Michael Jackson in 1995 Michael Jackson sang in his best known environmentally conscious track “Earth Song”: “Did you ever stop to notice, the crying Earth, the weeping shores? What have we done to the world?”

This kind of ecological concern from artists was not common at that time (1995). The brilliant video - which was derided by some of the pop press as “hard to understand” featured shots of wildlife and Jackson walking through a burned out landscape.

In 2007 the pop superstar told Ebony Magazine he was “very concerned” about the “international global warming phenomenon.”

“I wish they would have gotten people’s interest sooner. But it’s never too late…..It’s been described as a runaway train; if we don’t stop it, we’ll never get it (our world) back. So we have to fix it, now.

“That’s what I was trying to do with Earth Song, Heal The World, We Are The World - writing those songs to open up people’s consciousness. I wish people would listen to every word.”
>>Keep reading “Michael Jackson’s Earth Song”

Right place, Wong time CANBERRA - THE closure of an Australian Federal Government off-grid energy rebate scheme 18 months early has removed all support for the solar sector and left industry plans in disarray, a solar power trade body (the Clean Energy Council) has claimed.

In a further setback to eco policy, hundreds of employees in the emerging solar PV industry face immediate layoffs as a direct result of last weeks decision by the Senate to defer the government’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) bill.
>>Keep reading “Oz pols shaft solar”

Looking for those few essential items to go off-grid?  Try the camping store: heat, food and shelter are the pre-requisites, and campers can buy them for cheap.

Even Amazon.com is a good source of cool camping gear, including the  Deluxe shelter and solar shower. In an instant, a 4-feet-x-4-feet “locker room” pops up. It comes with a five-gallon water jug that you fill up and let the sun heat.

Camping is buried deep in the American psyche. The famous ”Great Camps” of the Adirondacks were originally no more than tent compounds in which wealthy Americans passed their summers under canvas, and in the (relative) wilderness. Then they had their tents put on platforms and had lean-tos added. 
>>Keep reading “Comfy camping gear”

5-star movie     The makers of this cult movie  used real off-grid kids living in Portland, Oregon.  They were part of a group that moves around the country by freight train.

It won Best Picture Award from the Toronto Film Critics Association, and is now out on DVD.  The film centers on misfortunes that befall a woman, Wend, traveling with her dog to find work in Alaska.
>>Keep reading “Wendy and Lucy”

Here’s an update on what has been going on with us. Things have been going pretty well, we have been living here, 100% off grid for a year and a half. We have fallen into a regular routine, I cook, clean, garden, work at the Country Store and other miscellaneous things, Mountain Man Bob works on the sky castle and the various things that make our lives better and easier.  We have gone from living in a 1 room cabin, with 2 out of the 4 walls being 2 layers of building plastic, with no heat or running water, actually we slept in a tent inside the cabin because the cabin would not keep out insects. When we first got here, it was December, and it was cooooold! I know it got down to at least 14 degrees F, overnight, with the winds blowing a gale, we didn’t have our wood stove installed yet, we put all of our canned goods inside the tent in hopes that our body heat would keep the cans from freezing. We have come a long way baby!
>>Keep reading “Updates and the new shed”

Verizon MiFi Forbes magazine recommends “stabbing into the wilderness for a five-day fly-fishing trip,  toting your BlackBerry.”  Sadly the corporate muppets writing  for Forbes think they would manage to recharge the device using a  Solio Mg ($200 from Better Energy Systems). But this products sucks.
>>Keep reading “Forbes gadgets suck”

Today I made another batch of laundry soap. I had ran out about a month ago, I was using the leftover powdered store bought soap, wow is there a difference! When I use the commercial soap, I often need to run a second rinse cycle, especially if I look at the rinse water, it’s nearly as soapy as the wash cycle, I know that is just being dried into my clothes, that can’t be good for my skin. When I use my homemade laundry soap, I use so much less, and it gets my clothes just as clean if not cleaner, and I don’t see that residue of suds in the rinse water.
>>Keep reading “DIY laundry soap - video”

Everybody’s doing it The New York Times reports that many more students this year are looking for rural internships - gardening and organic farming are top of their list. (Some links to farm work apprenticeships are on the next page)

Erin Axelrod will be living in a tent, using an outdoor composting toilet and harvesting vegetables on a farm near Petaluma, Calif.

Gina Runfola, an English and creative writing student, was selected from over 20 applicants to intern at 3-Corner Field Farm in Shushan, N.Y. 

Ms. Runfola, who grew up on the Jersey Shore and has never even gone camping, will plot her next move from a small trailer parked a half a city block away from the Internet connection in the main farmhouse.

>>Keep reading “Sign of The Times”

Save 90% of the energy Page Three girl Keely Hazell has been campaigning for houses to switch to energy-saving Chest freezers. We thought it was just an urban legend, but Keely is right. For years there has been a persistent rumour that chest freezers can be used as fridges at just one tenth of the power consumption.  A stream of stories on Australian web sites seems to confirm it.

The theory is that a chest freezer will use less power because the horizontal lid doesn’t let cold air fall out when it’s opened, and it has very thick insulation compared to a fridge.
>>Keep reading “Yes, its true what they say about Chest Freezers”