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RE: Earthships & Self-sufficiency. Journey of Discovery Part IV: Present & Future Visions (ecoTrain)
You bring up some great questions.
I live in the wet tropics, we are trying an earthbag dome. Having time is a big issue, you basically have to stop other work to advance on the house.
Sustainability is more important than self sufficiency, but while self sufficiency gives us a lot of pride, learning to be able to live in a community is an increasingly important skill.
oh wow! i would love to try making an earthbag dome! it is quite some work of course.. but amazing way to build. I hope you get time one day to continue.. that is one to blog!
Would love to blog the building process of a dome!
do it!!!!
Thank you for your input @ecoinstant. In some respects, I'd have to agree.
Wow that awesome that you're building super adobe in the tropics! Have you got around the design issue of protecting the walls from rain? I've seen sketches of domes with reciprocal roofs and wooden/bamboo roofs, built into the dome walls themselves. How is the project going? One Love
The project is plodding along! Its only a single small dome and we hope to use this small one to figure out some of these problems when they come.
Im considering different sealants for the outside, and may consider something like a plastic cement for areas most afftected by water, such as the window eyebrows on the windward side. Im hoping that the water will just roll off if I seal it correctly.
If not, I'll have to design some sort of roof/porch/lookout to sit on top.
@ecoinstant If the Earth-Bags are still exposed (without render) it is possible to saw out sections where a wooden frame can rest and be jointed for a roof structure. Here are three photos I just came across online. I can really recommend thinking about this early on. If you would like more help, I can forward you to architect Tommaso Bazzechi of New Earth UK.
This is fantastic!
Yes, I think so too, sustainability is more important than self-sufficiency, because there are many people being self-sufficient ( at least at the moment) but destroying their environment in the process.
Really? I haven't thought about that. Can you share exampes of what can be damaging to the environment whilst living self-sufficient?
Well, it depends on definitions I guess. Self-sufficient for me means, that you are able to produce or collect all or most of the things you need for a living yourself, maybe barter a bit with others. Now if you practice slash and burn, or chop forests down for agriculture or charcoal production you can be self-sufficient with that for the moment but in the long run it is not sustainable.
This way self-sufficiency does not necessarily always include sustainability.
Yes I'd agree with @likedeeler that I too feel sustainability is more important than self-sufficiency. We all have unique talents and I feel that it's better that we all work together to have a sustainable lifestyle and humanity overall than try and be self-sufficient.
I'd like to live in a sustainable property one day, but have no desire to build one, just not my talents! I support those who provide us organic, environmentally food and products but again have no desire to grow my own.
I love your dreams and desires and we need people who want to create sustainable housing for those of us who'd like to like in it but just aren't going to build our own!
Together we can create a better more sustainable world and humanity.