Off-the-grid sustainability proposed for prototype First Nations home

Living conditions on many First Nations reserves and settlements are the focus of regular media attention. While problems are easily listed, practical solutions are harder to find. Earthship Biotecture of New Mexico, in collaboration with Biotecture Planet Earth, hopes to change that with a new home for a family currently living in a condemned trailer this summer between July 18^th and 31^st on the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, a First Nations Reservation in Southern Ontario,

A story so common to Canadian reserves; an aboriginal family living in squalid conditions
Fran Doxtador, known as ‘Flower’, is a grandmother who supports her entire family, consisting of her daughter, who is a single mother, and 4 grandchildren, aged 4, 8, 11 and 15. Their trailer home for the past several years  is riddled holes through to the outside, has virtually no insulation, a leaky roof and is infested by rodents.

Flower and her family have lived in this condemned trailer for several years

A new approach to a lingering problem
Michael Reynolds will lead the building of “Wood Simple Survival Earthship”, his latest design.  The low-concrete building is easy to replicate, and integrates all Earthship principles including comfortable shelter though thermal mass, rainwater catchment and

Michael Reynolds will lead the construction of a new home for Flower and family this July, to his latest ‘Wood Simple Survival Earthship’ design

storage, solar electricity, food production, building with recyclable and natural materials and a contained sewage treatment system.

Earthship Biotecture has been working on development of the Simple Survival concept and design for several years, and has developed a forty page set of construction drawings that have sold for $1,000 to people all over the world.  Using these drawings, Simple Survival Earthships have been built in Argentina, Germany, Philippines, USA, New Zealand, and the Simple Survival systems used in many other countries.

Sustainability through training and knowledge transfer
An important part of this project will be the knowledge transfer that the team will be providing to members of the Six Nations community who will be participating in the build. They will acquire the necessary skills to replicate the building for other families in the future.

Flower (right) and her family look forward to the prospect of better living conditions

What’s more, this project will be a workshop open to participants from all over the world wanting to learn how to build using Earthship techniques directly from Michael Reynolds and his experienced crew, while at the same time supporting Flower’s family and her project.

In fact, the project will be funded via this workshop. A participation fee of a minimum donation of US$1,000 goes directly towards the production and materials needed to make the project happen.

Only 48 spots are available and this project will count towards Earthship Academy certification.

The project also needs to raise an additional USD $20,000 for this project through donations.
For more information on how to support this project CLICK HERE

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