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March 2012

Community

Cabin Porn

A web site where readers around the world post large high-res pics of remote or abandoned cabins? Surely, it will never catch on? Yes it will – with 40,000 Facebook likes, and articles in The Times and Altantic Magazine, FreeCabinPorn has big arty photos – no ads and hundreds of reblogs. Check it out. Strange that the cabin pics rarely include any people – like a cautious publisher who does not want to risk turning off potential readers in the cover design, so this Web site is long on style and cannily short on content.

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Unplug for an hour

Small initiatives can sometimes have a big effect, and its that time of year again when Australians are asked to turn up their environmental conscience for just an hour. Earth Hour will be held at 8.30pm on Saturday, March 31. The day will see unplugged community events held across the country.

The hour of no power Everyday Australians will be celebrated for their grassroots contributions to a more sustainable future for the planet in the Earth Hour Awards.

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Giving Utilities notice to disconnect

Remember those dreaded words in red ink, the final warning if you haven’t paid your bills for more than three months? Well, we’ve written our own notice of disconnection, and we are loving every minute of it, including the many challenges, writes Victoria Mendoza Fritz.

“Hi everyone. We’ve decided to live off-grid. Goodbye to light and water bills, sudden power interruptions, etc…”

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Facebook is History

Resentment at high handed approach – a terrible redesign, and refusal to share revenue with users are base of its problems

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Land

British family outwits the planners

A family in England who built a home in the woods without planning permission which remained undetected for four years have won the right to stay there. . As a result they were able to avoid zoning laws (planing regulations) which prevented them from living there had the local Board (council) found out about it.

DailyMail.co.uk is running a story about Daniel and Jessica Brown, together with their three children, have been living in the house concealed behind the trees near the village of Westcott, Surrey, without the authorities knowing.

I is a case study in successful evasion of the restrictions on building homes in remote rural locations, which would-be off-gridders should study carefully, and apply in ways that suit themselves. But there is also a downside. The Mail story dwells on the fury of local residents who had been befriended by the Brown family.

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Community

Australia falling for Earthship marketers

Boasting an outer shell made of stacked car tyres packed with earth, an Earthship claims to be a cutting-edge, sustainable green home made from recycled materials. In fact there are serious design flaws: from off-gas from the tyres to overheating in ultra-hot places like Australia. All in all, having an Earthship in your life is like having a particularly sensitive pet – which needs constant feeding and excercise.
But that has not stopped shameless American architect Michael Reynolds touring Australia’s North Coast, preaching his particular brand of Earthship.
In Melbourne, he is in league with the Ceres community in Brunswick East which has a small project where you can pay to experience Earthship construction techniques. The Group, which always relied on volunteers to build its empire, has now found a marvellous new idea – get people to pay $160 ozzie dollars for a weekend ramming earth into old tyres.

Reynolds, who did not invent the Earthship concept, says its “a vessel sailing on towards tomorrow.”

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Self-Sufficiency

Doomsday business is booming

Be it the Mayan prophecy, Peak Oil or Global flooding, there is big money in the coming collapse

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The sunspots are coming

Dangerous new groups of sunspots have unleashed a storm of huge solar flares which threaten grid connections worldwide, as astronomers predict two years of storms which could cause chaos on Earth. Airlines and energy suppliers are on alert as the largest solar storm in five years threatens to disrupt flights and power lines
Thirteen years ago these storms shut down the grid in Quebec, Canada.

It took just 92 seconds to kill the grid after solar flares bombarded the area, but far worse could be in store.  Brilliant scientist and sun-forecaster John Kappenman, a former energy company employee who now runs his own consultancy, says that in the event of a mega-flare which takes out  Earth’s power supplies, most other critical infrastructures such as water and food supplies will begin to crumble within a few hours.
But not all electricity sources will be equally affected.

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Community

No Name Key- battle to save renewable community

After two decades, a tiny Florida island where 43 households live off the grid may be forced to accept Utility power.

The lure of enhanced property prices has persuaded some residents of No Name Key to switch their allegiance.  Recent arrivals on the island have provided the main impetus, but strong support still exists for those wanting to remain off the grid.

“Why isn’t the (local) power utility supporting solar use?” asks Deb Curlee in a letter to her local paper, The Key West Citizen.

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