Tiny House Tuesday: Battle for (Eco) Endor

WHO: Our Planet Retreats

WHERE: Tropical climes around the world

WHAT: An Ewok-worthy treehouse retreat

SIZE: I’d have to use my latent geometry skillz to figure the area of a sphere. Let’s just say about 350 square feet, okay?

Wicket? Is that you?

Now’s your chance to invest in a South Pacific vacation spot, Swiss Family Robinson–meets–Star Wars-style. Our Planet Retreats (OPR), the start-up makers of these wild, suspended fiberglass spheres, are taking on the wooded areas of far-flung locales, including the Philippines, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea. Want to get in on the action? Purchase a share for just $30. Or, to have a greater say in the company’s decisions, buy a sphere for $2,500. Once the company raises $55,000, they’ll start paying dividends.

The globes run on solar power, and shares are offered to locals before the general public to foster “good relations.” I’m a little skeptical, and more than a little concerned about the imperialistic connotations of these fancy novelty retreats. It appears, however, that OPR are supplying jobs for island residents, who are employed to prepare locally sourced food for guests, for example. Moreover, OPR has this to say: “Everything we do is geared towards what is best for YOU, LOCAL PEOPLE, ENVIRONMENT and OUR PLANET.” All caps. So they must be legit, right?

No word on how much accommodations cost, nor whether you can buy a prefab sphere to hang in your own backyard, but we’ll definitely keep an eye on it. Visit the OPR website for more pics and philosophies. And grab a copy of The Ewok Adventure while you’re at it. Warwick Davis as a furry humanoid living in an proto-OPR sphere? Boss.

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