Michael Reynolds was the focus of the award-winning film ‘Garbage Warrior’ – a documentary about his 40 year struggle to build sustainable houses.

The Environment Show recently interviewed Reynolds as part of our new series on environment leaders. That interview is coming up soon. In the meantime we’ve found this 1 minute video* to give you an introduction to the man.

Plus we found so many great Reynolds quotes in our research, we thought we’d compile them for good keeping. (We couldn’t bear to let them get away.)

Mike Reynolds has been described as a radical and a maverick. He was a qualified architect until he was – in his own words – “defrocked”. He now calls himself a ‘biotech’. And instead of houses he describes his buildings as ‘Earthships’ – which refers to the fact they’re designed for self-sufficiency.

Here’s some classic quotes from one of the world’s most innovative green building designers …

How do-able is sustainable housing:

People can live in carbon zero homes right now. The technology is here. Allowing it to happen is the problem. Our rules and regulations won’t let us do it.

On rules and regulations:

The way we’ve been living is over. And that means our rules and our regulations are over.

Our rules and regulations are about things that aren’t pertinent any more – stick frame houses that you pump heat into, endless of amounts of energy and water – wasteful methods of living. Those days are over due to climate change, population explosion and dwindling resources. If you project them into the future we’ve got a problem.

His response to getting busted for breaking the rules:

I was twisting the law to get sustainable housing out there folks.

How he started designing green buildings:

It’s not like a light bulb went on and I thought: ‘I’m going to make sustainable housing’. It happened little by little as a result of responding to the news (of environmental issues.) I stumbled into this as a result of responding.

When I first started doing it, people thought I was crazy. When I told an engineer I was building a house out of beer cans, he told me I was a disgrace to the architectural profession.

Why he’s doing what he’s doing:

If humanity takes the planet down the tubes, I’m dead. I’m trying to save my ass. And that is a powerful force.

How to bring about behaviour change:

It’s clear to see that people are in a lot of stress themselves due to the way they live. And they’re imposing that stress on other people and the planet. If we are able to remove the stress from people in terms of how they live and what they have to give of themselves to exist and what they have to take from the planet to exist – if we’re able to eliminate a lot of that stress, the world’s going to be a better place. I think if you simply remove stress then people will be much better.

Where his work fits in:

I see my work as an exploration of how to remove stress. That’s not necessarily architecture.

On architecture:

Whether it’s beautiful or not, if it doesn’t take care of itself and the people in it, it’s as bad as a sinking ship – which is what most of it is.

On the need for sustainable housing:

This is not a moral issue, it’s not a spiritual issue, it’s not a political issue, it is a logical issue.

On the potential for green building:

If every building was to consume it’s own sewerage that’d be huge. Then if every building made it’s own power, and heated and cooled itself, and caught its own water rather then sucking water out of the aquifers – the ramifications of how people live in their own units could effect things in an unbelievable way. Ultimately it would effect the minds and hearts of people.

On population:

You’re here and there’s 6 billion of you here – you’ve got to apply some logic to how much longer this ball can support more people.

On cities:

Cities are dangerous places of chaos that can’t support themselves any longer.

On human potential:

We have the potential to enhance the planet. Trees enhance the planet. People could go further. We could make the Earth sing.

If you took stress out of people’s lives and made them happy in terms of the way they live – if you made it easy for them to be at peace on this planet – they would bloom. And I think humanity could go to a whole different level.

On creativity:

Inspiration, imagination and intuition are squashed in our world. But if you can go there, and stay there, you’ll have a lot more energy.

His approach to work:

This is all I do – my job, my recreation, my physical, my spiritual, my financial.

On hard work:

It is physical (making bricks from tyres.) What would I rather do though? Go lift weights staring at a TV or beat dirt into tyres and make a building.

On power and water utilities:

Centralised utilities lock us into a 50 year increment of evolution. That’s not fast enough given the growth in population and change in the planet. Centralised utilities should be a thing of the past.

On education:

We should really learn about the Earth (the physics and biology of it) so we can can work with it – to make sure we can live here without destroying it.

On taking action:

It’s almost like a disaster has to happen to cause the world to start preparing.

On tyres (why he uses them in his buildings):

Talk about indigenous. Everybody all over the world has tyres.

There are more automobile tyres than trees on the planet now.

That’s a natural resource. If you came here from another planet, you would think this planet produces these things.

Why he moved from Cincinnati to the New Mexico desert:

There was so much more of the planet to see without the effects of people.

On bureaucracies:

There’s just a ridiculous amount of energy spent to get the tiniest thing done.

I learned a long time ago … tell ‘em what they want to hear.

The state of the planet:

I think it’s in bad shape. From the skies to the waters, to the happiness of people, the haves and the have-nots. There’s so many places on the planet that are trashed beyond repair. The oil spills, the junk, the sewerage, the radioactivity. It just keeps growing.

Why we’re stuck in old ways:

It’s like the gravity of the Earth. There’s a gravity of human nature that makes it hard to think in any other way than the way that’s here.

What we need to do in the future:

We have a tremendous amount to learn and unlearn. Unlearning the dogma that’s part of everybody’s belief system.

Leading by example:

I like to demonstrate that it’s easier and more logical, and a more soothing way to live.

If you walk the talk, you don’t have to talk that much.

* Video courtesy of Planet Green on the Discovery Channel.

Audio:
Have a listen to our Christmas lights podcast. In it we hear from people with ‘over-the-top’ Christmas lights on their houses to find out why they’ve done it.

It seems pretty obvious the root of our environmental problems comes back to one key thing – consumption. And there’s one time of year when it really hits you in the face – Christmas.

Mostly I’ve stayed clear of the shopping centres myself, but one thing you can’t avoid is Christmas lights. Every year there seem to be more houses getting into it. And every year they seem to be more over-the-top.

It got me thinking – how does this stack up against Earth Hour? If Earth Hour is meant to be a symbol people do care about the planet – by switching their lights off for an hour, what does that make the whole month of December? A time when not only do people festoon their houses with Christmas lights, consumption is well and truly king.

Television:
The film clip in our podcast is from the documentary ‘Christmas Lights’. It premiers Wednesday 24 2008, 8.05pm on ABC2 and Thursday 25 December 2008, 10.05pm on ABC1.

Video:
Click this link for more over-the-top Christmas lights video – this house is brilliantly synchronised to music. But wait there’s more … ‘OTT’ video. (This house got the same idea.)

And don’t forget not long til the official Energy Wasting Day! (1st April.)

More photos and where to see more Christmas lights:
Click these links for more photos and locations of houses with over-the-top lights in Sydney – from our learned colleagues at The Telegraph and 2GB.

Archie and my big Christmas lights adventure was to Matraville. The shot below is a house complete with Sydney landmarks in Franklin Street. Nearby Barwon Cresent is a mind explosion (for kids) of lights on every house. You should also check out – Hodge Street, Hurstville.

I’m sure there’s plenty more near you.

Merry global warmed Christmas.

Snow is looking increasingly unlikely for Sydney.

This last photo and the first (feature) photo courtesy of Screen Australia.

The number of ’sustainable houses’ is growing worldwide. And if you’re interested in making your place more sustainable, the best way to get going is to see one in action.

But where are they? This weekend is Sustainable House Day (which in fact runs Saturday and Sunday) when some of Australia’s best sustainable houses will be open to the public.

Audio: Interview with Judy Celmins from Sustainable House Day.

Sustainable houses cleverly manage energy, water and waste. Some drawing no electricity from the grid, no water from the mains and generating next to no waste.

There’s not many around. But they’re certainly growing. There’s probably even one near you. So go and check them out.

Links: The Sustainable House Day website has the houses that’ll be open, where they are and their features.

Article: Recent story from the Sydney Morning Herald on sustainable housing.