Garbage Warrior - Sustainable Housing

The film’s characters

The Builders

Michael Reynolds

Architect and developer, founder and director of Earthship Biotecture

Jonah Reynolds

Mike’s son and pioneering member of the Taos Earthship Community – has been building earthships since the age of twelve – started the production of bio diesel within the community from waste cooking oil. Many local companies now run their vehicles on the fuel. Jonah has worked on many global projects including the tsunami project.

Phil & Ted

Architectural graduates, pioneering members of the Taos Earthship Community Phil is Mike’s foreman, and joined the community with his family in the mid-1980s. He and Ted were among the first to buy into Mike’s dream and build their own houses. Since then they’ve run Mike’s build crew and have overseen some of the big Earthship commissions.

Damian & Seth

Core build-crew Damian and his twin brother Seth came to visit the Earthship community on holiday in the early 90s and never left. They now live in two of his early creations: a pyramid wind-turbine and a castle made from beer cans. Damian also worked on the tsunami house.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Nileshe Architect, and head of Andaman build team Nileshe was the first to realise that Mike’s ideas might form the basis of a solution for housing in the wake of the Asian tsunami, after discovering the Earthship site on the internet. He invited Reynolds and his team to come and construct a demonstration building.

Kan Tsunami survivor and Earthship Evangelist A successful building contractor who lost everything – friends, house, car, business – in the tsunami, Kan had all but given up on life. The Earthship project helps him find the strength to start again. When Reynolds leaves, he and Nileshe start a company called Humane Technology to promote Earthships in the area.

New Mexico Authorities

Dave Dicicco

Head Planner for Taos County Mike’s nemesis, Dicicco is responsible for maintaining local planning standards. He’s been concerned about the side effects of Reynolds’s land sharing and “right to experiment”.

Shauna Malloy

State Attorney for the New Mexico Board of Architects
Responsible for upholding state building and architectural standards.

Zee

Lawyer & Bill Analyst for New Mexico State Legislature Zee helps Reynolds draft his “sustainable test sites” bill and ends up personally lobbying for it in the Senate. An extremely capable woman with crucial contacts.