Canals and forests, going, going….goneHaving nationalised the banks, Britain’s Labor government looks set to sell off the country’s forests and waterways to private buyers, in an attempt to balance the books ahead of the next election.

The Forestry Commission which manages the country’s forest stock and British Waterways,the body that manages Britain’s rivers and canals, both control huge swathes of land that would be ideal for off-grid living. In the event they were sold, these possibilities may disappear, although they may also move up the agenda as the new owners attempt to maximise profitablity.
>>Keep reading “UK forests & rivers may be sold”

This land is their land - Ogles on a hikeROCKBRIDGE, Ohio — Charles and Melanie Ogle have lived happily off the power grid for 17 years in their solar-powered log home perched on a ridge in the Hocking Hills.

They don’t want or need electric lines, but it seems that a power line is about to be strung outside their house anyway.

The Ogles are fighting a plan by American Electric Power to take some of their land by eminent domain to build an overhead electric line to power a telecommunications tower that the utility is building about 1,500 feet south of their house.
>>Keep reading “Fight to halt power line”

Sponsored ecolife NEARLY FOUR YEARS AGO, Off-Grid founder Nick Rosen began traveling around Britain in a veggie-powered RV to meet off-gridders and highlight the simple life.

Now he has a host of flattering imitators. The New York Times featured a clutch of them last weekend, including Sara and Matt Janssen who moved from a 1,600-square-foot home to a tour the country without harming the planet — i.e. they took up residence in a 36-foot recreational vehicle fueled by used vegetable oil.
>>Keep reading “NY Times features Eco-RVers”

Patagonia’s McDivitt If you want to save the planet, better buy it - before the bad guys do.

In the latest example of moral status anxiety, millionaires are snapping up vast tracts of wilderness in underdeveloped countries to preserve it for posterity.

Sebastián Piñera, one of the richest men in Chile, has created Parque Tantauco on one of South America’s largest islands, Chiloé, off the coast of Patagonia.

Piñera bought the land in 2005 and set about protecting the offshore habitat of blue whales and the inland virgin forests.
>>Keep reading “The Goldman Sachs eco-system”

Gerald: an example to us all Matt Gerald’s business is growing – flowers, that is. This semi-hippie capitalist/sort of back-to the-lander/child of the ’70s likes watching his gardens grow. And boy, does he have gardens. He also grows vegetables in abundance.

“There’s nothing like wading through a snowdrift to collect your own fresh vegetables.” says Gerald.
>>Keep reading “Flower power”

Consider this

Q: What links Spain with New York’s Mohawk River Valley, 240km-long, beginning just west of the state capital, Albany? A: They have both seen a sudden rush in eco-developments.

Safflyn Corporation is planning a $53m housing project with 100 solar and wind-powered homes surrounded by athletics fields, walking trails, a golf course and driving range.

Manhattan-based Caledonia Advisors picked urban Utica on the Upper Mohawk, 370km north-west of New York City.
>>Keep reading “Eco second homes”

Thiel - building his own country
A $500,000 donation from PayPal founder Peter Thiel, has kickstarted the Sea-steading Institute, to create experimental ocean communities “with diverse social, political, and legal systems.”

There’s a long history of people founding independent nation-states out in the ocean, most recently on an abandoned gun emplacement off the coat of Britain. They offered mail order kidney transplants and tax breaks to drug dealers, and eventually fled their “nation” to escape from some other bad guys.

But the Sea-Steaders have an unusually coherent philosophy, and an impressive track record in getting things done.
>>Keep reading “Reinventing the nation state”

Step into another world
You don”t need to be Johan Eliasch, the Swedish multimillionaire who bought 400,000 acres of Amazonian rainforest to “save” it, to own your own wood.

Fifty paces into this piece of British woodland and the roar of the road gives way to birdsong. A pheasant flutters from the scrub and a fat hare thumps off in the direction of a stream. You are in the world of gleaming Arthurian knights stepping from between the sun-striped, mossy tree trunks.
>>Keep reading “Buying ancient woodland”

Off-grid planning advisor
Introducing top planning and environmental lawyer Tim Driver of UK law firm Berryman……

Tim will be advising off-grid readers IN THE UK ONLY, on how to gain planning permission for their off-grid homes (any lawyers in the United States interested in helping off-gridders fight their way through the system, please feel free to contact us).

Planning permission, the right to live on or use a particular piece of land, is the main obstacle to off-gridders in the UK.

Trouble with the local council planning officers? Or the neighbours? Or building control? If you need help carving out your little piece of off-grid heaven, write to MANWITHPLAN@OFF-GRID.NET with questions or requests for advice .
>>Keep reading “The Man with the Plan”