November 2009

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Community

A few stocking fillers

SO much pointless stuff gets passed around at Christmas. We’ve tried to suggest a handful of gifts which are both useful and unlikely to be things you have seen before.

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Spirit

Grid pollution kills 24,000 Americans a year”

A new report from Environment America names power stations as the biggest polluters in the US. It lists the dirtiest facilities and the dirtiest states.

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Don’t get frustrated – be inspired

We are honored to welcome a serving member of the US Armed forces as our newest regular contributer.

Laurie Tamminen is currently in a theater of war that is featured in the media every day.  Her dream over the next two years is to build herself a new home off the grid.  Here is her first dispatch from the frontline of the off-grid learning curve:

Thinking about building your new home off the grid?

Anyone will tell you that the first time you try something new, it can be frustrating or a flat out failure.  This doesn’t have to be the case when decided to build your new home off-grid.  The first correct decision you made was deciding to build a home that is energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

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People

Real-life Canute fights coast ruling

A retired engineer who built his own sea defences is trying to reverse a legal judgement which would result in his home being washed into the sea.

78 year old Peter Boggis has spent seven years and over fifty thousand pounds of his own money constructing a kilometre long sea wall from 25,000 tonnes of compacted clay.  He is trying to stop the sea eroding cliffs just a hundred yards away from his home at Easton Bavents, north of Southwold in Suffolk, UK. Mr Boggis started the work without planning permission.

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Water

Wish we thought of that!


The rainbeers are coming! An Atlanta Brewery which was making beer from rainwater has been told to stop gathering  the water by city officials.  Probably encouraged by Miller lite and other big brewers, the EPA and officials at the local and State level have been persecuting the tiny indie brewery.

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Land

Sanyo’s packaged life off-grid

Sanyo is has started producing homes that go off-grid at the flick of a switch

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Energy

Senators back mini-nuke

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 — The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee issued the following news release:
Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Mark Udall (D-CO) today introduced legislation to direct the Department of Energy to develop innovative, low-cost nuclear reactors. The Nuclear Power 2021 Act (S.2812) proposes a program to design and certify small modular reactors (< 300 megawatts) which can be built and operated in combination with similar reactors at a single site.

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Community

Possum Living-How To Live Well With (Almost) No Money

possum-livingI wish I could say that I had read this book way back when, and that was what inspired me to live my off-grid life… but my earliest inspiration was the Grizzly Adams series. If I had come across Possum Living before now, I know it would have also been a great inspiration for me. It  was written in the 70s by a very smart young lady, Dolly Freed. She and her father lived in a regular house, on a large lot by today’s standard, though small compared to homesteading standards. Neither one worked a regular job, yet they lived a full and enjoyable life.

Dolly wrote the book to document their lives and teach other people how to live a more simple life, unfettered by a 9-5 work week. I was re-inspired and excited to find this video about their life on YouTube. It’s a 3 part video, the second and third should play right after the first.

The book and video are dated, it was written and filmed in the late 70s, but I’m here to tell you that this type of life CAN still be achieved, I’m living proof of that. I was thrilled to find out that a revised version of her book is coming out, it apparently has updated info about Dolly, she is still alive and well. I will say that if you look hard enough, you can find a digital version of her original book to download (it’s out of print) , I have read this, but I look forward to getting the new and improved version coming out this January.

Even if you don’t want to go all the way and live like she did (and like I do now), it’s still good information to have, with today’s uncertainty,  unemployment and underemployment, these are good skills to have to help get you through lean times.

Here is her original book, it’s a bit pricey Possum living: How to live well without a job and with almost no money

Here is a  link for the new revised book, at a much better price Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and with (Almost) No Money




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Australian Eco gifts

Here are a few ideas that will help, or at least not hinder the Australian environment

Oregon Scientific Solar Weather Clock

$139.99

THIS tidy unit is as practical as it is sleek and is ideal for campers and caravanners. Best of all, it’s green friendly. After fully charging the solar panel in the sun (takes about six hours) it’s right to operate for two months. Its main game is displaying the time and weather (inside and out), but it also forecasts the weather 12 hours ahead.

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Community

David de Rothschild loves life off the grid

David de Rothschild has revealed he prefers life off-grid and can’t stand carbon off-setting.  “There is just something more satisfying about living off-grid,” he told me at the launch of the NatGeo control room in London which will be the land HQ for his next great adventure.  “You are much more aware of your resources, managing them …. making decisions about what I can use and when I can use it.

“Especially on an expedition you are really aware that you only have limited resources  – I prefer living off-grid, “ he said.

The aristo-adventurer, and rumored  former boyfriend of Cameron Diaz, is about to set sail on his vessel made from plastic bottles. The Plastiki is a 60-foot catamaran which will be home to David and his crew for an  11,000-mile voyage due to kick off next month, out the Golden Gate and across the Pacific to Sydney Harbor.

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Energy

$35,000 gets free energy for life

By investing $80,000, and getting back $45,000 in subsidies and tax credits, a Massachusetts family has reduced its energy bill by $3500 a year. That means they will payback the investment within ten years (less if energy prices rise).

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Energy

Grid fails in Brazil

Massive power cuts in several Latin American countries highlight the dangers of relying on centralised power production

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