Opening Minds to Unconventional Thinking

The world is a crazy diverse place!
The issues faced by the world are complex!
Solutions don't have to be complicated although they need to be wise, carefully thought out and most of all creative!

It would surely take a much longer time than that allotted to writing one single blog to get a good idea of all of the  'development' ideas (to use a very umbrella term) that have been implemented around the world .. None the less I think it is safe to say that there have been A LOT of them. Also it is my understanding that a lot of the projects and endeavors that have a significant amount of money backing them are government funded projects. Like many government run initiatives the processes are slow and restricted by tight red tape. Whats 'safe', whats 'right' whats 'efficient' ect. These things need to be strictly adhered to in their way of operations.
Strict definitions of what is RIGHT and what is WRONG allows little room for development and growth.

I think creative spice has been missing from the development recipe for a long time and needs to be reintroduced. One such spicy man by the name of Michael Reynolds has opened his mind and in doing so created a NEW normal. He did so after the realization that houses hardly suited humans. He believes houses have become merely mass produced, bare minimum, poor quality housing units. In his mind mind there was much to be improved so that houses could begin to support humans again.

How is Michael Reynolds making a difference?
Michael is the designer of the species of houses called Earth Ships which are continually growing in popularity after after designs were halted after running into much red tape back in 2006. Earth Ships are self sustainable houses designed to live in eco-harmony. They incorporate their own solar heating (not solar panel... just straight up sunny rays), cooling, water, electricity and on site sewage systems. All of the sudden with Michael's Earth Ship your house is actually providing for you and you no longer have to work your ass off merely to live. All of the sudden you can live off the earths resources.. like good old times! go figure! Another interesting part about the design of these houses is that they use waste products which are in surplus as the main building material for the walls. Inside the walls are beer cans, car tires and water bottles! Although it does seem to take a fair bit of time to assemble an earth ship I believe it is time well spent as it takes a huge weight off the shoulders of our planet and the human. These houses strengthen the human - earth connection which has becoming increasingly distant in recent years. No longer will copious amounts of timber being used to build houses and will a power supply needed to support them. No longer will houses be dependent on the 'system' which is out of their control. I believe these houses give the power back to the people and our respect back to the environment.

Hopefully you see some promise in this unconventional thinking! :)
Hopefully you see the benefits that come from living in such a way! :)
... of course you may want to check things out a little before you agree with any of these points ... and thats fine too :) I encourage you to give it a look over for yourself. When you do so, please strip away your conventional thinking, what you consider to be your 'normal' and start asking yourself why that is your normal and is there something better out there? I agree that the Earth Ship name has a pretty 'hippie' peace and love ring to it and because of that many people may feel uncomfortable with the idea and bring pre-constructed prejudice to the table. But I think these are houses to be proud of and houses deserving of even 'professional' habitants.

Unfortunately  bureaucrats were not able to open their eyes and see the Earth Ship idea without seeing all the red tape. It took numerous years of Michael to get them to see the great promise of what he was doing! years! Their issue was mainly that the buildings were not 'up to code' and thus not safe. If it were not for one lady in the bureaucracy who was able to see the power of this type of housing it would have surely taken years if not longer to have his Earth Ships allowed under building code. In Michaels long battle to have the building of Earth Ships allowed he began to gain a great deal of publicity. Interestingly enough while long debates were going on in the US about earth ships people in developing areas hit by natural disasters were quick to act - make the call - and start the building of earth ships on their land. The Earth Ship design allowed people to become self sufficient and amazingly - turn rubble into beautiful housing. Haiti is one of the areas that has received the gift of the Earth Ship design and I encourage you to learn about the success of this project by following this link : http://earthship.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=736 which will bring you to a great short video documentary.

One man was brave enough to open his mind and embrace unconventional thinking. Some were brave enough to open up to his unconventional thinking. For those who have, have felt the power of these gifts and seen good emerge from them.

Our worlds changing - in some ways for the good and in some ways for the bad.
We have to continue to change and reinvent ourselves and our practice
We have to re-evaluate our norm
I believe this must be done with Creative Unconventional Thinking 

If you wish to learn more about Michael or his earth ships I suggest purchasing or downloading the video documentary "Garbage Warrior" or checking out his website http://www.earthship.org/

Thank you for your open minds.
Please share with me some unconventional ideas you have come across or some of your own! Or even spill the beans and let me know what you think about unconventional thinking!