GARBAGE WARRIOR (Oliver Hodge). 87 minutes. Thursday (February 21) at the Bloor. Rating: NNNN
Decades before green became fashionable, architect Michael Reynolds was creating self-sufficient homes in New Mexico. Constructed of garbage like plastic bottles and used tires, these homes generate their own power and food and require no outside heat, gas or water.
Director Oliver Hodge tracks Reynolds, who looks as grizzled as Nick Nolte on a good day, over the course of a few recent years as he butts up against subdivision regulations and then tries to get the state to change its housing development laws.
Reynolds, messianic and manic, makes a terrific doc subject, and his buildings (he calls them “earth ships”) are playful and ingenious.
His journey takes lots of unexpected twists and turns, especially when natural disasters hit the world and he and his crew travel to help build smart homes without being burdened by bumbling bureaucrats.
Here’s hoping his innovative ideas about sustainable living eventually find homes with politicians and other decision-makers.
