I sense some hippie shame (maybe I'm wrong)! IMO a lot of that feeling stems from the government and ruling class pushing back against counter-culture. They were more right about the environment (among other issues) than they even realized at the time.

Earthships are unconventional in appearance and implementation, but are great examples of the type of thinking we're going to need to overcome imminent climate issues. If we started doing more of that in the 60s and 70s we'd be in a better position today.

No, no hippie shame at all. In fact, I suppose everyone has their own view on what a hippy is, and I should not have referred to it as "hippy" to begin with. It's too generic and yet personal, and doesn't quite describe anything specifically applicable to this case. my bad!

No worries... I always react to this because I see a lot of people online parroting an "no really, I'm not a hippie" attitude without thinking about the origin of that feeling!

We have that regulatory capture of building and zoning in the USA so that even if you wanted to just go and build an earthship it would be technically illegal.

If they can’t tax it or control it = not happening.