Get on the Earthship

We rolled out of Santa Fe around one on Saturday. All of us were exhausted and inspired and processing the loads of information and ideas that we had just been fed. One of the guys had a friend in Taos that lived a planned community of Earthships. He had offered to give us a tour. I was a little confused when the idea was first tossed out - an Earthship? In New Mexico? Huh?

Turns out an Earthship is a completely sustainable and off the grid living abode built by using recycled and sustainable materials like used tires, dirt, and aluminum cans. I was intrigued and excited about going to Taos.

We met up with Marcus, owner of the Earthship and permaculture expert, at a grocery store on the outskirts of town. Before we went to the Earthship, he wanted us to check out some natural hot springs at a place called The Enchanted Circle. We followed his trail of dust down a long dirt road to the edge of a cliff. After hiking down 3/4ths of mile we were rewarded with one of the most beautiful spots that I had seen in a long time.

The spot truly lived up to its name.

After soaking our weary bones in the springs, we headed out to the Earthship.

The dichotomy of the conference with the Earthship community was pretty stark to me. The first night in Santa Fe the whole Austin gang hung out at the condo that we had rented. We were all getting to know each other and we ended up having a debate about peak oil, renewable energy, and how to rectify the problems of energy needs versus carbon outputs.

The question was posed: Is this a problem that can be fixed through reforming the current system or is there something fundamentally wrong with the system itself? A consensus wasn’t reached, but the Slow Money conference speakers and attendees seem to me to be mainly in the reform camp. Marcus and the Earthship community seem to be valuing something that either doesn’t exsist in modern society or is buried so deep underneath the surface that it only occasionally bubbles up into the general consciousness.

Where are our communities? Where is our curiosity? How do we begin to not only value the earth but to take it into account during our daily interactions and transactions?

I don’t know the answers, but I do think that the current environmental situation is an emergency. I believe - hope - that the question of how to address this emergency might begin with how we get our food and build our communities. The ability to eat healthy fresh food should be a basic right, not a privilege. I think that if we can begin to connect ourselves back to our food systems that we might begin to build stronger communities. Maybe if we do those things the answers to our energy needs and environmental concerns might become more apparent.

As far as reform versus revolution, I guess I have a foot in both camps. The appeal of living off the grid, dropping out of modern society and living simply and quietly upon the earth, is appealing. It is also appealing for my little niece and nephew to have clean water and healthy real food to eat long after I‘m gone. At the beginning of a Bob Marley song - I can’t recall which one right now - he says, “ To win the revolution you must fight with rasta. If you win any other way, you will fight again.” A revolution is needed. Reform is needed. Love, community - rasta - is needed.

Again, I don’t have the answer. All I know is eating real fresh food makes me feel good and cooking it myself makes me want to share it with people that I love. The only answer I’ve got is just to go farm yourself.