Earthship takes off in DeFuniak "PHOTOS"

When the bell rings at the Walton County Development Center it usually means students should be in their classrooms, ready to learn. This was not the case recently.

On this recent October day when the bell began to chime, students from every program at the center donned hardhats and gathered outside at the rear of the school. Faculty members corralled them down a tire-lined path to the site of the center’s Earthship for some hands-on learning.

An Earthship is a home built entirely of recycled materials that has no carbon footprint, providing its own water through a cistern and electricity with solar panels. The idea was brought to the center’s campus after Kristin Hoffnung, a science teacher at the center, visited Taos, N.M., and saw a pamphlet for a community entirely composed of Earthships.

For more than 100 photos from the event, click here.

Hoffnung and her husband looked further into the subject and came across a movie called “The Garbage Warrior.” Soon thereafter she started thinking that an Earthship could be a unique project for the school.

“My first thought was no one was ever going to take me seriously and no one was ever going to build this,” Hoffnung said.

Hoffnung then took the idea and the video to Thomas Martin, the construction technology instructor at the school. After much prodding, Martin viewed the movie and saw the potential as an educational tool.

Martin sat down with another instructor at the school, Leslie Harrison, and wrote a handbook for the construction of the center’s own Earthship. This handbook separated the planning and construction of the Earthship into easily digestible chunks suitable for lesson plans.

The project is now in its second year at the center.

For two days every month, all the students at the center, regardless of area of study, roll up their sleeves and get to work. Since the project began, more than 300 students and 14 faculty members have cut the paths surrounding the site and have made significant progress in the actual construction.

 “It’s amazing to watch the kids come out and build this,” said Principal Mike Davis. “For the school, it will give us a little bit of an identity. For our students, it’s the opportunity to learn how to protect the environment and be green.”

While some students work on the main walls, others turn their attention to the Earthship’s cistern and water storage systems. Still others continue the effort to clear paths and trails around the project, lining them with tires cut in half.

“I think it’s neat,” said Georgia Senterfit, a junior at Walton High currently enrolled in the center’s nursing program as she sat atop the main wall adding another layer of tires. “I think more people should have homes like this. It doesn’t have to look like it does now. You can make it look like a modern day home. It can be stylish.”

Right now the walls show what they’ve been made of, but when the project is complete the tires, bottles and cans which make up the Earthship’s walls will be entirely covered with dirt.

 “I feel pretty good about it,” said James Richardson, a sophomore studying construction technology at the center. “For one thing it’s made out of recycled materials, stuff that otherwise wouldn’t get used.”

Although it is a learning experience for the students, they find other ways to benefit from it. 

“You can get your aggression out packing the dirt into the tires,” said a smiling John Truett as he cut out the sidewall of a tire for a corner piece. Truett is a senior at Walton High who studies construction technology at the center.

It’s not all work for the students, who take time out to act their age. At a makeshift water fountain, conversation trended away from saving the environment to other youthful endeavors. And in the midst of all the construction a young lady was distraught that the dirt would ruin her $200 pair of shoes.

Distractions aside, the students are committed to the completion of the project. However, availability of resources is a hurdle the center is still working to clear.

“We don’t have the resources to move forward with construction. We need concrete, plumbing and electrical supplies and roofing materials,” said Martin. He hopes to partner with CHELCO to acquire solar panels, letting the Earthship be a test site for them.

“Right now the only thing holding us up is funding and materials, but we’ll find a way,” Hoffnung said. “I’ve sent an explanation of the project and the materials we need to Lowe’s, Home Depot and Walmart. Hopefully they will donate.”

Currently the center has applied for two grants totaling $5,800, but nothing is guaranteed.

To donate money or materials to the Earthship, call the Walton County Development Center at 850- 892-1240.