When it comes to sustainable housing there is no doubt Earthships are in a class of their own. I absolutely respect what Mick Reynolds has done. He rejected the dominant paradigm of what a house should look like and started from the premise that housing should nurture and provide for the occupants. He designed a house, and later a housing system, were function dictates form. That function being nurturing human life and minimising its impact on the rest of the planet.
Another significant fact, which often gets lost, is Mick specifically designed a house that could be built without specialist tradesman knowledge. Thats right, with a bit of self education (and a lot of hard work) anyone can build an Earthship, they were designed that way.
I spent a month learning how to build Earthships alongside the Earthship Biotecture building crew in Taos, New Mexico.
Here is a link to the article I wrote about the experience.