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EVENTS

Here comes the sun

February 12, 2010
Here comes the sunBecause we live off the grid, people seem to think we live in a shack without modern conveniences. Totally not true, but we do have to be frugal with our energy usage. On sunny days, we can turn on all sorts of appliances at the same time, allowing me to vacuum and wash clothes while we brew coffee, heat stuff in the microwave, watch TV, and surf the Web.

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Walking house, Air-borne hotel – Welcome to eco-prop

February 8, 2010
Walking house, Air-borne hotel – Welcome to eco-prop The world’s first walking home set off on vacation early this morning. The box-like dwelling which uses six hydraulic legs powered by solar panels left the Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridge UK where it has lived for the last 18 months, bound for an arts festival in Essen, Germany. Meanwhile in the virtual world, a British design company in cahoots with industrial giant Samsung unveiled a film of a “revolutionary transport system’” it calls ‘Aircruise’ –a solar-powered air-born luxury hotel.

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Take a walk on the wild side….

February 7, 2010
Take a walk on the wild side…. .....Lou Reed sang the song; now he has gone back to the wilderness. The archteypal  New York heroin rocker,Reed,together with his wife, performance artist Laurie Anderson, has bought land in upstate New York. She has taken up farming, and he is into nature photography. A show of Lou Reed's photos opened last month in Wichita Falls. Reed, 67, former lead singer of the Velvet Underground,  has rediscovered the ethereal, ephemeral beauty of nature in his photographs, but with a kind of avant garde sensibility.

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Freeconomy founder talk tonight

February 6, 2010
Freeconomy founder talk tonight A UK green weekend in Nottingham will hear a keynote speech this evening from Mark Boyle, who has been living without money for more than a year. His talk is part of a weekend of environmental events in Nottingham at the Art Organisation, Station Street, as part of the Space For Life: Big Green Weekend event.

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Haiti rebuild starts

January 29, 2010
Haiti rebuild starts Off-grid technologies, such as lights and cookers has been a major feature of the Haitian relief effort. And as the international aid effort is finally getting through to the people, thoughts are turning to the next stage: the reconstruction. Now an off-grid approach is the best hope for the long-term reconstruction of the stricken country say politicians and development experts. The effects of the earthquake that struck on Jan 13 were so debilitating, at least in part because power, water, government, fuel, transport and distribution were all centered on the capital Port Au Prince. Once that was destroyed it was difficult to provide even basic amenities to the population of 7m. Speaking this week Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said; "We have to decentralize. It's the only way to be efficient. It's also the only way to avoid the same problems happening in Haiti again."

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Lori Ryker speaks

January 24, 2010
Lori Ryker speaks Lori Ryker, architecture professor and author of two books about Off The Grid living, will speak at Louisiana state University college of art & design, Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 4:30 p.m. in Room 103 of the Art & Design Building. The lecture is free and open to the public. Lori is researching the relationship between communities and the larger environment relative to design and building practices.

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Off-Grid art show in Dehli

January 24, 2010
Off-Grid art show in Dehli The Anant gallery in Dehli had a group show last month called Living off the Grid. It was about ways to escape the many grids that circumscribe our lives.

Here are curator Meera Menezes notes on the show:

Like it or not, our lives are enmeshed in the intersecting lines of a Grid in the worlds both real and virtual.

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Haiti may rescue Venezuela

January 19, 2010
Haiti may rescue Venezuela

At the same time as the Venezuela government introduces measures to ration electricity, President Hugo Chavez accuses the US government of deliberately engineering the Haitian earthquake.  But the sight of U.S. Marines on Venezuelan TV, risking their lives to save the poorest Haitians, reminds Venezuelans that those Marines could help save them.

It might set Venezuelans to questioning just why Chavez remains their president.  If it does, the irony would be of U.S. Marines taking Chavez down — without even firing a shot.

Chavez told Spanish newspaper ABC that the earthquake was the product of a "tectonic weapon" launched by the U.S. Navy in a test-run for the U.S.' ultimate target: Iran.

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Greed is US

January 14, 2010
Greed is US For years we have been taught to measure the quality of our lives according to how much we can consume – bigger house, grander cars, more food, till we are so fat we can barely walk – drugs, till we cannot think straight -- alcohol, gold, diamonds, travel – these are the status symbols that our society adores -- rather than love, wisdom, loyalty or honesty. The average American consumes more than his or her weight in products each day, according to a new report (State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability) published by the Worldwatch Institute in Washington DC.

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