What does it mean to be extremely “green”? Living in an earthship!

What is an earthship? It is a sustainable house made of natural and recycled materials. In order to be considered an earthship the house must meet 6 different requirements.

1. Run on thermal/solar heating and cooling

2. Produce electricity using solar and wind electricity

3. Have contained sewage treatment

4. The structure must be made of recycled and natural materials

5. Water must be harvested from the rain for use

6. There must be food production onsite

Hamilton Elementary/Middle School 8^th grade students learned about what factors go into making an earthship, and then took a hike around their school to figure out what the best location on their school grounds would be to build one. They then came back into the classroom and in small groups created a blueprint model of their future earthship.

On another date Irvine came back to the school with materials to create 3-D models of their blueprints. The students were required to bring in the recycled materials that their model would need, and then their creativity was put to work.

Below are examples of the top three that the students created! The pictures depict all 6 of the features that are needed to be considered an earthship based on Michael Reynold’s definition (founder).