Paul and Anne Cobham are the second in our series about Canadians living off the grid. They run Willow Retreat and Survival School from a secluded off-grid property in Cape Breton. They moved there in order to escape from the suburban grind and live a simpler, less stressful life. This is not quite what they ended up with!

“But that’s part of the journey,” said Paul, a survival instructor. Anne is a Reiki Master  - a teacher and meditation instructor. They are on the Cabot Trail in the small village of Middle River, Nova Scotia, (more…)

The Corporate Muppets running Davos, the annual gathering of financial and industrial leaders, launched their 2012 meeting saying that now is the moment for business to take over from government as the key force for social change. But the evidence they present for this claim proves quite the opposite:  in reality, while trust in politicians and companies has collapsed, public movements like Occupy and Tea Party, plus peer-to-peer web sites are likely to become far more influential.

The impetus for the debate is the just-released poll by Edelman, a corporate PR company, showing that the public’s faith in government has dropped sharply around the world in the past year due to a mixture of corruption and incompetence.  It is this change which is causing people to go off-grid in growing numbers, particularly in the US.

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The gloves are off in the 100-day standoff between the City of London Corporation and London Occupy protesters.

Occupy organisers plan to take over more buildings in the next few weeks, as the movement focuses public attention on finance industry billionaires. This evening it offered to vacate squatted buildings in return for concessions from City grandees on the transparency of their fundraising and lobbying operations.

After eviction orders were handed out to the St Paul’s and Bank of Ideas squatters by the High Court last week, the Occupy movement took a new building last morning, in the Barbican area of the City of London, and organisers expect to move into other addresses over the next few days. (more…)

Residents of Taupo NZ are hoping to “lure…Americans” to settle there by building an off-grid community.

The government has already earmarked the spot for a “Biosphere of the 21st century” and it is home to the New Zealand Clean Energy Centre.
The proposed family-style homes would be heated via geothermal or biomass sources, and electricity supplied via solar or wind energy.
Wastewater would be drip irrigated to energy crops that would provide future fuel for the community. Water would be supplied via rainwater collection.
There will be wi-fi internet along with communal vegetable gardens and septic tanks. (more…)

Until now, this site has spent too little time reporting on the active off-grid community across the border in Canada. From Ontario to Vancouver, BC, the Canadians have been leading the way, doing what many of us dream of, and doing it in comfort and style.
Over the next few months we will be running regular stories and photos of Canadian off-grid men and women. Please send us your photos and videos. (more…)

The yearlyInternational Consumer Electronics Show (CES), has seen off another round of headlines about lust-inducing gadgets soon to be on store shelves.

Some survival gadgets are on display at CES, and a handful of them are surveyed in this report from outdoor website Gear Junkie.
I love a gadet as much as the next guy, but I notice my own list of must-carry gear includes things that need no battery or charging cable, so don’t qualify for CES. Here’s the top ten – what would you add? (more…)

BEWARE RENEWABLE ENERGY SCAMMERS

If you are lucky enough to have access to fast moving water on your land, you can use it to generate power.  And there are free plans available on the web for DIY water powered generators (see below).  But be careful only to go to recommended sites.  Bogus companies like Earth4Energy has affiliate deals sweeping the net, selling worthless e-books for $30-75.   Yes, they will refundyour money if you complain, but 70% do not bother. (more…)

We’ve known for a while that the milestone 500th episode of “The Simpsons” would come somewhere early in 2012, but FOX has now nailed down a date for the episode: Sunday, Feb. 19.

The episode is called “At Long Last Leave,” and  scant details have been released by makers Fox.  We only know the episode involves the Simpsons being evicted from Springfield and taking up residence with an off the grid community outside town. When Homer and family try to return home they are treated so badly they come to respect the warm welcome they received from the off-gridders.

Its not the first time Homer and family have toyed with the off-grid life.  (more…)

As the Occupy LSX movement prepares for a legal battle over its encampment outside St Paul’s Cathedral, its presence down the road in Finsbury Square looks slightly more secure.
Public spending cuts have left the square’s owners, the Borough of Islington, with an overstretched legal team, and although it do not support the Occupy presence,  the Council is “reluctant” to devote potentially millions of pounds to evict the protesters. This news may arouse intense disappointment amongst Occupy’s many neighbours in the banking and financial sector. UBS bank, for example, has ordered its employees to keep the blinds closed in case residents in the nearby Bank of Ideas spy on their documents using long lenses.
Now the Occupy organisers are seeking help from the off-grid movement to turn the square into a model (albeit temporary) off-grid community. They need energy experts, water engineers, builders, mechanics, lawyers, fund-raisers, architects and planning consultants as they prepare for a residency of up to three years until the next local elections.

Finsbury Square and the Bank of Ideas are organising a one day seminar on the skills need to set up an off-grid community.  Anyone who wants to give a workshop on any of the relevant skills ( you know what they are) please email nick@off-grid.net.
Step one is to install composting toilets in the square, but the technical problem is that the soil is only 2 metres deep as the square sits atop an underground car park. Please send solutions or offers of help  as comments on this article. (more…)