The Earthship crew has recently begun a new build in its headquarters’ home state.  The clients are working to begin a new life living off the grid by building a 1-bedroom global model Earthship in a small rural town outside of Albuquerque called Estancia.  Crewmembers have been called down for different stages in the building process for periods of time spanning 1-4 weeks at a time.  There have been two separate monthly groups of interns with representation from all over the United States and other countries such as New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and the Czech Republic.  This build is scheduled for two months for completion, September-October 2012.  

For the past 6 weeks, Tim and I traveled around the West between Utah, Nevada, and California.  I am now writing this from Washington, where I study at The Evergreen State College, and Tim is still at the build site.  We are originally from Southern California, a place whose natural beauty made it easy to fall in love with nature.  Our shared interests in sustainability, Seasteading, permaculture, and “off-the-grid” lifestyles lead us to discover Earthship Biotecture.  When we found out about the opportunity to help build an Earthship in New Mexico, we jumped on it. 

from the Alliance of Conscious Documentarians at acdmedia.wordpress.com (be sure to visit their website)

from the Alliance of Conscious Documentarians at acdmedia.wordpress.com (be sure to visit their website)

from the Alliance of Conscious Documentarians at acdmedia.wordpress.com (be sure to visit their website)

To Our Global Community,

It’s been about a week and a half since our departure from New York City to Albuquerque (ABQ), New Mexico, to document the Earthship build outside of Estancia (60 miles out from ABQ) and the daily grind has been full blown since then. We have had many, many obstacles (from small to big things, like discovering we did not have warm enough attire to be sleeping in a van in below 40 degree weather – yes the desert gets freezing out here without the sun, and running out of money for gas, for example), but our spirits are bright and optimistic — besides, there’s no turning back now!

Colin Jenkinson says he and his fellow crew members have become pretty adept at scavenging used tires for building walls on Earthships. For years, crews would scour shops or backyards looking for tires, and haul them to the Earthship community west of the Río Grande Gorge.

A pending agreement with Taos County could make getting used tires much easier, while at the same time saving taxpayers the cost of getting rid of them.

The county has proposed a contract under which the Solid Waste Department would take used tires from its collection sites and deliver them directly to the Earthship community. The goal is to reduce tipping fees at the regional landfill, and cut the time and cost of having to slit and bale tires.

“It’s ideal,” says architect Mike Reynolds, creator of the Earthship concept and founder of Earthship Biotecture.