Posts from — August 2009

Tunstall – she’s for real Some green celebrities are complete frauds – for example Sting and Chris Martin who jet around the world, and live lavish home lifestyles while pretending they are “green.”

Others, like KT Tunstall, are putting us all to shame.

“As some of you may know, I’m a country bumpkin these days,” she told fans las tmonth after buying a $2m second home in Berkshire, wich she is turning off-grid ready. “And the extra exciting bit is that I’m currently building a solar-powered studio. Hope to record number 3 in it. (Better get it done soon then, or there won’t be any sun. Ho Ho.)” she said on her blog – KT Tunstall, http://www.kttunstall.com/diary/

The Scottish pop princess takes her green issues very seriously. Not only does she insist that her tour buses run on bio-fuels, she also uses an ethical clothing company to make all her merchandise and has her own 6,000-acre forest in the Borders.

And if that wasn’t enough, the Drastic Fantastic star also spent £170,000 transforming her London flat into an eco-home, complete with solar panels. Her flat in London’s Willesden, a green haven complete with sheep wool insulation, solar panels and recycled fibreboard.

‘I have a pretty environmentally unfriendly job,” she said. “The CD production, the travelling, thousands of gig-goers getting to venues, it all takes its toll, so it feels like I should do my best to try and turn the tables.”

I ran across this article today, it’s about a grandmother who has made the active choice to protect herself by prepping for an uncertain future. She made changes in her lifestyle to help her get through any tough times that might come her way. I say with tongue firmly planted in cheek, this grandma has gone all TEOTWAWKI, all I can say is, you go granny! (more…)

It’s the middle of August, smack in the middle of summer, and it’s time to start thinking about winter. Yes, the cold air is coming. I have a hard time thinking about cold weather when I’m sweating and grumbling about where the breeze went… But there are little reminders about the coming  cold, the sun is setting sooner and sooner each night. The evenings are cooling off nicely, it’s all but getting cold at night. Of course cold is relative, when it’s been near 100° F, then 55° or 60° feels cold, after it’s been in the 30°s, then 55° to 60° will feel like a heat wave. :) (more…)

Stewart: walking the talk Stewart Somerville owns an Alternative Power company, and even he had problems installing his own wind turbine. With building code issues, parts compatibility problems and technical expertise required, what hope is there for the rest of us? (more…)

Come to sunny Karamea A remote off-grid community in New Zealand has outed itself in an appeal for more residents to come and join them.

The scattered collections of a dozen houses and cabins near Karamea on New Zealand’s west coast, relies on solar power rather than pay the $40,000 per household it would cost to connect to the grid. (more…)

The next big leap Phone company Ericsson is partnering with an African cell-phone provider, to build a thousand solar-powered base stations across the continent this year. Nokia Siemens is also working (more…)

Lachapelle: Post consumer Man

A top fashion photographer who has grown sick and tired of the consumer society?  It sounds like a chef who has had enough of food.  But this is the story of David LaChapelle, darling of celebrity snappers, who moved from New York to an 18 acre off-grid retreat in Maui, where his bedroom is surrounded by kava, a tranquilizing plant that can inspire vivid dreams.
Several years ago, at the top of his profession and in constant demand, he realized, “I didn’t want to keep photographing fashion and celebrities….I really just walked away at the top of that editorial photography world… it was not a place that I wanted to continue to be in. Although it was great when I was in my 20s and early 30s, I wanted something different.” (more…)

Perry Reeves is building a 40-acre “eco estate” in Costa Rica  together with her equally environmentally conscious hubby Jeff Garrett who is in charge of home-improvement details.

“It’s a beautiful property,” said the Entourage star on the red carpet poolside. “It’s all off-grid . . . [with] solar and hydro power. It’s been my passion for the last five years.”

“You’re really removing yourself,” agreed the New Hampshire native. “It’s right next to the beach but between two rivers.”

Berry: a calming effect What a coup!  Organisers of this year’s Wisconsin Book Festival have secured a personal appearance by Kentucky farmer and nationally acclaimed poet and writer Wendell Berry.

Festival director Alison Jones Chaim said, there was a feeling of doom and gloom about the economy, but poet, novelist and essayist Wendell Berry is just the tonic the festival goers need.

He is clear that we all have to embrace a cut in living standards. As he told Progressive magazine earlier this year: “I don’t think we can take (environmental reform)  seriously until people begin to talk seriously about lowering the standard of living. When people begin to see affluence, economic growth, unrestrained economic behavior as the enemies of the environment, then we can take it seriously. But people are saying, “Give us everything we want and a clean environment,” and that isn’t a possibility.

“Either we will redistribute power so as to provide equality of participation and respect and protection or we will perish as a democratic state.”

Berry is just the man for an audience which has been tossed like flotsam on the sea of mortgage difficulties. The underlying rot in our economy, would be summed up by Berry as the triumph of making money (and of consumption) at the expense of attention to the production of goods people really need and to the care of people, communities and the natural gifts of creation. The challenge for Berry is to use this crisis to move the economy toward what Wendell calls “good work” that honors God, the neighbor and creation.

Festival staff have been trying to get him to come since before the first festival was held, Chaim said.

“He doesn’t do much,” Chaim said of his public appearances. “He keeps much of his schedule free for writing and being at home.”

Berry’s appearance was helped by underwriting from the Aldo Leopold Foundation. Farming, community, the environment and land are major themes throughout Berry’s writings. He has written more than 40 books, with another collection of his poetry coming out in November.

Others scheduled to appear include Lorrie Moore, a UW English professor whose novel, “A Gate at the Stairs,” is due to be released Sept. 1; Michael Perry, author of “Coop,” “Truck: A Love Story” and “Population: 485″; David Rhodes, author of “Driftless”; cartoonist and illustrator Lynda Barry; and famed underground cartoonist Harvey Pekar.