sustainable building

Relief Eco Villages

The Earth Embassy teams are working on a set of business plans for relief villages. Combining our eco homes and organic farm developement, we are trying to amp up the schedule and funding asap now to get 2 locations going by late spring/early summer if possible.

1) Shojiko Reformed Village – to prepare 10-15 homes, with 5 small “cottage industry” shops (soap making, paper making, etc), and job training for new residents

1a) Gelato Farm – at Solar Cafe, to offer jobs and farm training for new Shojiko residents, and make a small fruit & herb farm business incubator

2) Mini Farm Home Village – mix of shipping container base / vinyl greenhouse / recycled materials. Plan is to build 30 to start, centered around a farm/education center. Hopefully locate first one in Tsunami afflicted areas, but be able to offer to other rural communities willing to develop a village to take refugee families.

3) Farm/Cottage Industry Education Team – to establish, manage and train new staff for each location. In addition to the small businesses we can set up oursleves to start, we want to send out consultants, community builders, branding experts etc to work with new residents, help identify local talent and specialties, and empower residents to re-establish their lives/careers.

Our most immediate need for funding is to get one demo Mini Farm Home built asap, so we can have one ready to show as we approach other big investors/partners to work together to get a proper village of these going. Costs will come down as we ramp up production and gather companies willing to donate materials, containers etc. For the first prototype we need about 3M jpy to get built quick, and produce some promo materials, catalog, etc.

Anyone willing to help with these projects should contact us at info@earthembassy.org
We are fielding a lot of mail, so please indicate your interest in the subject line.

sustainable building

EARTHSHIP GREENHOUSE, The Foundation is in!!!

With a lot of great help from interns and students, we have the foundation in and the rainwater and fish tanks ready to be filled.
Tyler helped cutting grass, Natchan drove the tractor (!!!) and Rob and Alex did all the heavy tire packing.
the barrels will collect rain water for plants and also to fill the fish pond and fish tank installed on the East end.

The in-ground foundation will help mediate temperature, as well as the tires and water tanks providing thermal mass, so that we will be able to do hydro-ponics and aquaponics year round, and not freeze our fish in the winter. Hoping to get the roof on before the snow flies!

sustainable building

Eco-Greenhouse & Earthships Building Workshop

This summer we will build a passive solar Earth Ship greenhouse that can be used as a living space or for growing plants year round.

Earth Ships are built largely with recycled materials, most of which are easily available and free for the asking. Used, steel-belted automobile tires, packed solid with earth, become giant 400- pound bricks that create sound-proof, fire and earthquake resistant, fortress- like walls.

Once built, Earth Ships collect rain water from potable roofing material into water storage tanks that provide an abundant source of water, even in areas with minimal rainfall.

Dates: July 28 to August 1, 2010 (tentative)
Cost: ¥ 48,000 (weekend only: ¥20,000)
Location: The Earth Embassy Solar Café and Farm, on the foot of Mt. Fuji.
Contact: info@earthembassy.org

The Experience Includes:
• Classroom overview of Earth Ship building and its environmental advantages. Discussion in English with Japanese support.
• Hands on experience building an Earth Ship. We will line a 4m x 8m hole with earth-packed tires and build a roof and south-facing wall designed to function as a passive solar greenhouse.
• Farm tour and organic farming activities.
• Hike to nearby Ice caves.
• Three home-cooked meals a day prepared with locally grown organic foods.
• Lodging in the Earth Embassy Guest House.

sustainable building

The Solar Shower is heating up!

The solar shower at the Solar Cafe & Guest House catches rainwater from our roof, which is stored in 3 (200litre) tanks in an insulated box which heats up in the sunlight. The building itself was done with recycled floor boards from the Shojiko High Village house second floor. The boards are over 150 years old, with the original ax marks still showing where they were hand hewn long before advent of power saws, and the natural coating of creosote was layered on over years of smoke from the fireplace, and are thus the wood is naturally water resistant and will last for another 150 years. THAT’S sustainability baby!