Movie Review: "Garbage Warrior" and Experimental Architect, Michael Reynolds
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada 
on 07. 5.08
Design is evolving, but according to “Garbage Warrior” (2008), a timely documentary on unconventional architect Michael Reynolds and his so-called “earthships”, it’s not evolving fast enough. Partly, it’s because the “powers that be” are afraid of making mistakes, of learning how to live sustainably through trial and error. But can Reynolds’ thirty-year long approach to self-sustaining building – which involves using discarded tires, plastic bottles, old beer cans, rammed earth, rain-harvesting, solar power and on-site food production – be a feasible solution to the slow development of green building in North America?
As director Oliver Hodge shows, the proof is in the pudding: by following Reynolds around (the film itself was three years in the making), we can see that Reynolds’ vision of self-sufficient, off-grid living has been potently realized in the distinctive and eloquent “earthships” nestled in the harsh landscape just outside of Taos, New Mexico.
As specimens of an experimental design process, the earthships certainly stand in sharp contrast to what conventional housing and architecture stand for today, as these houses can literally “take care of themselves.” Completely off-grid, the houses provide food from integrated greenhouses, water from the roofs, greywater recycling, electricity from windmills and solar panels and passive solar methods of heating and cooling – an impressive feat of design that ultimately reconnects their inhabitants with the cycles and providence of nature.
Even more inspiring is the fact that the unique houses are built by and inhabited by individuals just as visionary and determined as Reynolds to push the boundaries of living and building sustainably. The families who initially came to build houses for themselves eventually formed the Greater World Community in 1990, which is now a legal subdivision – but only after Reynolds and the families navigated several years of legal obstacles set up by a short-sighted local bureaucracy.
Later, the politicking takes on hairy proportions when Reynolds attempts to garner support for his statewide bill proposing more citizen freedom in testing alternative building methods. Here, the film gives a sense of how painfully slow and convoluted the American legislative process can be, and how the political game hides a fear that drives the persistent denial of climate change, despite all evidence to the contrary.
Though Reynold’s forthright manner and clear distaste for bureaucratic “horsesh*t” may not endear him to some, his sense of urgency and tenacity still elicits admiration. Ultimately, the film proves that a more harmonious way of living and building is already out there – and very, very possible.
::Garbage Warrior website (see the trailer here)
Related Links on Earthships and "Biotechture"
Earthships: Self-Sustaining Homes
The Dirt on Rammed Earth
Sorry, Out of Gas--Visited
Earthship.net
Images: Earthship Kirsten, camerashymomma and Lynnola on flickr
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These are really cool. I'd live in one.
Of course, while I admire off-grid living because it allows you to k now exactly where your power and water are coming from, so you can make sure they are sustainable, I would always want grid connections available, in case of emergency. If you never need them, no harm done.
im very glad to see that various eco-websites are starting to review this film. it was very encouraging to get the DVD itself, and i've tried to show it to as many people as possible. all of them have rated it as one of the best documentaries they've seen.. compared to some snore-fests (like documentaries about Viktor Schauberger, or documentaries about Nikola Tesla, or R. Buckminster Fuller). this is definitely worth grabbing, and i hope Oliver Hodge will soon be releasing the followup (im under the impression that there will be one). it'd be nice if the DVD bonus extras on Garbagewarrior would feature the good old Earthships 101 15-minute vid which shows the water filtration systems and the energy-pods.. but i guess one can't have it all.
anyway, good on you for reviewing it, maybe more people will become aware of this, and maybe people will start showing THIS to people instead of the "zeitgeist" "an inconvenient truth" "11th hour". and, it is STILL imperative for the New Orleans Earthship project to get funded, so that the earthship crew can go to New Orleans, build an earthship there, tutor and lecture to the officials over there on building them for 18 months, and then donate the earthship to a Katrina survivor family. for 280,000USD, it really doesnt seem like such a big amount of money, considering there are celebrities consistently sending money to africa for rice (not badmouthing food-sending!! but isn't the U.S. in trouble too? especially New Orleans?)
yours, Esa Juhani Ruoho
I've seen the movie. The man's tenacity is admirable.
BUT, the problem here is what EVIL developers would do if building code was lax enough to let people do whatever the hell they want in the name of "sustainability." Let's not go starting a war with state governments just because they don't readily embrace self-proclaimed progressive genius.
Garbage Warrior is pretty cool but people blazing trails like that just need to warm up more to some compassionate bureaucrats.
Excellent documentary. It can be purchased off of iTunes for $1.99
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTVSeason?i=277034895&id=268732005&s=143441
I thought this Doco was alright. it was interesting and is definately worth seeing.
But I woudl have liked to geta better appreciation of the methods they actually implemented.
The Beaurocracy problems are quite an issue. as on the one hand yes you do need some standards and building codes to protect peopel from unscrupulous builders but on the other had that does close off a lot of potential development in the industry.
Nadir-
I would agree with you except that you so often encounter regulators who do not feel obligated to listen to you about anything that isn't already in the code. For instance, try to put in a composting toilet, technology that has been commercialized and tested in Scandinavian countries for 50 years, and see how far you get.