Interesteg What makes it different from others?

ThiefHott Too much of everything

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Jordan Rife Overall Garbage Warrior was a documentary focusing on the architect Michael Reynolds and his advancements in ecological and sustainable living. Michael Reynolds is a trained architect of the University of Cincinnati. Soon after completing his studies Reynolds realized architecture as it stood then was worthless in the sense that it was not about people of the planet and what they needed. He then decided architecture as he knew it did not address the issues we are faces with and don't guide us where we need to go. Mike has since displayed strong focus in the efforts of these issues that people and the planet may encounter. The architect is obsessed with his work and often dreams of his projects. Michael Reynolds devotes his life to revolutionizing the world of architecture with a focus on ecological and sustainable living. Ecological and sustainable livings are seen as issues that need to be addressed NOW rather than later. These include issues of the quality of life and survival, working to discover methods of living that allow people to take care of themselves. The documentary stresses limited resources and the planet running out of oil and fresh water while also revealing issues of ozone depletion and their relation to population growth, thus expressing the planet will soon be uninhabitable. Michael Reynolds works to fight the ideas of big cities and infrastructure. He creates infrastructure inside of the structure, putting matter of life into the people's hands with potential to enhance the planet. These visions shaped the fundamental ideas of Reynold's earth-ships. Earth-ships provide their own infrastructure: providing internal sewage, growing its own food, and is also self-insulated. These earth-ships are glorifies in the documentary as big steps in directions for humanity. Earth-ships are self-sustaining and essentially provide no bills- they provide their own food with animals, bugs, and trees, and introduce ideas of thermal mass or self-insulation, along with other environmental alternatives. These earth-ships are stressed to be experimental houses. It takes clients to express Reynolds' visions physically and they are often cases of trial and error. Many times these experiments fail and the crew is sued for mistakes in building. Obvious examples of these earth ships are provided in the documentary such as Reynolds' "Thumb House". This house uses bricks made of mostly beer cans tied together with wire. This innovation lead Reynolds to other environmental building materials, eventually just using cans and bottles with mud to create walls of homes. This house also helped in the forming of ideas, such as orienting windows to the south for solar gain. These homes became more about function and possibility then of beauty, representing trial and error, experiments, and learning. Although each theory hypothesized and later proved by Michael Reynolds is not explained throughout the documentary it is easy for the reader to gain insight on the immense amount of knowledge Reynolds bears on his topic. Michael Reynolds, as portrayed in the documentary, uses his sustainable houses to aid in situations of natural disaster. In the case of the documentary, the architect and his crew build earth- ships in India made out of recycled materials. These earth-ships are proved beneficial economically, providing advantaged to the victims of disaster with the lack of bills and the decrease in the general cost of living in a self-sustaining home. By building these earth- ships in places of need, Reynolds' is not only able to help the environment but also to enhance the economy in these places as well. It is important to save resources by reducing the usage or electricity and gas but also to save money by cutting the costs of living and the dreadful bills that are seen by Americans as every- day expenses as well. Michael Reynolds is not the only master-mind behind these earth- ships though; he is generally accompanied by his crew, generally a group of men with an almost paternal, parasitic relationship to Reynolds and the earth-ship. Seen as a giant family, all members of the crew including Reynolds work towards a common motive of creating a self-sustaining society. The crew is responsible for building their own sustainable community, each granted 10 acres of their own land. An example of these communities would be the "Greater World Community" where crew members live with their families and teach the ways of their ecological studies to those around them. The members also work in a collaborative effort to create a sense of family and bonding and generally all feed off of the hard work and successes of one another. These are trained architects working together through physical labor and innovative thinking to create a revolutionary society that is not dependent on limited resources. It is important to exemplify not only the beautiful effect of stain glass created when burning plastic bottles into walls, but also to notice the architectural and environmental break-through these communities present. This was an enjoyable documentary to watch. I found myself fascinated with the work of Michael Reynolds. The documentary glorifies Reynolds almost in a sense of a God or a genius, which is not quite the entire case. The architect provides an example of larger-than-life thinking; who knows if earth-ships are really the answer to our problems or a temporary collection of recycled materials? The ideas behind his advancements and the evidence it provides obviously support his ideas of an architectural revolution with an emphasis on sustainability without exact portrayals of the success or failure of these experiments. Personally as a student of urban architecture, I envisioned Reynolds' ideas of sustainability and earth ships but on a larger scale of an urban area; imagining these structures or earth-ships as skyscrapers or multi-level structures. The documentary mostly places earth-ships in a rural or dessert-like site which may be unrealistic if these are being seen as revolutionary. Imagine earth-ships and the role they could play in regulating pollution in industrialized areas; now that could be closer to revolutionary.

imonto2 In Garbage Warrior, Mike Reynolds captures people's imagination of new ways of building homes with renewable products such as beer bottles, tires, and plastic soda bottles. The homes seem to be so beautiful that it could entice anybody to live in. The documentary depicts the journey architect Michael Reynolds endures in trying to create a community that is self-sustaining. He believes that there is a spiritual connection to nature that there needs to be a focus on, and that can work away from mass consumption and mass production. He is seen as a pioneer and true humanitarian that could actually change New Mexico's standards of home improvements. The documentary main arguments are the endless possibilities of using and recycling waste products, an ecological environment, bureaucratic attack, and strong visionary attempt. He created "Earthships," defined as passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials, thermal mass construction for temperature stabilization, and renewable energy and integrated water systems make the Earthship an off-grid home with little to no utility bills. He started to turning away from his label as an architect and started to consider himself a biotecture, which he defines as a profession of designing buildings and environments with consideration for their sustainability with a combination of biology and architecture. After creating these communities that were self-reliant, this created friction with the developers and the state legislators in New Mexico because he did have his homes regulated up to housing codes. As the documentary progressed, the destruction of his communities, when developers labeled these communities as unsafe and unhygienic, caused him to reevaluate his goals. After he was revoked his architecture license, he made it his mission to take a state legislative role, and lobby for architects to create more homes that would be self- sustaining. As he was continuously being shot down for his ideas, he decided there was no hope in changing the standards set by the state, but he still does not give up. This demonstrates the states unwillingness to move away from making profits and establishing a better way of way of living. While politicians and lobbyist are ignoring the severity of the global warming and the intensity of droughts and extreme weather, Michael Reynolds is called to India after a tsunami strike causing hundreds of people to lose their family members and homes. He can utilize his skills without restrictions because of the people's desperation to solve the problem. The purpose of this segment was to show that desperation is the new father of invention. Oliver Hodge portrayed most of the politicians as villains and Reynolds as an unsung hero. There is an urgency that Reynolds express that humans are not going to survive on this planet for much longer if conservations is not taken into action. But there is a downside, he is only working to create a test site rather than actually create homes for people to live in. Based off of the film, there seems to be a fear of conservation because the awareness was slim. His home ideas needed to be altered because the people of the state needed to see an economical prosperity. People could not understand why these Earthships would be better alternative. So then the argument is, how much of it is actually is his idea anymore since he changed so much of it? Filmmaker Oliver Hodge solely targets on Mike Reynolds's point of view rather than providing an on camera interview with a developer or regulator as to why the communities were shut down. Why were these homes so unsafe? The argument seems to be very one-sided. There were some issues that were dangerous for the people that would have moved in. For instance, when they had created an Earthship with complete windows, the home was too hot and started to melt everything that was made of plastic. There are reasons for these regulations, so that peoples' lives would not be put in danger. Also, these Earthships could not work in everywhere in the United States, but it could allow people to spin ideas off of these inventions. It takes years before Reynolds ideas are approved by legislators, so that he can construct only a test site. My questions are then: how much would the system have really changed if he had gotten approval from the beginning? Could he have gone further if he had just regulated his sustaining ideas up to many codes? Does it take a person to conform to regulation to make a real change in the system? As an architect, he should have known that his communities would not last because his Earthships were not up to code. Someone was bound to find his communities unsafe.On the contrary, these risks need to be taken in order to develop better ideas and work towards homes that can be self-sustaining. This does not excuse the state from its responsibilities of changing the standards of what is acceptable of construction materials. I really enjoyed the documentary's core honesty of how stubborn changing the system can really be. Garbage Warrior makes it seem impossible for any change to happen to make an impact on society, which can be intimidating. In my opinion, it seems that Earthships would only work in an environment that was humid, dry, and tropical. How well would the homes stay together after a monsoon in India or heavy rainfalls in California? This documentary is mostly targeted to people whom live in a desert. But it does offer an insight of how menacing and tedious the system really can be. There is a sense of hope that Reynolds offers because if people gather together to change the standard; it can make a real impact. He could not do it without his allies in legislation and his fellow architects and builders.

bbdavenport I found this documentary online after seeing an Earthship house outside of Taos NM. What the houses represent is compelling - self-contained off-the-grid houses built mostly from local materials. Dozens of these houses dot the high desert blending into the landscape. The movie is about Michael Reynolds, the man behind these novel structures and his thirty year journey. Initially, he is a dreamer, then a designer and experimenter. Over time people join him and his vision starts to spread. He and the people he attracts come across as a little crazy, but in a fun way.There is a bit of real-life problems for the protagonist. The movie shows how he adapts to some serious adversity. This makes the movie even more interesting. Perhaps the forces arrayed against him are simplified and not given a fair shake in the film that approaches the issues firmly from the point of view of Michael Reynolds. That's okay really. Michael and a lot of the people he deals with come from two different worlds, Most of us were born inside the system or 'the box'. Michael Reynolds (and a lot of people) think the system isn't sustainable. He is looking for solutions outside of the box.This is the crux of the movie. If you are worried about where things are headed, the movie should give you a little hope. And that isn't a bad thing.

gavin6942 Mike Reynolds is the "garbage warrior", an architect who has been designing homes from refuse and natural objects (largely dirt) for roughly forty years. This documentary opens up his world to viewers who otherwise would not consider such living possible, and certainly wouldn't be aware of the potential comfort levels available.I was shown this documentary by a friend who, to say the least, is fascinated by Earthships. She has met Reynolds, been in an Earthship and swears that some day she will live in one -- something I find to be quite plausible. My enthusiasm doesn't come close to hers, which made for an odd viewing experience (her excitement can be overwhelming), but it's a good film that should be seen by more people.Reynolds' ideas of "radically sustainable living" and "Earthship Biotecture" need to be ported out to other communities and get recognition for their amazing achievements. The houses are not perfect -- some leak, some have little or no temperature control -- but they are experimental, and Reynolds and his crew are still learning. Objections aside, the good that can come of these homes is outstanding -- complete "off the grid" power, self-producing food, and a waste system that cleans and filters "black" and "gray" water.I'm somewhat skeptical of how well these ideas would work on a mass scale. However, even if they didn't, it seems fairly safe to say that certain aspects could be adapted into rural or urban settings... and any effort to get energy independence and sewage filtration into the mainstream is welcome. World governments are taking important steps towards renewable energy, but after seeing this film, you may start to think the answers have been here for decades and we're just dragging our feet.My only real complaint with the documentary is that it is by no means objective. Reynolds is cast as the hero and as something of a savior. Now, this is not to say that he's not a hero, because he is. But without hearing from his detractors (aside from some clueless politicians) this film comes off more like an infomercial, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It could simply be that nothing bad can be said, though.My petty objections aside, Reynolds is an unsung hero and his work really does need to get noticed by more. Even those who are environmentalists may not familiar with his work, which is a shame. The man is almost dead... let's get him some attention before that "almost" is gone.