NEWS: The good ship Earth

Saturday 12 March 2005 is Green Architecture Day so sit back, relax and let us tell you a story.

Imagine living in a home built from used tyres. Imagine how you could run a home that is totally self-sufficient and utilises the planet's natural systems to generate power and process waste. It could be as large as you want and need. You could save money and save the planet!

City Hippy is delighted to tell you that this is no dream, that these homes already exist and that you can have one. They are called Earthships and their purpose is to reduce our impact on the planet. Earthships are thriving in Fife in the UK, in the beautiful San Juan mountains of Colorado and also in Taos, New Mexico.

We first heard about Earthships through Spirit & Destiny magazine. Further internet research revealed a couple of very informative sites.

Low Carbon Network is a great UK resource and is building Earthship Brighton which will use the sun and rain to provide heat, power and water. The project has a lot of local support.

Earthship Biotecture offers a wealth of information along with intensive one day sustainable living workshops and an excellent forum.

You can even experience what it's like to live in an earthship by renting a suite or even the whole place for the night or longer. The Hybrid Earthship in Taos, New Mexico, features interior botanical cells, a solar sewage digester and flagstone floors.

So will we all be living in our own personal Earthships one day? City Hippy believes we just might be as Earthships are designed to address all our habitat needs without compromising the environment. The idea of living in harmony with the Earth is very appealing and with the pressure on to adapt our way of life this sounds perfect to us. We will try and keep track of the development of Earthship Colonies which would present a viable alternative for city dwellings.

If anyone has visited or lived in an Earthship we would love a review. Get in touch with us at .