Sandra Burkholder and Chris Newton mix an adobe-like mixture to cover the 700 tires that constitute the Earthship’s interior walls. While some of the work of building is simple to do, it also tends to be very labour intensive.
bricks’ (discarded rubber tires) began six months prior. The tires have since, by family, friends and neighbours, been rammed with earth and stacked nine high to serve as walls. This spring 10,000 (7,000 still to be collected) pop and beer cans will be pressed into a form of cement for interior walls and covered with an adobe-like mud. The total cost of the Earthship, which will incorporate south-facing windows to capture seasonal sun, a grey water collection system, composting toilets and a greenhouse, is estimated at $60,000. While the family will hook up to the power grid at the onset, they do not anticipate their energy usage registering more than a blip. And here lies the rub. Despite building the most extreme of green homes, the Darfield couple refute the label of environmentalists living outside the mainstream. They instead see themselves as frugalists simply building upon thrifty principles. “When you talk about frugality it is kind of like a dirty 22 northof50.com
word,” says Sandra, a Barriere native, while speaking via Skype from the 600 sq. ft. home she has shared with husband and children for the past two years. “When people think frugal they think cheap and they really are two different things… When you don’t spend as much, when you don’t have to service debt, you have more money to spend on things that mean something to you.” “We all kind of picture ourselves as saving the world – going off on some mad environmental crusade,” says Chris. “But by not doing things, by being frugal, we are not using up resources. By not doing things we are actually accomplishing our goals.” Lindsay Coulter, the David Suzuki Foundation’s ‘Queen of Green,’ says it is people like Sandra and Chris that inspire and illustrate the power of the individual. “They show that you can begin with what you are passionate about and go from there.” “People inspire other people,” says Lindsay during a