Our newest recruit - Gaby Gryzb - writes about the ethicalfutures summer awayday.
One thing I’ve learnt in my time working in financial services is that the phrase “team building day” usually causes a schism in the team.
On one side you have those who love them –paintballing? Quad-biking? Commando stunts? Rappel over a 300 ft ravine anyone? Bring ‘em on!!! On the other side of the office, those who hate bruising, freezing, dislocated extremities and general damage to their bodily parts, tiptoe toward the holiday board and book themselves a two-week beach holiday around the fateful date –just to be sure, in case it gets moved forwards or backwards.
This being my first year at ethicalfutures, I was surprised not to sense a stir when the infamous day was announced. The details of the event put my mind at rest. Limbs insurance and an up-to-date will would not be required after all. Our annual meeting would be held at the Earthship in
What on earth is an Earthship?
In true form to our ethical profile public transport would be used where possible to attend the team meeting, so one fine July morning found part of the ethicalfutures team stepping off a Fife-bound train at the peaceful hamlet of Kinghorn. There we met Julian who gave us the final one mile push to the site.
We were welcomed to the premises by an assortment of geese, swans and ducks and a kind Welshman named Brian, who walked us around the site and explained how the building came into being and how each of its features works to create a self-sufficient building.
The term Earthship was coined by pioneer Michael Reynolds who first came up with the idea back in the 70s. An earthship is basically a self-sufficient home, to some degree buried in the earth.
The first few buildings of this kind were built in
I had a vague idea of what an ecohouse might look like, but I had never seen one actually built and functioning, and I must admit I was a bit sceptical about the building material of choice in relation to the weather in
In the case of the
The design of this particular building includes a series of self-sustaining features, such as a system to recycle grey water, which is used to water the plants that grow on its glass fronted entrance. This area acts as a sort of buffer, much as a greenhouse, which helps maintain an even temperature in winter and summer inside the building, without the need for central heating.
Black waters are also recycled by feeding plants from a greenhouse a bit further away from the house. The plants there were of magnificent size and there were no nasty smells whatsoever coming from the greenhouse.
The earthship is self-sufficient in terms of energy. Solar panels, a water mill and a windmill generate enough electricity to supply the whole building.
Rain water is also collected on the roof and filtered by a sophisticated system which purifies it to human consumption standards. It was at this point, that our guide and facilitator mentioned that by the way, the teas and coffees we were sipping did not contain a droplet of the drinking water produced by the Earthship. Instead, he had had to go up the road to fill up a bottle from a tap… Another round of rich teas, and Brian explained that the water filtered from the roof of the earthship has been independently tested and certified as fit for human consumption. However when the government reps inspected the premises –and here was when I pictured extras in the background quickly unrolling yards of red tape- they decided that, in order for visitors to be able to drink the water, this would have to be tested every three months, which would have cost the organisation a sum they cannot afford.
This concluded our visit and gave way to the team meeting. Business discussed and burning issues raised, the meeting came to a conclusion, and in the process no clay-pigeons were harmed.
We were then invited to take a walk around the area. Sustainable Communities Initiative, the charity that supports the Earthship also runs workshops for schools on subjects like waste minimisation and building structures from discarded materials.
It was good to see that day lots of kids and their teachers running around the grounds. In the current climate –this said very literally- a visit to this place is a commendable experience for anyone interested in making their lifestyle more sustainable. And I guess that if we are to mitigate and possibly survive climate change we need to start feeding these ideas to the ones who in a few years will be developing and using the technologies of the future.
We had quite managed to work an appetite when we run into a gentleman laden with a crateful of what turned out to be yummy lunch for a certain hungry team of finance people.
Links
Earthship
www.greenhomebuilding.com/earthship.htm
Paula Cowie www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/editors-choice/2008/01/13/ten-scots-who-can-save-the-world-78057-20283320/
Film “Garbage Warrior” www.garbagewarrior.com