Earthships ahoy!
Wednesday 25th April was a big
day. It’s not often that a bit of news gives you goose bumps and reminds you
why you’re putting your heart and soul into the ethical sector. On the day in
question, the Brighton Earthship development (known as ‘The Lizard’) moved a
step closer to reality when city planners granted planning permission for an
entire community of Earthships to be built.
The groundbreaking 16 unit development would be on a prime site
overlooking Brighton’s marina. If approved, this
ultra-green development could provide one of the most radical solutions to
sustainable housing proposed to date, and has the potential to revolutionise
the way we live our lives.
The ultimate
sustainable housing solution
Earthships are highly sustainable, low carbon buildings,
constructed from old tyres and other waste, fitted out with wind turbines
and independent of mains power and services. At present there are only two
Earthships in the
UK, one in Scotland and the other in Stanmer Park, Brighton. Both are used as community centres. The only other large community of domestic Earthships is in New Mexico, where they were invented by architect Mike Reynolds.
Brighton & Hove City Council Sustainability and Planning officers have spent two years working with project developers, Earthship Biotecture, giving help and advice on the UK planning system.
“This is just the sort of forward thinking scheme that Brighton & Hove should be championing. The Earthships are yet another example of the innovative sustainable buildings at which the city excels.”
Head of Sustainability at Brighton & Hove City Council Thurstan Crockett
First of its kind
It will be the first such development in the UK to be used for residential homes and the community of one, two and three bedroom homes is poised to become the world’s highest density of innovative, autonomous Earthships. At a time when the environmental impact of our everyday lives has taken centre stage, Earthships offer an exciting and innovative alternative to modern housing. Earthships heat
and cool themselves naturally via thermal dynamics, harvest all of their own water, dispose of their own waste and generate all of their power from sustainable resources.
Support for the Earthship pioneers
Even though it is still in its early stages, the Earthship development is
attracting a lot of interest as Ethical Junction member Daren Howarth (co-director of Biotecture, the social enterprise that submitted the application and managing director of C LEVEL (www.clevel.co.uk) creators of the Carbon Footprint concept) explains:
‘Projects like this can be extremely
powerful and they are vital as they point to a feasible alternative to current
building methods. There are Earthship projects taking place across the world
from Taos in New Mexico
to Southern Spain and there are individual developments happening in France. The Brighton project will be iconic. It is a prime site and
the development has the potential to capture the imagination and make a global
impact.‘The Lizard’ has already attracted a lot of interest. We have generated hundreds of enquiries from a very wide range of potential buyers, including people who are keen to secure one of the six units allocated as ‘affordable’ housing through the Housing Association.
We are hugely encouraged by the council’s decision to back this project. With permission for this kind of natural building and lifestyle project here in Brighton we are really setting a precedent that should inspire both ecological entrepreneurs and main-stream developers alike.’
Michael Reynolds, the American architect behind the Earthship concept, is currently working on site in Normandy constructing the first fully permitted residential Earthship in Europe and preparations are already underway to add a second permitted Earthship in Brittany. These European Earthships are specifically adapted prototypes designed for the European climate and according to Reynolds offer a glimpse of the global impact that the Earthship is having. He says:
‘The
Earthship project in France
will be our most globally significant effort to date. We see interest in
Earthships growing as our designs and systems have improved steadily over the
past 35 years while the state of the world has continued to decline.’
The Lizard planning permission follows a six-month feasibility study funded by the Environment Agency and the Energy Saving Trust, and Biotecture have already secured an agreement with the Cooperative Bank and Ecology Building Society to provide the lead investment for the project should it come to fruition.
Here’s to the future
This is a fantastic breakthrough for sustainable living and sets a massive precedent globally. All of the team at Ethical Junction wish Daren and the Biotecture team all the best for the future stages of development, and would like to offer our full support to the project in whatever way we can.
For further information about The Lizard Earthship development visit
www.earthship.net
Anyone interested in some hands on experience with building an
Earthship with Daren over this summer should take a look at www.earthshipbrittany.com
For more about the origins of Earthships and projects around the
world visit www.earthship.net
To view a trailer for Earthship movie ‘Garbage Warrior’
Simon Bottrell is Brand and Communications Director at Ethical
Junction
also in issue 4 of pulse news
Tags: energy, environment
May 10th, 2007 at 11:37 am
I agree that action is needed to reduce the problem of plastic carrier bags. However banning them is not necessarily the way forward. They do get re-used by lots of people for various things, e.g. wrapping waste which is going into our rarely-emptied dustbins.
In Ireland, when they stopped giving out carrier bags, the sales of other plastic bags went up dramatically and the plastics industry made more money, because consumers were paying more than the supermarkets for their bags
Surely if they were all biodgradable, made from starch or whatever, then we could carry on using them without causing a big environmental problem.
Regards
Paul
May 10th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Some plastic bags do deteriorate when left in the sun – many plastics do. In landfills even newspapers mummify, though, so plastic may well not be the answer there.
Where I live, the local supermarket has had a fake recycling bin for years. I used to live behind the store for several years until about a year ago. They regularly threw the bags from the “recycling” bin into their trash bins. I don’t know that there’s all that much money in recycling plastic. The idea makes people happy but in reality most people are lazy and won’t get organized to bring their own bags. I currently steal the “recycled” bags out of the store’s bin and use them for my trash. Much cheaper than buying trash bags! I wouldn’t use bags for trash but otherwise the wind sometimes blows the trash out of my trash bin all over the place. I also compost everything compostable and my garden is happier for it. Most humans are terribly brainwashed. However, I live in the States so y’all must forgive my for my hostility towards my supposed conspecifics.
May 11th, 2007 at 9:05 am
I would like to see all supermarkets give their customers bags-for-life, as has been done by practically every supermarket chain in France, where they seem to be taking their environmental responsibilities much more seriously. At the outset the bags were given to customers free, are very robust and durable, and last a very long time. After the initial introduction of the system replacements or extra bags could be purchased by customers at minimal cost. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL the supermarkets no longer hand out ANY plastic bags.
Upon spending an extended period in England recently, we took our bags with us, and used them every time we visited an English supermarket. The bags were not immediately recognised for what they were and we were surprised to discover that almost without exception no supermarket had introduced bags-for-life, so we made sure that we explained the system in France to the checkout person. We hope that each supermarket has a suggestions box and that members of staff, having seen our bags, will put forward the proposal to convince supermarket managers that this is a grass roots movement that they should take on board.
Paul Whitlock’s suggestion above that bags should be bio-degradeable is an excellent one, but why not make the bags for rubbish bio-degradeable and keep the long-lasting supermarket bags system, thus reducing the demand and use of plastic even more.
July 22nd, 2007 at 11:10 am
The figures quoted are scary!!!!
It is mentioned that most are made and then disposed of in China.Is this not another needless carbon footprint being created and onus heaved onto an already struggling environment????
Pauline (i love cats, me!)