On a desert mesa outside Taos, New Mexico, several dozen homes rise half-buried from the earth, built from old tires packed with sand, glass bottles, and aluminum cans. Architect Mike Reynolds started designing these self-sufficient houses in the 1970s, and the Greater World Earthship Community that grew from his work now covers 633 acres, though it was shut down as an illegal subdivision in 1997 and took seven years to reach code compliance. Tom Duke, a former professional volleyball player who built his first tiny Earthship here sixteen years ago, guides the tour through several models: his own two-bedroom family home, the compact 'nest' studio priced around $50,000, a 'Simple Survival Earthship' aimed at the developing world, a custom house with an indoor tilapia pond feeding a family of four, and the top-tier 'Global,' nicknamed the BMW of Earthships. Each design runs without grid electricity, water lines, or sewer connections, collecting rainwater for four separate uses and growing food in attached greenhouses. Duke walks through the plumbing, the passive solar walls, and the reasoning behind building a house meant to need nothing from outside it.