Nijun Xuan is a UCSB student who is an undeclared major. She enjoys traveling, taking photographs, and reading about natural and high technologies.
In today's world of changing climates and frequent diseases of all types, do individuals need to build a sustainable house to provide security in their lives? This page of notion discusses two facets of sustainability: Permaculture and Earthships. By researching these two independent but interconnected problems and merging them to build an eco-agriculture and eco-friendly home, people's living comfort and environmental sustainability have been significantly improved.
The ecological crisis is getting worse nowadays as the result of population growth and the change of people's habits of consumption. However, the emergence and revolution of Permaculture might change this situation, mainly by imitating natural ecosystems to develop a long-term human habitat, leading to a sustainable practice beneficial for the environment and society. In this essay, I will discuss deeply about what permaculture is and how its principles may be applied to different facets of life, and the problems that we may face in the future. Although the system aims to build societies that are sustainable, there are still some problems that need to be improved.
Bill Mollison is the man who invented the permaculture system. After researching ecosystems for decades in Australia's deserts and rainforests, Mollison finally created permaculture. Permaculture is not just a simple farming method, it is a comprehensive design concept that is the intersection of lots of areas, including gardening, architecture, horticulture, ecology, money management, and community design. According to the article "Permaculture: A Beginners Guide" by Graham Burnett. Permaculture is based on three primary principles: Earth care, People care, and Fair Share. Because the earth is the source of all things, the first ethic of permaculture is to care for and respect the world. Second, it is about interacting more with each other and thus to create a more sustainable society; last, it is about using the earth's limited resources in a more logical and organized way. The UK has 43 million acres of farmland, with one-third wasteland, one-third permanent grazing, and one-third arable. Large-scale permaculture approaches are intended to improve such wastelands . Consequently, achieved three three ethics of Permaculture.
The ecological design of permaculture is basically to mimic the natural ecosystem, aiming to create a sustainable and healthy system without any human intervention. To replicate a natural environmental system, people must not only look at where nature's energy comes from and ends up by gathering and comparing multiple sets of data, but also need to observe and analyze it from a more complex and holistic perspective, so the process of imitating natural ecosystems is an intriguing and complex thing. In the interview titled “Science and Permaculture with Susan Cousineau," Susan stated, " Whereas at first I had been thinking in ecosystems in terms of biological, nutrient, mineral and water cycles, now I consider them in the context of buildings and physical infrastructure, energy, social and financial systems as well. financial systems as well.” In addition to the normal components like wood, rain, and ore, an ecosystem must also take into account a wide range of additional [variables.As](<http://variables.as/>) a result, permaculture design is extremely complicated, requiring knowledge from numerous fields such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, all of these must be combined in order to simulate a more natural and realistic ecosystem.
Natural building strategies may contribute to an elastic ecology. natural building techniques usually use the earth material for construction. Permaculture improves biodiversity and provides more resources, allowing people to use more earth materials, such as wood and straw bales, which are accessible locally, low-cost, renewable, and easily recyclable. As a result, widespread adoption of permaculture may significantly help individuals in living in a low-cost, environmentally friendly home. Compared to industrial house building, the huge quantity of machines and pollution might be generated during the construction of houses, and it might produce water pollution and air pollution, also destroy the land structure and prevent people from developing and using these lands for many years. For this reason, we encourage the implementation of permaculture rather than the traditional agriculture in order to better preserve the land's structure, maximize its usage, and minimize its environmental impact.
When we are trying to set up an ecosystem, we must use a lot of mathematics knowledge and deal with numerical tasks, doing lots of experiments, analyzing the data, and making conclusions. It is obvious that science and research is the foundation for permaculture. However, traditional, and indigenous folk wisdom is also utilized. In an interview with the title "Permaculture: A Quiet Revolution — An Interview with Bill Mollison" By Scott London, the author writes: " if I go to an old Greek lady sitting in a vineyard and ask, 'Why have you planted roses among your grapes?' she will say to me, 'Because the rose is the doctor of the grape. If you don’t plant roses, the grapes get ill.' (Mollison). The combination of anecdotal wisdom and scientific evidence is the foundation for Permaculture, which aims to improve the sustainability of the environment by learning from and imitating natural ecosystems. Morrison's story demonstrates how ecological agriculture uses scientific evidence to support and explain ancient techniques while incorporating traditional knowledge, providing a more holistic approach for modern agriculture.
Traditional agricultural methods, particularly industrialized agriculture, can harm the ecological balance because they are costly, consume resources quickly, and cause water, soil, and air pollution, destroying biodiversity. However, Permaculture has the potential to address the large demands of people’s needs in both preserving agricultural and natural resources. Permaculture promotes planting a diverse range of species. Diverse biological species naturally lower the possibility of being killed by insects. As a result, people no longer need to use chemical reagents on plants to kill insects or engage in other artificial intervention activities. It enhances the protection of land resources and provides a more sustainable landscape. In practice, people have used permaculture to improve the land that was previously unable to cultivate. The original land in New Mexico was extremely rigid and lacking the water and nutrients. Traditional agriculture techniques cannot be applied in this place. However, the introduction of permaculture has changed the situation. Farmers utilize permaculture to enhance land structures and promote biodiversity, transforming the original land into beautiful gardens and orchards without the use of heavy machinery that pollutes the environment and harms the ecosystem.
Permaculture could not only protect the environment, but it also boosts the community's economy. Ecological development might attract more people who want to live in this area, and permaculture encourages people to build their homes using local earth materials, resources localization creates more job opportunities, and when more people are employed, the local economy will benefit significantly. According to the article "Permaculture: A Beginners Guide" by Graham Burnett: “The same pound spent with a local person making goods or providing services using local materials largely stays within the community to be continually reinvested to produce wealth for all.” Provide more jobs for local citizens by promoting local energy regeneration so that everyone in the community can trade with each other , which could not only improve community employment but also supports economic development inside the community and prevents money from flowing out of the community. In real life there are already areas that rely on permaculture for their economy. The original land in New Mexico, a large number of gardens and orchards are expanding by using permaculture, which produced jobs for many unskilled laborers. In addition to that, since planting trees did not require extensive training or certification, many elderly people relied on selling the fruit for a living, thus significantly enhancing the local economy.
Permaculture has numerous advantages, but it also has drawbacks. There is a large amount of land that needs to be managed, particularly in suburban areas, but the initial change requires a significant investment for changing the soil structure, gathering water equipment, and planting many plants, which not everyone can afford. On top of that, because we live in a fast-paced society, everyone will want to get returns as soon as possible. However, there is a long time that we must wait between implementing permaculture and profiting from it, so investors may be reluctant to invest. From the article “A critique of permaculture ideas again raises questions about the suburbs” , Russ Grayson stats “The popular model of the homesteader on their rural block is also of limited value in furthering permaculture because for most people it is unattainable on a cost basis as well as on the time and skills commitment of managing a homestead”, permaculture It requires a lot of time to manage, and improper or improper management will result in a decrease in land usage, which not only damages the land again but also lowers yields and creates ecological imbalances.
Overall, by imitating the natural environment to build a more resilient ecological system, permaculture makes a significant contribution to environmental conservation and sustainable future life. Although there are still many problems that need to be solved, the changes that permaculture has brought to our world are obvious , and I believe that with ecologist’s research and our advertising about permaculture, we can make our world more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Permaculture lays the foundation for sustainable living by establishing small, natural communities that imitate the natural environment, whereas Earthships improves on its utility by incorporating these concepts into the form of buildings. Permaculture and Earthships both aim to create self-sustaining, environmentally beneficial systems that rely less on external resources. Earthships creatively employs recycled materials and energy-efficient design to show how to incorporate sustainability into all aspects of living. Earthships' use of recyclable materials and energy-efficient design embodies permaculture's idea, demonstrating how sustainability can be integrated into all aspects of life. Building Earthships allows us to see how permaculture is integrated into the home, showing the adaptability and practicality of sustainable methods. As a result, the building becomes more sustainable and contributes to protecting the environment.
With the ever-changing environment and frequent occurrences of pandemics and catastrophes, have you thought about living in a self-sufficient home that does not rely on any external resources? Such homes actually exist in the world, which are called Earthships. According to the article “These homes are off-grid and climate resilient. They’re also built out of trash”written by Nick Aspinwall, “Earthships originated in Taos, where the dry climate maximized sunlight and extracted as much as possible from the area's eight inches of yearly rainfall”. Earthships are created to satisfy the need for a sustainable and self-sufficient living way. These unique homes are mostly made of recycled materials such as tires, bottles, and earth. Today, while many environmentally friendly housing options are available, Earthships stand out because they can operate completely off-grid. They create their own sustainable ecosystems without relying on external water and grid. The integration of permaculture principles with Earthship design significantly enhances both functionality and sustainability, utilizing recycled resources to create a green dream home for us. In this article, we will explore the architecture, construction techniques, benefits, and challenges of Earthships. By innovatively using materials and energy, Earthship architecture not only increases the home's sustainability but also boosts its ecological and functional efficacy. This approach integrates key principles of ecological agriculture, presenting a unique construction for future sustainable housing initiatives.
In order to promote sustainable living through the use of recycled materials and energy-efficient architecture, Earthship has several fundamental principles. The design philosophy of Earthships is to employ recycled materials and sustainable stuff to reduce the environmental effect. According to the video” This Earthship is the Ultimate Self-Sufficient Urban Home!” made by the account Living Big In A Tiny House, “Over 900 recycled car tires were used, serving as rubber-reinforced rammed earth bricks for the walls.” When building an Earthship, people usually use locally available and recyclable items such as tires and water bottles. Local sourcing significantly lowers air pollution caused by vehicle exhaust during the transportation process and using recycled materials to build the Earthship will eliminate industrial pollution caused by the recycling process and reproduction process of these materials, which could maximize resource efficiency and contribute to environmental protection. As a result, designing Earthships by using recyclable materials can make better use of local resources, reduce industrial pollution, and improve environmental sustainability.
Earthship construction methods are incorporated with the natural environment, decreasing reliance on traditional power and electrical grids. Earthships are north-facing and have double-glazed solar windows. The north-facing position of the house allows more sunlight to enter in the winter and it could also reduce the exposure of sunlight in the summer, optimizing the use of sunshine to keep the temperature cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Aside from the house special orientation that controls internal temperature of the house, Earthships also use walls, earth berms, and cooling tubes to control natural temperatures, the passive cooling system consists of cooling tubes that pull in external air and naturally cool or heat it as it passes through an earth berm. Earthships have a profound connection with nature while utilizing the earth's resources to enable sustainable, off-grid life. The Earthships in New Mexico have double-glazed, floor-to-ceiling solar windows. These windows are critical to keeping a suitable indoor climate throughout the year, without the need for traditional heating and cooling systems.
Earthship is built in an unusual way. Community involvement was critical in the construction of the Earthship, which was built by volunteers in the community. Unlike other traditional houses, which require a lot of professional workers to construct and may produce lots of industrial contamination when constructed, Earthship construction typically involves members from the local community in an environmentally friendly way. Nowadays, some Earthship workshops have been established to help people building the Earthships. For example, Amy designed an Earthship in South Australia, and over 40 volunteers participated in a community workshop to help her build the Earthship. In addition, the form of workshops also contributes to gathering the persons who are passionate about innovation integrated with environmental conservation, thus, to advertise about Earthship.
The unique layout and structure of an Earthship could enhance the sustainability of earthship. First, the orientation of an Earthship allows it to maintain a comfortable temperature throughout the year without the use of air conditioning, significantly reducing energy waste. Additionally, the Earthships have a unique water collection and recycling system. According to Aspinwall, "Each Earthship shares a set of core organs such as a water organization module, which filters and separates water as it moves throughout the house." Each Earthship house has two water tanks and its own septic system. Within the Earthship's water cycle system, water is first transit to human’s daily activities such as drinking, showering, and handwashing. After that, the remaining water then flows to indoor plants and aerial gardens, irrigating the plants cultivated within the Earthship. The resulting "gray water" is used to fertilize outdoor ornamental plants and can be discharged into the groundwater supply or used in the restroom, while "black water" is flushed into a septic tank. Compared to traditional houses, this comprehensive water recycling system reduces water waste and more effectively utilizes the limited water resources throughout the house, enhancing the building's sustainability.
The Earthships are designed to create a sustainable lifestyle, which is aligning with the principles of permaculture. Permaculture is an approach to create long-term human habitats by imitating natural ecosystems. When we are constructing an Earthship, integrating permaculture into the design enhances its self-sufficiency. Phil Basehart, a construction team leader, claims that "A typical Earthship can produce 25 to 50 percent of the food its residents need," illustrating the effectiveness of Earthships’ unique closed-loop systems in creating a small home farm. In an Earthship, a comprehensive water management system reduces reliance on external water sources, which contributes to resource efficiency. Permaculture encourages the cultivation of diverse plant species, and the adequate sunlight and favorable temperatures from the Earthship provide ideal conditions for the cultivation in the whole year. This not only satisfies the daily food needs of the inhabitants but also creates a more energy-efficient living environment and enhances biological diversity. Diverse species naturally decrease the risk of plant diseases and pest infestations, reducing the need for the chemical treatments and other human interventions. This approach could naturally enhance the sustainability of an Earthship, promoting a living environment that is both productive and harmonious with nature.
Although Earthship have many benefits and have a significant impact on environmental protection, we might still encounter many difficulties when we want to build an Earthship. First and foremost, although Earthship can help people save water and electricity bills to a great extent in the later stage, people might not afford to buy the Earthship. According to Aspinwall wrote in his article "Jewett's group paid $396,000 for their Earthship — more than the asking price of $379,000 — beating out two other bidders." Earthship's construction costs are very high, and quantities are limited. The bidding process also led to higher home prices, so people might not be able to buy the house. Secondly, the Earthship is hard to build. In order to increase the stability of the house, 400 pounds of soil need to be stuffed into the tires during construction. This is a complex and time-consuming process, so the construction process of the Earthship is not simple. In addition, policies in many places are not supportive. WordSmith, a translator from Tucson, wanted to build his own Earthship after he completed his studies, but the place where he lived did not grant people permission to build from waste and rubber. In general, Earthships should be widely employed is not a simple thing, it takes time and people’s promotion.
The unique circulation system and design of Earthship provide an answer to the changing climate and environment. The integration of permaculture and Earthship architecture enhances the house's sustainability and raises public awareness of environmental issues. While there are still many issues that need to be solved in the Earthship’s movement, I believe more people will pay attention to environmental preservation, support Earthship, and participate in sustainable living.
