While working as a mechanical and aerospace engineer figuring out how to integrate humans into an autonomous spacecraft, I found myself wondering how I (human) am currently integrated into my autonomous spacecraft (Earth). I got the sense that I was living on the Earth, not with Earth. It didn't actually feel like much of an integration at all. In fact, in a lot of ways it felt like I was working against the Earth, rather than working with it. My common sense tells me that since we evolved with the Earth that it must be uniquely formed to support human life. If that is true, why do we work so hard to live here?

I started experimenting with small parts of my life to test some theories. I began by observing my typical process around food: I drove to the store to buy it, I made a meal with it, I threw away the leftover scraps and packaging, I took the garbage out to be collected, and the garbage truck came and took it to the landfill. This probably sounds pretty normal. What if I told you that the scene I just described is way more work than it needs to be (and much less fulfilling than it could be)? I also started to wonder about what exactly happens to the garbage when it gets to the landfill, where did the fuel come from for the garbage trucks, and what about for the trucks that brought the food to the stores. There was a lot more behind the scenes than just the part I was seeing firsthand.  

Much to my surprise, my awareness of this process led to a shift in my whole experience with food. I started growing food in a garden, putting my food scraps into a worm compost bin, and I found that I didn’t need to be part of the garbage cycle at all. There was no more packaging because the food came from the garden. I used the compost out of the worm bin to keep the soil healthy and new plants sprouted out of the seeds from food scraps that had become compost. Those plants grew up and produced new food and the cycle started all over again. In this scenario I had fresh food, no waste, and no one had to drive anywhere for any part of the process. I also found that I loved getting my hands into the dirt and watching my food grow. Taking care of the plants calmed my mind, exercised my body, and fed my sense of purpose.

Seeing how this whole cycle unfolded and what it taught me reminded me of something I heard often in engineering classes: "work smarter, not harder". In what other ways was I working too hard to live on Earth? This was the start of a longer string of questions that led me to design and build a home that works with the Earth, rather than against it, or despite it. With Creating Space on Earth we are exploring the parallels of spacecraft design, home design, and the concept of symbiotic living. This is where we let the Earth do the things it's good at and create space in our lives for the things that are uniquely human.

I attended the University of Florida, where I received a BS in Mechanical Engineer and a MS in Aerospace Engineering. I’ve worked at GE Energy, Lockheed Martin, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, SpaceX, and The Boring Company. While working I have also taken a variety of post-grad courses including, Heuristic Optimization based on Natural Systems, Stochastic Optimization, Furniture Design, Sustainable Gardening, and Urban Food Production at Johns Hopkins, Art Center, and UCLA, respectively.