Green Collar Jobs Training Program Update (7/14/09)

Today, the Green Collar Jobs Training Program did more work on Mark Hansen's Earthship home. There they continued to mix the mixture of cement, cinder, and dirt to make the wall foundation, very similar to what they did yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Green Collar Jobs Training Program online trainees continued to document and promote the training program and its efforts on the Internet.

Trainees helping mark build the earthship walls.

One of the first people to foremen of the Earthship design is Mike Reynolds the found of Earthship Biotecture. His design began sometime in the 1970s when we wanted to create a sustainable home that would do all of the following:

1. It would be made out of recycled and indigenous materials, whenever possible.
2. It would rely on natural energy sources and be off the grid.
3. It would be economically feasible for the average person and would required no specialized constructions skills to build.

This design has become very popular in the last decade and there is even a housing development in Taos, New Mexico that is entirely composed of earthship homes. It's inahbitants live with a strong sense of sustainability. They produce most of their energy (solar panels, etc.), harvest their own water, treat their own sewage, manufacture bio-diesel, and grow majority of their own food. Because their homes and buildings are earthships they also recycle and utilized much of the "trash" that other communities throw out.

Inside one of the Earthship huts.

In 2004, the first eartship was built in Europe. It was built by volunteers of the SCI charity and opened in Kinghorn Loch in Fife, Scotland.

There are many advantages, as well as disadvanages to having an earthship home, but overall it's an amazing concept that supports the push for global sustainability. Everything is a learning process, so you can be sure that in the years to come, earthship designs will become even more advanced and efficient in reducing the human footprint.