchen, shower and bathroom faucets, or the fruit and vegetable gardens.
3). The used water from the faucets and garden, commonly called “gray water”, then
drains into a gray water filtration system.
4). Once filtered, the clean – but not potable – gray water is then used as toilet water.
5). But it doesn’t end there, even the sewage water is re-used. The used toilet water,
also known as “black water”, is channel into and filtered by a solar septic tank.
6). The treated black water is then transferred to the outdoor botanical gardens, to
water the “non-edible” plants.
Earthships even produce their own food: vegetables, fruits, fungi and aromatic spices, all
grown in a greenhouse that cleverly doubles as a temperate climate for the plant life and a climate
control module for the home. The greenhouse is actually an additional structure – an add-on, if
you will – that’s built onto the home’s exterior, running its entire length.
“The double greenhouse tricks the home into thinking that the outside temperature is only at
50 degrees,” says Sciarillo, “even if it’s 25 below zero outside.” In essence it acts as an insulation
for the main house, a temperate buffer during extreme winter weather. And just as the home keeps
itself warm in the winter, it also keeps stays cool in the summer.
“Temperatures in these greenhouses can reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit. But the beauty of
Earthship homes is that they’re designed for convection air, a natural air conditioning system. By

3. opening the exterior greenhouse windows, the interior house windows and the skylight, it creates
a constant cool air flow throughout the home, even when the wind seems still. And on those hot
days, builders say an open skylight provides natural ventilation moving the hot air out of and
keeping the cool air in.”
This is the true definition of “green building”, not just in theory, but in practice. That’s because
these sustainable homes are made entirely of earth and…TRASH. That’s right the bi-products of
society, your garbage and mine, have become the building blocks of these homes.
Everything used to build, sustain and power the Earthship is either recycled, re-conditioned or
re-used. Take the home’s rooftop, for instance; it’s lined with a neat pattern of diamond-shaped,
pastel-colored, sheet metal cut-outs; each fashioned from discarded appliances, circa-1970.
“[They’re] recycled appliances from the dump and we make it for roof shingling,” says Sciarillo.
From rammed-earth tires that double as home insulation, aluminum cans that serve as wall
foundation, to windows made from thick coke-bottle glass and support beams fashioned from
rotted pine trees, that’s what Earthships are made of.
When Earthship creator and architect, Mike Reynolds first conceived the idea of dumpster
diving for construction materials, he was frowned upon, considered rather eccentric, to put it
nicely. “I’ve been chastised and told I was an idiot and incompetent for building with garbage and
running sewage through the living room”
But now the man behind the masterpieces is seen as somewhat of genius as people travel here
from around the world to live-in and learn about Earthship’s enterprises. ###