Mykal and Nico at Earthship Biotecture

Tomorrow we will depart for Mexico and Guatemala!
We have done a succesful on-line campaign and raised more than 4,000 dollars! With this money we will build a water management system for a earthship style sustainable home in Guatemala!
We’ll keep you updated on how we’re doing, also through our Facebook page!

by Nico

Since the beginning of October, Mykal and I are doing an internship at Earthship Biotecture in Taos, New Mexico USA and building sustainable, ‘off-the-grid’ homes using natural, locally sourced, conventional and recycled materials.
Earthship Biotecture specializes in ‘off-the-grid’ homes and sustainable living and design with an unique approach to building by harnessing the forces of nature to address our everyday living needs in a low impact way.

During our time working on earthships we have grown more interested in the water management system of these houses which is incredible; rainwater is collected on the roof for all users of the house including drinking water, bathroom water, and even water for an indoor, southern-facing greenhouse which grows its own food!

If you have time, please read on about the project we are trying to raise awareness and funds for;

Earthship Biotecture also has a non-profit division which works in conjunction with other non-profit organizations around the world to help build homes for those who lack sufficient housing or those have lost their homes in natural disasters.

Via donations, Earthship Biotecture has built homes for citizens of Haiti and India after both their devastating disasters.

Earthship Biotecture has a very special relationship with the Guatemalan organization, The LONG WAY HOME, to provide a school and homes for families where 67% of the population lives on less than $2USD a day.

Recently we were asked if we would like to help raise money for a home for a family in Guatemala via donations and travel to Guatemala to help built the actual home with a simple yet ingenious water management system!
YES let’s do this!
So we have teamed up with Keti and Justin to raise the necessary funds to build a home for a Guatemalan family in need.
The building will be built by a team of international volunteers and local Guatemalan people in a workshop setting, so this is an educational project for both the international volunteers local Guatemalan people involved!

We estimate the entire house building project to cost around $55,000.
All we are asking for in our campaign is the cost of the water management system, which we estimate to be around $4000.

An estimated break up of the costs are as follows:
Sediment Filters $100
OGWM Pipes and fitting $150
2 x 1,700 gallon tank $2,200
Tank fittings and pipe $150
Cement for planters $200
Roofing materials $1200
Estimated Total Material Costs: $4,000

The installation of the water management system and the built of the earthship will be done entirely by people working on a voluntary base, so there are no costs involved related to salaries being paid for this project.

We are asking for donations to this amazing project and have setup an on-line fundraising campaign at:

http://www.indiegogo.com/usingwaterwisely

We have until December 1st to raise $4,000USD! Since November 1st the campaign is on line, and we have raised $1,645 in 10 days!
We would love YOUR support!!!

When you donate money to this project, you receive something back from us for showing your support!
‘Rewards’ are for example a t-shirt, e-booklet and postcard from Guatemala.

You can’t donate money?

No worries! Even if you are not able donate money, don’t think there is nothing you can do to support this project! An invaluable contribution is to spread the word!

You can help us tremendously by spreading information about this project and fundraising campaign in your network!

Please share about this project and campaign by liking our Facebook page and forwarding this e-mail in your network!

Thank you for reading all this!

Links
*fundraising campaign:
http://www.indiegogo.com/usingwaterwisely
*facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BottleBuildingsAndBambooBicyclesInGuatemala
*twitter:
https://twitter.com/BottlesnBicycle
*Earthship Biotecture:
http://earthship.com/guatemala
*partner NGO in Guatemala:
http://longwayhomeinc.org/
*Documentary on Earthship Biotecture founder Michael Reynolds named Garbage Warrior:

“Sundance winner, ‘Garbage Warrior’ is a feature-length documentary film telling the epic story of maverick US architect Michael Reynolds and his fight to introduce radically sustainable housing. An extraordinary tale of triumph over bureaucracy, Garbage Warrior is above all an intimate portrait of an extraordinary individual and his dream of changing the world.” – Courtesy of imdb.comThe film by Earthship Biotecture’s projectmanager Phil Baseheart on the last Guattemala built and the 2013 building project: