Mary Mattingly The artist who invented  the “Wearable Home,” is now preparing to spend months in an off-grid floating home off Manhattan.

In 2005, Mary Mattingly proposed the idea that an all-weather jumpsuit equipped with solar panels and a water purifier might be all the shelter a person needs.  Now the  30-year-old sculptor and photographer from Queens, is about to move,  with several others, to a 30-by-100-foot barge moored at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
>>Keep reading “NY off-grid experiment”

Moon & the Sledgehammer There is an appalling new documentary doing the rounds at the moment: The Age of Stupid is one of the worst films I have seen in a long time.  It hardly deserves to be called a film - just a pasting together of some badly chosen snippets about global warming.  

Meanwhile The Moon and the Sledgehammer, an oddball 1971 documentary about a British family living in Sussex without mains power or water is enjoying a revival in London and New York.
>>Keep reading “The Moon and the Sledgehammer”

Ahhh, if only I had a camera that would/could capture the beautiful colors I am seeing right now. I am usually sleeping at this time, I am not a morning person, really never have been, I am very much a night owl. I awoke sometime during the night and couldn’t go back to sleep. I didn’t do a marathon session on the computer yesterday or last night because of the rain we have been having, it has really put a damper on the solar panels, so not much power=not much computer time. Oh well, it’s OK, I have found other ways to entertain myself.
>>Keep reading “Bittersweet sunrise”

Old gardeners don’t die…. One of the up sides to our current global economic crisis is indicators pointing to a dramatic increase in people’s interest in growing their own food – an important aspect of Off-Grid living.

Many first-time gardeners are purchasing seeds and regulars at playing in the dirt are expanding their efforts to grow their own vegetables. There is, however, another opportunity for people to help others while helping themselves.

>>Keep reading “Companion Gardening - with a twist”

Kicking ass for cap and trade

Incoming boss of Greenpeace USA, Phil Radford, took a break to speak to Off-Grid about his aims for the organisation.

He praised Americans living off-grid for showing a way forward that everyone could follow. “We have a short time to make dramatic changes in society’s use of energy,” he said.  

“People with or without permission need to be putting up solar panels and wind turbines, whether they are off-grid or on the grid.”  

Phil Radford’s  main enemy:  companies like ExxonMobil and Southern Energy “that will fight to the death against any action on global warming,” he said.
>>Keep reading “God and green politics”

It seems that "someone" is trying to prove that free range chickens are no better or possibly worse than caged chickens.
>>Keep reading “Well Duh!”

Great Guy! Tim DeChristopher is the new eco-hero. The Utah economics student  last Friday became the owner of 22,500 acres of Red Rock Desert – and prevented it falling into the hands of oil and gas interests.

He hopes the $45,000 check he handed in  will serve as a deposit on his chunk of Utah desert. Only problem is he has no money, and another $1.8 million is needed to prevent him going to jail. He raised the $45,000 at www.bidder70.org, and anyone can go there to help.

DeChristopher, 27 has had no help or support from the big environmental organisations. They are too interested in a seat at the power table, he says .

>>Keep reading “Bidder70.org”

Megaprofits for energy corps UK energy suppliers are ripping their customers off via the grid says the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

UK utility bills rose 16.7 per cent in the year ended November, compared with an average of just 3.8 per cent in the EU. In the euro currency area, the figure was 0.7 per cent.

German consumers saw a rises of just 1.5 per cent, while prices in France actually went down by 0.6 per cent in the period ended November. And in the U.S., energy prices tumbled 13.3 per cent.
>>Keep reading “British energy rip-off”

Guest writer Keith Farnish takes up the cudgels to support the word “Green” in an ongoing debate over whether the word is now so over-used its meaningless.

Farnish: Green not Brown I don’t believe for a moment that the corporate world will let go of the word “green” without a fight, and I certainly have some sympathy with Nick in turning to our old friend “brown” – good old earthy brown, compost brown, manure brown, bark brown – but while brown is a colour you are far more likely to find in a woodland than in a shopping mall, it is not the only colour of life.

In fact life has a host of different colours: the vivid reds that signify the fruits of autumn and the segment of sun as it disappears over the horizon; the warm oranges of so many flowers, pebbles and leaves;
>>Keep reading “Reclaiming “Green””