Earthship Existentialism: More Than Just a Home
We all long to feel a part of something. I feel the lack of connection with our fellow man causes us all to search for a link so that we don't have to feel so alone in this life. This innate, primal urge causes all of us to latch onto some group somewhere or less struggle with ill effects. This connection used to be readily available and survival-based as we needed our neighbors and family members to make it in this world. We forged connections with the guy down the road because he supplied our family with something essential in exchange for our goods and services. We didn't cast our aging family members to live out the rest of their days in a rest home because we needed the knowledge they had to hand down and were indispensable members to our families. These connections were what kept us alive. So it's not surprising that people in our era use more superficial ties such as sports, television shows, political affiliations, food, spirits, etc. to forge connections with others as all of our needs can now be met by big corporations wielding machines that can be operated by a computer. We go to work, get paid by our employer and then pay big corporations to supply us with our food, clothing, housing and utilities. Very few of us actually have forged a direct link to our needs. And despite all the technological advancements allowing us to connect with anyone at the touch of a button, we are more disconnected from one another than ever before in history because we don't technically need one another for survival anymore.
It is my belief that in all humans resides a need for community as well as a direct connection to our earth. Due to the technological advancements and our subsequent change in mindset, we are more disconnected from our fellow man and from our earth than ever before. These needs don't just go away though and so we each work to fill the voids in our own modern ways. In place of forging relationships contributing to our survival, we spend countless hours on social networking sites, engage in surface level conversations in passing with work colleagues, and text back and forth endlessly; avoiding eye contact with real live people breathing the same air as us in place of a device made of plastic and metal. If someone sits down in a seat next to us in a waiting room when there are a plethora of other seats available, it is seen as awkward or as an affront in some way. We value our personal space as a culture and view ourselves as separate from everyone else; working hard to secure our own material things in order to prove our worth.
This is probably the time I should jump down from the soap box for a second and state I am not holier than thou and I struggle with these same issues. I work each and every day to make more mindful choices truly connecting me with members of my community and the earth. In addition to thinking that I'm pompous, you may also be questioning why I'm talking about existential issues on a blog about building an earthship. What Zac and I didn't realize when we started on this journey was how many cans of worms would be opened up for us throughout this process and how many untouched areas of our brains would be called into action as a result.
Building an earthship home ourselves has caused us to see the world in a very different light. It is much easier now to see how connected everything in our world is and how neglecting one area can negatively impact all the others. I realize I'm being vague so here is a (long-winded) example: By supporting larger than life, pesticide and GMO wielding agriculture giants, we are stripping many areas of the earth of life giving soil, are forever changing the genetic makeup of plants, animals and insects that come in contact with GMO grown crops which in turn could very likely be changing our genetic makeup and causing serious life-threatening health issues. Continuing these practices continues to eat away at our planet and make farming that same piece of land harder and harder each year; causing more and more technologically based modifications to be made so that crops (they don't deserve to be called food crops) can continue to be grown there each year.
And what feeds this broken system you ask? Our disconnect with where our food comes from. We can stroll into a grocery store and pick up any ingredient under the sun without knowing its story. We don't have to think anymore. And yet, when we stop asking questions, we lose basic freedoms. When we start asking the hard questions and look under the surface to see how our food is produced, we might be more motivated to begin growing more of our own and in doing so, working to repair the damage that has been done to our earth by building up healthy soil once more.
I firmly believe this disconnect with where our food comes from and thus from our earth, directly correlates to our disconnect from our fellow man. As I stated before, we don't need one another for survival anymore. We aren't self-reliant and look to large corporations to keep us afloat which keeps us disconnected from other humans and from the earth. In searching for some type of meaningful connection, we spend countless hours devoted to various forms of entertainment searching for meaning and a sense of community in our world. If Americans spent even a quarter of the time they spend in front of the television watching reality television shows and sports instead gardening or learning basic skills to repair household items, we may begin to have more respect for what it takes to grow food and/or produce the household items that many of us view as disposable. Again, just so I don't appear holier than thou, I'm guilty of having a weakness for reality television shows and we did away cable so it wasn't as much of a temptation anymore. Since then, I have found myself spending so much more time reading, gardening, crafting and thinking and feeling much more fulfilled. (Note: That's not to say we don't watch TV. We share a Netflix subscription with family and more selectively watch shows or movies. I believe the difference is that I'm choosing exactly what I want to watch and don't feel locked into anything in particular. Additionally, I don't have commercials to contend with... win!)
Each day, I find myself checking in to ensure I'm pleased with how I'm spending my day. Prior to making our lifestyle switch, we were still operating as cogs in a much larger system. Zac worked a 40+ hour work week, came home to take care of Elliot while I worked part-time in the evenings. In our "free time" we caught up on shows backed up on our DVR because that long list of recorded shows begins to feel like a to-do list. We mowed the lawn, weeded the garden beds, went grocery shopping for food though we didn't always buy real food. When you are caught up in the system, you find that you have very little time to prepare real meals. It took a lot of effort on my part to do so with everything we had going on so several nights a week, we would either go out to eat or I would whip out a box of this or a can of that so that we could have a quickly prepared meal. I relied on going to the gym for exercise because real work or labor wasn't built into my daily life. All of these things cost money and all of them ensure that we remain reliant on large corporations.
Taking a step back in time before big box stores and food chains existed, the family unit was intact day in and day out. Each household was self-sufficient and was able to secure everything they needed for their own survival. This was a much healthier lifestyle as it had all of the vital components to a healthy lifestyle built into it. The life-sustaining necessities also served as hobbies and pastimes; many of which were physical in nature and also provided a built-in means of exercise. There were no gym memberships then and there was no need for them! People didn't need to go to work everyday to earn money to support their families, they skipped the middle men entirely and work was actually producing their own food, making their own clothing, building their own homes from materials they secured themselves.
In our age, we now have a choice people hundreds of years ago didn't. We have scientific research to further support healthier overall lifestyles, we can use the Internet as a means of connecting ourselves to a larger community of like-minded individuals and can access a wealth of information at our fingertips. We can choose to use modern advancements to further find freedom, or they can be used to keep us locked into an unhealthy, detached lifestyle. We can choose to continue to be a cog in a broken system or we can break free and begin making more sustainable choices for our families that connect us not only to other people but to the earth. Granted, it takes time to make these changes and not everyone has the resources available to make a drastic switch all at once, but everyone is capable of making small changes that add up over time and everyone has the ability to educate themselves.
It isn't all rainbows and sunshine though in having made the commitment to build an earthship home and live a more sustainable life. Zac still has his 40+ hour work week and I'm at home with our two sons each day. When he gets home from work at 4:00 PM, he works until 10:00 PM every night on our home or on something pertaining to our home. I take on all the household duties and taking care of our sons. Even though on the outside, it may appear our family is more divided than before and that we are running ourselves ragged, we are working as cogs within our own small family system. We have broken free of the larger system and everything we do is with the same end goal in mind. When Zac comes in after the sun has gone down, we sit and chat about our day before we head to bed. Nearly every night, despite how trying our days may have been, we find ourselves saying "what an awesome life we have!" We have never felt more united as a family and feel this way because everything we do serves our larger family goal of becoming more self-sufficient. This goal is now tangible and we are seeing the benefits of cutting out the middle men to secure our own happiness. I have to say that having worked toward the typical American Dream and now working toward a more sustainable future, the grass is much greener on this side and we have never felt more fulfilled.
It is my belief that in all humans resides a need for community as well as a direct connection to our earth. Due to the technological advancements and our subsequent change in mindset, we are more disconnected from our fellow man and from our earth than ever before. These needs don't just go away though and so we each work to fill the voids in our own modern ways. In place of forging relationships contributing to our survival, we spend countless hours on social networking sites, engage in surface level conversations in passing with work colleagues, and text back and forth endlessly; avoiding eye contact with real live people breathing the same air as us in place of a device made of plastic and metal. If someone sits down in a seat next to us in a waiting room when there are a plethora of other seats available, it is seen as awkward or as an affront in some way. We value our personal space as a culture and view ourselves as separate from everyone else; working hard to secure our own material things in order to prove our worth.
This is probably the time I should jump down from the soap box for a second and state I am not holier than thou and I struggle with these same issues. I work each and every day to make more mindful choices truly connecting me with members of my community and the earth. In addition to thinking that I'm pompous, you may also be questioning why I'm talking about existential issues on a blog about building an earthship. What Zac and I didn't realize when we started on this journey was how many cans of worms would be opened up for us throughout this process and how many untouched areas of our brains would be called into action as a result.
Building an earthship home ourselves has caused us to see the world in a very different light. It is much easier now to see how connected everything in our world is and how neglecting one area can negatively impact all the others. I realize I'm being vague so here is a (long-winded) example: By supporting larger than life, pesticide and GMO wielding agriculture giants, we are stripping many areas of the earth of life giving soil, are forever changing the genetic makeup of plants, animals and insects that come in contact with GMO grown crops which in turn could very likely be changing our genetic makeup and causing serious life-threatening health issues. Continuing these practices continues to eat away at our planet and make farming that same piece of land harder and harder each year; causing more and more technologically based modifications to be made so that crops (they don't deserve to be called food crops) can continue to be grown there each year.
And what feeds this broken system you ask? Our disconnect with where our food comes from. We can stroll into a grocery store and pick up any ingredient under the sun without knowing its story. We don't have to think anymore. And yet, when we stop asking questions, we lose basic freedoms. When we start asking the hard questions and look under the surface to see how our food is produced, we might be more motivated to begin growing more of our own and in doing so, working to repair the damage that has been done to our earth by building up healthy soil once more.
I firmly believe this disconnect with where our food comes from and thus from our earth, directly correlates to our disconnect from our fellow man. As I stated before, we don't need one another for survival anymore. We aren't self-reliant and look to large corporations to keep us afloat which keeps us disconnected from other humans and from the earth. In searching for some type of meaningful connection, we spend countless hours devoted to various forms of entertainment searching for meaning and a sense of community in our world. If Americans spent even a quarter of the time they spend in front of the television watching reality television shows and sports instead gardening or learning basic skills to repair household items, we may begin to have more respect for what it takes to grow food and/or produce the household items that many of us view as disposable. Again, just so I don't appear holier than thou, I'm guilty of having a weakness for reality television shows and we did away cable so it wasn't as much of a temptation anymore. Since then, I have found myself spending so much more time reading, gardening, crafting and thinking and feeling much more fulfilled. (Note: That's not to say we don't watch TV. We share a Netflix subscription with family and more selectively watch shows or movies. I believe the difference is that I'm choosing exactly what I want to watch and don't feel locked into anything in particular. Additionally, I don't have commercials to contend with... win!)
Each day, I find myself checking in to ensure I'm pleased with how I'm spending my day. Prior to making our lifestyle switch, we were still operating as cogs in a much larger system. Zac worked a 40+ hour work week, came home to take care of Elliot while I worked part-time in the evenings. In our "free time" we caught up on shows backed up on our DVR because that long list of recorded shows begins to feel like a to-do list. We mowed the lawn, weeded the garden beds, went grocery shopping for food though we didn't always buy real food. When you are caught up in the system, you find that you have very little time to prepare real meals. It took a lot of effort on my part to do so with everything we had going on so several nights a week, we would either go out to eat or I would whip out a box of this or a can of that so that we could have a quickly prepared meal. I relied on going to the gym for exercise because real work or labor wasn't built into my daily life. All of these things cost money and all of them ensure that we remain reliant on large corporations.
Taking a step back in time before big box stores and food chains existed, the family unit was intact day in and day out. Each household was self-sufficient and was able to secure everything they needed for their own survival. This was a much healthier lifestyle as it had all of the vital components to a healthy lifestyle built into it. The life-sustaining necessities also served as hobbies and pastimes; many of which were physical in nature and also provided a built-in means of exercise. There were no gym memberships then and there was no need for them! People didn't need to go to work everyday to earn money to support their families, they skipped the middle men entirely and work was actually producing their own food, making their own clothing, building their own homes from materials they secured themselves.
In our age, we now have a choice people hundreds of years ago didn't. We have scientific research to further support healthier overall lifestyles, we can use the Internet as a means of connecting ourselves to a larger community of like-minded individuals and can access a wealth of information at our fingertips. We can choose to use modern advancements to further find freedom, or they can be used to keep us locked into an unhealthy, detached lifestyle. We can choose to continue to be a cog in a broken system or we can break free and begin making more sustainable choices for our families that connect us not only to other people but to the earth. Granted, it takes time to make these changes and not everyone has the resources available to make a drastic switch all at once, but everyone is capable of making small changes that add up over time and everyone has the ability to educate themselves.
It isn't all rainbows and sunshine though in having made the commitment to build an earthship home and live a more sustainable life. Zac still has his 40+ hour work week and I'm at home with our two sons each day. When he gets home from work at 4:00 PM, he works until 10:00 PM every night on our home or on something pertaining to our home. I take on all the household duties and taking care of our sons. Even though on the outside, it may appear our family is more divided than before and that we are running ourselves ragged, we are working as cogs within our own small family system. We have broken free of the larger system and everything we do is with the same end goal in mind. When Zac comes in after the sun has gone down, we sit and chat about our day before we head to bed. Nearly every night, despite how trying our days may have been, we find ourselves saying "what an awesome life we have!" We have never felt more united as a family and feel this way because everything we do serves our larger family goal of becoming more self-sufficient. This goal is now tangible and we are seeing the benefits of cutting out the middle men to secure our own happiness. I have to say that having worked toward the typical American Dream and now working toward a more sustainable future, the grass is much greener on this side and we have never felt more fulfilled.
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