Earthship Enterprise

With a sense that structures have grown unstable, living in harmony with nature starts to seem less like a hippy fantasy, and more like a commonsensical thing to do. Enter the Earthships, the "self contained dwellings that will sail on the seas of tomorrow," that began in the Southwest, but are now being made globally. The creator is bio-architect Michael Reynolds, who during the late 60s explosive Pluto-Uranus conjunction in Virgo, made his home out of beer cans. Now, his Earthship Biotecture creates totally self-sufficient structures out of tires, glass and other waste you find in landfills. With Saturn returning to Virgo, he's part of that 60s generation innovators, of which some are now in the role of wise, white-haired teachers. The idea, as practical environmentalists, he says, is to "demonstrate change, fast."

In a video called Building Communities and the Phoenix Earthship, Reynolds says it's not a spiritual, moral, political issue, but one of logic. The idealism of the 60s is now grounded in realism, and an awareness that time is not on our side. Says Reynolds, "I'm kinda tired of the language of peace and love and all that...this is about living in a way that is congruent with the phenomenon of the planet." Along with Saturn in Virgo's lessons of rational thinking and flexibility, as Pluto moves into Capricorn at the end of this year, there's sure to be intensity (even more than now) about resources and structures. Pluto is a planet that pushes for the composting, recycling and re-use of waste. Taking refuse, the dregs, the detritus, and using it to build sustainable structures will surely build momentum.

While Reynolds is at the leading edge of a trend, more are thinking about basic survival needs and options in a Transition Culture. It's not easy, since laws and codes in place now, make it hard to live off the grid without having an unpleasant or costly run-in with the powerful, entrenched Man (dark side of Pluto in Cap), the status quo, the established ways of doing things. The story of Reynolds' wrestling with what he calls "code-enforcers with guns," is told in a new documentary called, Garbage Warrior. It shows the journey he took to Tsunami-destroyed India, where his ideas were welcomed with open arms by the newly homeless there.

The resistance he faces, is one of a consciousness back in the U.S. that accepts sprawl as the norm, but sometimes comes down hard on those swimming against the tide. Like Reynolds, who the Independent UK dubs a refuse-nik. He told the UK paper, "Imagine a home that heats itself, that provides its own water, and grows its own food. Imagine that it needs no expensive technology, it recycles its own waste, and it has its own power source. And now imagine that it can be built anywhere, by anyone, out of the things that society throws away." With the way things are going, more people might start to imagine, and seek, that kind of living situation.