Earthships

Weds 27th April
Earthships.
Motoring in towards the Rio Grande bridge and Taos the desert looked desolate, scrubby, parched but marked with odd hummocks....... bulges of scraped soil and a flash of reflected light close by the road. As I looked out the left window, more and more of these came into focus. Earthships! I’ve read about them and had pictures in a lecture about recycling waste tyres, and here they are. Made from used tyres, bottles and drinks cans embedded in rammed earth and adobe style walls, they’re fanciful, whimsical in form but seriously efficient in their off grid function. We stopped and looked round the open house information centre, itched to see the insides of the private homes but warned off by Private property signs. They clearly don’t wish to be another Taos Pueblo for tourists , but have much in common. Except the distances between many of the Earthships gave me a sense of isolation rather than close community though their online organisation seems very inclusive and open.