Earthship

What's an earthship?  That was precisely my question.  Well, for one thing, it was on the far side of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge from Taos, where I was staying.  Having talked myself into driving to the other side, rather like the bear going over the mountain to see what he could see, I proceeded on past the other side of the gorge.  A few miles on in the middle of one of those flat stretches of New Mexico with nothing much more than knee high other than the Sangre de Christos in the distance, I found it.

An earthship is not a ship at all.  It's a house built entirely of recycled materials that relies on natural sources for its utilities.  It takes some pretty interesting shapes, which is understandable when you consider it's made of things like old tires filled with sand, glass bottles and cans.  The most normal material - at least for the Southwest - is adobe, which is basically dirt and straw.  It uses solar panels for power, water collected from rain and runoff, such as it is in a climate like New Mexico.  That, of course, means that the water is scarce so it is re-used three times.  First, for drinking, cooking and washing.  Then on to water the plants which are growing in a greenhouse along part of the outside wall.  Last for things like flushing toilets.  The plants looked amazing, both ornamental and vegetables. I asked if the soaps used in cleaning affected the use of the water for the plants and they said it was not a problem.  The grand total of cost for all utilities for an earthship for an entire year is $100.  Now there's a help for a budget.

The earthship is now actually a small community of earthships and new ones are in construction.  The local realtors have at least one listed if anyone is interested.  Or you can see the whole thing on earthship.com  It is definitely interesting to see what can be done if you're really willing to take the next step.