OFG-HowToFreeYourself.svg

celebrity

Thomas Massie is a right wing libertarian
People

Off-Grid Congressman

Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie lives off the grid with his family, on a cattle farm in a solar-powered home he built himself. He commutes to Washington, where he serves on three committees.

Massie was born in Huntington, West Virginia. He grew up in Vanceburg, Kentucky, and met his future wife, Rhonda. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[3]

In 1993, at MIT, he and his wife started a company called SensAble Devices Inc.[4][5] Massie was the winner in 1995 of the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for inventors.[3] The company was re-incorporated as SensAble Technologies, Inc., in 1996 after partner Bill Aulet joined the company.[4] They raised $32 million of venture capital, had 24 different patents, and 70 other employees.[6]

Massie sold the company, and he and his wife moved back to their hometown in Lewis County.

Last year and the year before, he forced a vote on an appropriations bill to prevent government forcing companies to install back doors in their products. He’s most pessimistic about the national debt and the fact that when interest rates return to normal levels, the country will be paying up to a trillion dollars a year to service its debt. That’s bigger than the military budget.

Second-term RepublicAn congressman Massie may be the staunchest defender of liberty most people have never heard of. The Massachusetts institute of Technology grad recently gave an interview to Reason TV:

Q: What makes you optimistic?

A: Technology and innovation and the human spirit to improve our own lives. You know my background as an engineer. I have 29 patents. I’ve invented things. And when people say, “Will our children be better off than we were?”…I say, “Yes, but it’s going to be due to the engineers, not the politicians.”

Q: What are the most important votes coming up for a libertarian-leaning Republican?

A: I think we can force some votes on the privacy issue. Last year and the year before, I forced a vote on an appropriations bill to shut down government forcing companies to install back doors in their products. That amendment was attached to an appropriations bill that got thrown away and then an omnibus was later done. But it’s important to get the votes, because then you can see where the congressmen stand.

Q: In a recent Republican debate, all the candidates were like, “Apple should unlock that phone [belonging to one of the San Bernardino terrorists] and be done with it.” What did you think of that?

A: I’m sad. Now that Rand is out of the race, the libertarian voice is gone. And I think it’s also untethered some of [the remaining] candidates to become more neocon-ish.

Q: In terms of the presidential race, what’s the best outcome?

A: I’m really pessimistic. I don’t think there is a good outcome …

Read More »
Events

Off-Grid girl on American Idol

All the way from a remote mountaintop 6 miles from Crawford CO, Jeneve Rose Mitchell didn’t think she was ready to take her small-town voice to the biggest of stages, but the final season of “American Idol”has made the 15-year-old a national face.

Jeneve has lived for the past eight years in a straw bale home with no running water or electricity.

“We can’t get power lines up there,” she tells the TV audience, “so we use kerosene lanterns. Twice a week, during ‘American Idol’ season, we turn on a generator to get the TV going.”

Jeneve’s quiet corner of elk wilderness where she spends much of her free time training horses and playing music, is “definitely lonely sometimes,” she admits.

“Me and my mom and my dad pretty much fend for ourselves on our ranch. Sometimes we go (back)packing. We are big campers.”

Her mother, Jenny, is a heath care provider and operates a local family clinic. Jeneve’s father — who also serves as her vocal coach — is a carpenter. He built the family’s home by hand using straw bales and mud from the mountainside.

With a cello draped across her body — you’ll have to see it to believe it — Mitchell stood out in a crowd of nearly 10,000 this fall in Denver and was selected to play in front of “American Idol” judges Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr.

Not only did Mitchell secure a spot in front of the trio of musical stars, she’s also likely to appear in the premiere episode of the 15th and final season of “American Idol” airing Wednesday, Jan. 6, on Fox. The second night of the premiere airs on Thursday, Jan. 7.

In advance of the premiere, Mitchell spoke in a telephone interview about her decision to audition for the show, her musical background in Crawford and the rather unorthodox way she grew up watching “American Idol.”

Melinda Mawdsley: Thank you so much for your time. This is the final season of “American Idol.” I’m guessing that helped push you into an audition.

Jeneve Rose Mitchell: Yeah. I’ve always wanted to try out for “American Idol” but was going to when I was older and more polished, but since this was the last season, I decided to just go for it. I pretty much grew up watching “American Idol.” We turned on the generator up here just to watch “American Idol.” Otherwise, we don’t have power up here.

Mawdsley: Um, what? Where do you live?

Mitchell: I was born in Las Vegas and lived there until I was 7. My parents bought a bunch of property on a mountain near Crawford five years before I was born. My dad grew up near here. When I was 7 we moved here. When we moved here my mom had my dad build her a clinic.

Mawdsley: Is your …

Read More »
Brad Pitt on set of The BIG SHORT
People

Brad Pitt’s latest role: a smart off-gridder

Brad Pitt is the smartest man in Hollywood, says the Toronto Globe and Mail. You may scoff, but it’s true. Not many actor-producers could have transformed The Big Short, Michael Lewis’s book about the 2007 financial crisis, into a comic drama – especially with a writer-director, Adam McKay, who’d only made Will Ferrell comedies. It’s full of mortgage jargon. Its heroes are villains – sure, they’re smart enough to see the meltdown coming, but they profit from it.

McKay’s comic and clear-eyed adaption has a handful of finance speculators predicting a downturn in the housing market only to realize, to their horror and immense profit, that they’ve effectively bet against America, and won.

It’s a rollicking, outrage-fueled odyssey through the financial collapse of 2008, from the carefree offices on Wall Street to the subdivisions in Florida, that gradually reveals not just a market bubble but a colossally bankrupt system and a nation that blissfully teetered into absurdity.

It was made into a film largely thanks to Pitt’s clout. His production company, Plan B Entertainment, provided financing that saw it through a long development process. Then he secured the rest of the funds by taking a small (but pivotal) role as Ben Rickert, the smartest of the smartypants, who saw the crisis coming, got out and is now living off the grid, growing his own food.

The film stars Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling and Christian Bale, but “Brad’s presence in the film was key,” McKay said at a recent screening in Toronto.

“He knew he had to play a real role.” He did it for the right reasons, too: The financial world is as dodgy as ever, and Pitt says so on every red carpet he walks.

You could argue that a megacelebrity who craps from his aerie on how other people make money is a hypocrite. But Pitt is “not just the smartest guy in town,” McKay says. “He’s also the most generous guy. He wants to address the poverty gap. He builds houses for people. He genuinely cares.”

Read More »
Carolyn Chute
Community

Carolyn Chute living in the woods – she couldn’t be happier

Catch our video visiting one of America’s greatest living novelists as she does her daily chores the Maine backwoods?

She just doesn’t trust the system – nor want any part of it.

Carolyn searched for her piece of heaven together with her husband. They are both people who lost faith in the system, as it failed them.

She talks movingly about the death of her baby son when she did not have the money for medicare bills.

Carolyn also has a deep sense of pain for the slaves that were brought over many years ago. She wants to live a more natural and earthy life so that she can find peace within.

Read More »
jeremy corbyn
Events

Power to the people says Jeremy Corbyn

jeremy corbynUK Labor Leader comes out for Distributed Power

Says Britain must empower citizen suppliers and direct private investment into green technology

“This week world leaders have begun the final phase in their attempt to reach a deal to keep global warming below 2C. Such a deal would be an important step in the fight against climate change, even if it seems likely that the targets and mechanisms will not go far enough. But we need to look beyond Paris and ask ourselves more fundamental questions that the problem of global warming raises.

I believe that climate change is a problem of imagination — of the limits to our imagination. It cannot be solved unless we open up our imaginations, unless we begin to think, talk and act as if we cared about the future.

This means we must use our imaginations to ask: what would our world look like if we allow global temperatures to rise by 2-3C? It would be a world with a hostile climate: more of the storms, flooding and droughts we have begun to see over the last few decades. Events such as the flooding in Cumbria this week will become more frequent — these are entirely consistent with scientists’ predictions.

Moreover, if we do not turn back this government’s austerity drive, our weakened public services will not be able to cope with the consequences of such events. Despite Cameron’s pledge that “money is no object” in dealing with flooding, savage cuts to public services and flood defences have left people vulnerable. Yet again, this government has failed to deliver on its promises.

A world 2-3C warmer would also be a world of war, in which millions will be displaced and forced to migrate in search of peace and security.

We must imagine this world not because it is a remote possibility, but because unless world leaders are more ambitious in their aims — both in Paris and beyond — this will be the world that humanity has created for itself. The IMF has warned us: “Human fortunes will evaporate like water under a relentless sun if climate change is not checked soon.”

However perilously close we may be to this world, we must also imagine the world we want to create. That world is a more equal world, a more just world, and a world in which where you live is based on the quality of the air you breathe. It is a world in which businesses are producing products and services we cannot yet imagine, but with lower energy and operating costs.

We want a world where governments shape rules that promote public goods — where they protect the ultimate public good of a stable climate in which humanity can survive and prosper.

To do that, we need a state that invests. We need an entrepreneurial, nimble state that neither wages war with markets …

Read More »
Community

Home & Away star goes off the grid

lisa-gormley-anti-fracking-300x242Home and Away’s Lisa Gormley is in the middle of building an off-the-grid eco cabin in the Tasmanian rainforest. She is looking forward to spending more time with her family, including her parents who live on a 20ha farm.

The 30-year-old moved to Tasmania with her parents when she was 12, and recently said she wanted to spend time with her family and travel. Not one to shy away from new challenges, Gormley was one of hundreds of people who gathered in Tasmania’s Upper Florentine Valley in April to rally against the Federal Government’s attempt to reopen some World Heritage-listed forests to logging.

One of Australia’s most popular stars she revealed she would be open to returning to her soapie roots, years after shocking fans with her decision to leave.

Dan Ewing and Lisa Gormley, who played on-screen couple Heath and Bianca, recently reunited on the Home And Away set to film An Eye For An Eye – a spin-off. And the walk down memory lane left both pining for the good old days. “I’d definitely be open to a discussion about coming back, I have to say,” Ewing admits.

“If the (right) storyline was there, I would. I wouldn’t want to play the same old Heath for another three years, though – I’d want it to be fresh and him to have evolved.” At least part of his willingness to return to the role of resident heavily inked bad boy Heath comes down to Archie, his one-year-old son.

Ewing and his wife Marni have been mostly raising their bundle of joy in Los Angeles. It’s a great city, especially for an ambitious actor, but he says nowhere compares to home.

“Having a kid really changes your perspective,” he admits. “The quality of life here in Australia is unique – you can’t find it elsewhere in the world. There are so many opportunities – we’re so lucky.

“But, most of all, I think it’s a dad thing … I’m looking at life for my child. And Marni really misses her family. Skype and FaceTime are great but it can’t beat the joy of seeing your little boy run up to grandma for a big hug.” LA will always be there, too – and technology means an actor doesn’t have to physically live Stateside these days to chase the big time, he says.

Since leaving the show, Gormley has spent a few years travelling, teaching overseas and starring in various stage productions. And the nature-loving performer is in the middle of building an off-the-grid eco cabin in the Tasmanian rainforest.

Gormley is also open to returning to the show that launched her career – just not yet. “I would, but maybe not for another little while because I’ve still got things I want to try,” she says. “I’ve done a lot of things that were on my list – I’m slowly …

Read More »
Cara Delavigne eats a burger -- beef is one of the most carbon intensive foods
Off-Grid 101

Cutting your Carbon Footprint

Suppose you believe that man-made Carbon emissions are bad for the planet. What do you do about it? Some eminent experts say that individuals can do little or nothing to reduce global pollution and its all down to governments and giant corporations.

Others say that you have to start somewhere, and if the corporations and busybody Governments won’t act, we the people can shame them.

Our view is somewhere in between – its sensible to reduce consumption especially for those of us in Western society who have been over-consuming for decades.

Here is a handy guide to what you can do. It happens to overlap neatly with many of the things people do when they live off-grid – in order to save both money and resources.

Fly less:

Flights account for an eighth of all transport carbon emissions. Trains and phone/web calls are less intensive alternatives.

Drive less and better:

Use fuel-efficient modern cars, share and drive in a higher gear. Public transport is better and walking best of all — including for health.

Eat less meat:

The shift from animal to plant-based protein reduces energy required to produce food, reduces methane emissions from livestock — and is healthier.

Waste less food:

A third of food globally is wasted, or 1.3bn tonnes a year. Freeze food nearing expiry, don’t cook too much and use leftovers.

Keep clothes longer:

Wash clothes less often and at lower temperatures to extend their life; sell or donate them when no longer wanted.

Buy fewer things: Electrical goods use energy, but products also have a significant “embodied” carbon impact from their manufacture and transport. Cut down, buy longer-lasting products and resell or donate after use.

Recycle more: Throwing out means the need for replacement production; and waste in landfills produces methane emissions. Rinse, separate and recycle.

Use less water:

Shower for a shorter time, wash up in a bowl not with a running tap, use economy settings in washing machines, steam cook.

Use less heat: Save money and waste by setting thermostats at 18-21C and turned off when out; use insulation; install solar panels.

Use less power: Use LED bulbs; turn off lights and standby on devices when not in use; don’t heat more water in a kettle than needed; limit air-conditioning.

Read More »
Home and Away star makes off-grid plans in Tasmania
Land

Actress Lisa Gormley builds off-grid

Aussie actress Lisa Gormley is in the middle of building an off-the-grid eco cabin in the Tasmanian rainforest.

The 30-year-old moved to Tasmania with her parents when she was 12, and recently said she wanted to spend time with her family and travel. Not one to shy away from new challenges, Gormley was one of hundreds of people who gathered in Tasmania’s Upper Florentine Valley in April to rally against the Federal Government’s attempt to reopen some World Heritage-listed forests to logging.

One of Australia’s most popular stars, she also revealed she would be open to returning to her soapie roots, years after leaving the show,

Since, Gormley has spent a few years travelling, teaching overseas and starring in various stage productions. And is open to returning to the show that launched her career – just not yet. “I would, but maybe not for another little while because I’ve still got things I want to try,” she says. “I’ve done a lot of things that were on my list – I’m slowly ticking them off.”

She had a ball “getting the band back together”. “It was just gorgeous,” she beams. “I love this show. It’s not like I left because I didn’t. And, when I did, I suddenly lost 50 people from my life, which was sad. Coming back to play with them again was great.” Bonnie Sveen is a central part of the plot for the spin-off, after her character Ricky’s baby Casey is kidnapped. Adding to that, everyone is left reeling by Ash’s (George Mason) revelation.

She relished the chance to sink her teeth into a meaty storyline and be part of a history-making experiment.

“This is a first for the show – they’ve never done anything like it before,” Sveen says.

“It feels different, too – they’re shooting it differently. I don’t know much about the technology, I’m sorry, but the cameramen played with filters and angles and that sort of thing.

“It gives it a slightly different look and feel. That made it an exciting prospect.” Ricky’s story arc in recent years has been a turbulent one but Sveen thinks there’s a lot of life left in it.

“I think there’s a while to go in the journey and I’m enjoying it,” she says. “I’m not in any hurry to move on at all.”HOME AND AWAY FINALE, WEDNESDAY, 7PM, SEVEN. AN EYE FOR AN EYE WILL BE AVAILABLE ON PRESTO IMMEDIATELY AFTER, AT 8.30PM

Read More »
Community

BBC series has a laugh at self-sufficient lifestyle

Former member of 1990s boy band 5ive, Abz Love, has swapped a life of singing for a farm in Wales in a new BBC2 series “Country Strife: Abz on the Farm”.

Abz, who to be honest comes across as “a bit of an iriot”, and his partner Vicky leave the music business behind them and head to rural Wales to live off the land as the two novice farmers set about buying and renovating their very own smallholding.

The series is played for laughs and whatever the TV execs told Abz, it is laughs at him rather than with him, although you could say the same thing about the music

With a little help from their new neighbours, they’ll take on a world of mud, rain, livestock and vegetable planting and learn what it takes to survive in the countryside on a shoestring.

Abz and Vicky are determined to realise their dream of self-sufficiency, but with plans bigger than their pockets and very limited farming know-how, will their ambitions and enthusiasm withstand the harsh reality of living off-grid?

Abz says “Moving to Wales was a complete shock to the system – the house, the chickens, the horses, the foxes, the cats, the splinters, the leaks, the grass, the gates, the fence, the rain. This being said, I have met some wonderful people with beautiful insights – I currently love my life.”

Head of Natural History and Specialist Factual Formats Commissioning, Tom McDonald says “Country Strife is a warm, engaging series following a charming, open-hearted couple try to live the good life against all odds.

“With no knowledge of country life, very limited funds and a series of increasingly outlandish ambitions and plans, Abz and Vicky are in for an often hilarious reality check as they touch down in rural Wales.

“Through their eyes, the BBC Two audience will get a real sense of what it really takes to make a go of the countryside dream.”

“Country Strife: Abz on the Farm” will air on BBC Two this summer.

Read More »
Viggo Mortensen interview explaining his secret life off the grid
People

Backwoods past of Movie Star

Actor Viggo Mortensen recalls his favourite filming locations are “the outdoors and natural landscapes, so there are places in New Zealand, particularly the South Island that I really enjoyed and have gone back to. I’ve revisited remote places in the deserts and mountains of Argentina and North Africa. I look forward to going back to Russia to where Eastern Promises was shot, at the border between Siberia and the Ural Mountain region. I also enjoyed shooting in some very remote areas in the west of North America. I recently finished a movie called Captain Fantastic, where I play the father of six kids and we live in a big tent in a completely off-the-grid pine forest. These are places that I’m familiar with because I used to live in that part of the country, literally in the middle of a national forest for some time.”

How often do you travel? Nearly every two or three days I’ve been on a plane going somewhere this year, to Paris, Berlin, London, Argentina, Canada, and America. But I never lose the inspiration to travel because places always change. A place you think you know very well, including where you were born, is not the same place you were born in, it always changes.

Filming in Denmark and Argentina for Mortensen’s latest film ‘Jauja,’reminded him of his childhood in Argentina
“It wasn’t very different from my memories of it when I was there for the film. The streets, the sounds, the people, the way they speak, the food – everything was very familiar. But we were shooting in wild places far removed from urban landscapes, places nearly untouched by humans, with no roads, phones or internet. In Denmark, we shot in the south of the island of Zealand – the island Copenhagen is on. Anytime I go to Denmark I feel at home. I find the more one travels, the more places one can call home and the better you’ll get along with people and also yourself. Travel is probably the greatest anti-war weapon that exists – seeing things first hand, not through the internet, being in direct contact with different cultures, languages, smells and landscapes – different ways of looking at life can only be a positive thing.”

“During the filming of Lord of The Rings, the Department of Conservation allowed us special access into remote areas that most New Zealanders only knew from photos. We got to live and work in there and it was wonderful.

For a perfect holiday Mortensen leaves “my phone and computer behind. Because everything you need is going to be wherever you go. You’re going there to find out about other things so why bring things from the place you’ve just come from? Worst ever travelling experience? Sometimes things that are really disturbing or inconvenient are what make a trip memorable. I remember my dad taking us …

Read More »
People

Lights goes off-grid to get her Mojo back

Hanging out with hippies in a New Mexico hot spring isn’t the first place you might picture Canadian electropoop singer-songwriter Lights — finding inspiration for her week-old new disc, Little Machines.

The 27-year-old songstress — born Valerie Poxleitner– had a case of writer’s block due to increased expectations after the release of her 2009 debut, The Listening, her 2011 sophomore album, Siberia, and its 2012 acoustic version.

So she set off for Taos, N.M., last August to get her mojo back.

Read More »

off-grid.net

Join the global off-grid community

Register for a better experiencE on this site!