McNeilFilmAnnotation2

Title: Garbage Warrior Director: Oliver Hodge Release year: 2007


 * What is the central argument or narrative of the film?**

// Garbage Wars // follows the struggles of architect Michael Reynolds as he has to fights to spread his ideas of sustainable living through the use of non-conventional materials. Reynolds uses objects such as old car tires, bottles, and glass to construct homes he calls “earth ships”. His earth ships generate their own heat, electricity, and water.


 * How is the argument or narrative made and sustained? How much scientific information is provided, for example? Does the film have emotional appeal?**

Reynolds doesn’t present the exact science or number of how he builds his earth ships. However, there are ideas shared by Reynolds such as using old tires packed tight with dirt to contain heat and keep the earth ships at a constant temperature around 70 degrees. I felt an immense amount of jealousy towards Reynolds. I would love to tell people that I live in a sustainable home that I have no payments to maintain. His forward thinking has made sustainable living available to many individuals who choose that way of life. The whole time I was watching the film I was thinking of how I could recreate his ideas to work for me so that I could build a sustainable. Earth ships are not regulated by any safety bureau but the audacious idea is what future generations need to shift their paradigm of thinking.


 * What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why?**

The entire film is very compelling and makes you feel like you’ve been swindled out of a more idyllic lifestyle People have given into the notion that they need to spend $1000 a month on a mortgage and have to have bills. Reynolds has questioned every aspect of that way of thinking and made living easier for the user.


 * What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? Why?**

For the most part there are few parts of Garbage Warrior that I didn’t feel inspired or compelled by. One of these parts was when Reynolds had to modify his existing co-existing communities to meet his local codes. Reynolds had to essentially spend thousands of dollars to pay for engineers and excavators to enter his sustainability commune so he could go on creating sustainable homes legally. I understand that codes regulations are necessary to make homes safe but I felt that the local government asserted it’s authority in a fashion that was not beneficial to anyone. Michael Reynolds is a licensed architect and he had proven himself to be a qualified


 * What audiences does the film best address? Why?**

Garbage warrior would be a fantastic film to watch for anyone. There are too many individuals that have accepts the current way of life as the only way of living. Anyone who drive a BMW, Lexus, or Mercedes-Benz needs to take a step back and evaluate their own lives and asks themselves what they value. Maybe if more individuals accepted less conventional ways of living and rejected materialistic values they may find themselves in a much happier place with less financial stresses and a much more simple way of living.
 * What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value?**

The film as a whole was very informative and in my opinion a great look at alternative living. I would have enjoyed more of an explanation on how the sewage, and water run-off systems worked in the earth ships. I would have also enjoyed more information in regards to how much the average American household consumes In the way of energy and water. Then if the director gave some comparisons on how much that number could be lowered by using more earth ships. Perhaps also how large you could construct an earth ship so it would still reliably producing enough energy that the occupants could be housed confortable. Could we build 3 or 4 story earth ships? These are all points that would have added an extra educational factor to the film.


 * What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out? (Provide at least two supporting references.)**

I’m very fascinated with the idea of building earthships. I decided to learn more about Michael Reynolds and how exactly the idea of building sustainable homes came to him. This article has information pertaining to Reynolds as well as his explanation of the political battle he has had waged against him by regulators. []

Another website that I found was totally dedicated to earthships. This site had educational information as well as floor plans, information on living free and even earthships for sale. This site has occupied way to much of my time with all of the informative information as well as the great picture and video gallery of earthships built all over the world. This website also outlines all of the systems used by these sustainable homes and provides quite a bit of other useful information []