NOVEMBER 15 2009
AMERICANWAY 71
“I’ve never agreed with conventional
building methods,” says Ronald Sciarillo,
an Earthship builder inNewMexico. “Us-
ing tires, bottles, cans, trees, and recycled
materials to build your home for not only
a much more affordable price but to also
cleanup theplanet simultaneously isahuge
thing forme.”
It’sbecoming important topeople inoth-
er countries aswell. KevanTrott, anEarth-
shipbuilder inNormandy, France, whohas
30 years of professional construction expe-
rience, became very interested in sustain-
ablebuildingmethods andmaterials in late
1999. Trott discoveredEarthships in2004,
attended a seminar givenbyReynolds, and
then began to work with him on the plan-
ning application for a 16-unit development
inNormandy.
“My familydecided that thiswas theway
of living for the future, and we invested a
significant amount ofmoney and time into
building our Earthship here in France,”
Trott says. It became one of the first official
residentialEarthshiphomes inEurope, and
it began Trott’s working relationship with
Reynolds,whichhasgrown in thefiveyears
since theymet to includeproject-managing
Holland’s firstEarthship and consultingon
a varietyof otherEuropeanprojects.
“My boys are indeed getting a fantastic
education on living for the future,” states
Trott. “As for cons,
[
there are
]
very few, if
any, for theEuropeanmarket. Thebasicde-
signneeds to be— and is being— adapted
more to suit the climate. I’d still like to re-
duce the usage of cement even further, and
innewdesigns, thiswillbe thecaseaswe in-
troducehempcreteand
[
find
]
alternateways
of creating thermal mass. With an exciting
project starting in Glasgow next, and with
manymore to follow inEurope, we have to
providea conceptwhich suits the climate.”
It’s been nearly 40 years since Reynolds
first developedhis beer-can “brick” inTaos,
New Mexico, but his idea of encouraging
people to take control of their lives andper-
sonal resources and to live throughmodest
means is one that has spread around the
world. It may have been a far-out idea in
1970,but in today’sgreenworld,Earthships
aremore relevant thanevenReynoldscould
have ever imagined they would be. They’re
alsopretty cool looking.
AW
BRYAN REEsMAN
is a regular
AmericanWay
contributor who
has been published in the
New York Times
,
Playboy
, and
Bill-
board
. He regrets that he doesn’t live in anEarthship.
