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Lucy Williams

911 – My Tiny House has been Stolen

The tiny house movement never expected this:- instead of them stealing from his home, Lawrence Thomas returned to the street where he had parked his 95 square foot house in Hermiston Oregon, to discover thieves had actually made off with his entire home.

The custom-made tiny building was stolen after Thomas parked it in Hermiston while passing through the area.  Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan said his office took a report of the theft on Jan. 1 and is investigating.

Thomas said most of his possessions were in the house, including important documents like his birth certificate, and sentimental items that can’t be replaced.

“I really like the idea of a tiny house,” he said. “You save money, and you don’t have a mortgage. My idea was to buy a plot of land and then make the tiny house as off-grid as possible. You can enjoy a higher quality of life without having to spend all your money on rent.”

Thomas estimates the house’s value at about $25,000.

“My house was small — even for a tiny house,” he said. The 95 square-foot structure was 17 feet long by 7.5 feet wide. Thomas lived in it with his two dogs.

“I’m trying to get the word out so that if anyone sees it, they can report it and maybe I can get it back,” he said.

Because of a snowstorm in the Blue Mountains, Thomas, who was moving from Seattle to Las Vegas, stopped at the One Stop Mart outside of Hermiston in late December. He was driving an SUV and hauling his house, where he’d been living for the last four months.

Unable to drive in the bad weather, he parked up at a truck stop on Interstate 84. He spent the night there and realized the next morning that he couldn’t take the house with him in the snow. He said he talked to the manager at the truck stop, who said he could leave the house there until he came back to pick it up.

“She was very helpful, and asked me to pull the tiny house in front of the shop so she could see it,” he said. “And because she said cameras were facing it.”

The two exchanged information, and Thomas continued on to Las Vegas. Then, on New Year’s Eve, he found out the house was gone — and the surveillance cameras he was told would be on his house were in fact facing another direction.

“The manager said they’re going to try to find it,” he said. “They found out the cameras were not pointing that way. The house was locked down and dead-bolted, but someone used bolt cutters and took the house.”

Thomas is now living in Las Vegas with a friend. He spent about 6 months building the house.

 

 

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James Wesley Rawles followers grow in NW USA

The Economist newspaper ran the foilowing report on the growth of survivalism in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana:

A movement of staunch conservatives and doomsday-watchers to the inland north-west is quietly gaining steam

ASKED by an out-of-stater where the nearest shooting range is, Patrick Leavitt, an affable gunsmith at Riverman Gun Works in Coeur d’Alene, says: “This is Idaho–you can shoot pretty much anywhere away from buildings.” That is one reason why the sparsely populated state is attracting a growing number of “political refugees” keen to slip free from bureaucrats in America’s liberal states, says James Wesley, Rawles (yes, with a comma), an author of bestselling survivalist novels. In a widely read manifesto posted in 2011 on his survivalblog.com, Mr Rawles, a former army intelligence officer, urged libertarian-leaning Christians and Jews to move to Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and a strip of eastern Oregon and Washington states, a haven he called the “American Redoubt”.

Thousands of families have answered the call, moving to what Mr Rawles calls America’s last big frontier and most easily defendable terrain. Were hordes of thirsty, hungry, panicked Americans to stream out of cities after, say, the collapse of the national grid, few looters would reach the mostly mountainous, forested and, in winter, bitterly cold Redoubt. Big cities are too far away. But the movement is driven by more than doomsday “redoubters”, eager to homestead on land with lots of water, fish, and big game nearby. The idea is also to bring in enough strongly conservative voters to keep out the regulatory creep smothering liberty in places like California, a state many redoubters disdainfully refer to as “the C-word”.

Estimates of the numbers moving into the Redoubt are sketchy, partly because many seek a low profile. Mr Rawles himself will not reveal which state he chose, not wanting to be overrun when “everything hits the fan”. But Chris Walsh of Revolutionary Realty says growing demand has turned into such a “massive upwelling” that he now sells about 140 properties a year in the north-western part of the Redoubt, its heart. To manage, Mr Walsh, a pilot, keeps several vehicles at landing strips to which he flies clients from his base near Coeur d’Alene.

Many seek properties served not with municipal water but with a well or stream, ideally both, just in case. More than nine out of every ten Revolutionary Realty clients either buy a home off the grid or plan to sever the connection and instead use firewood, propane and solar panels, often storing the photovoltaic power in big forklift batteries bought second-hand. They also plan to educate their children at home. The remoter land preferred by lots of “off-the-gridders” is often cheap. Revolutionary Realty sells sizeable plots for as little as $30,000. After that, settlers can mostly build as they please.

Lance Etche, a Floridian, recently moved his family into the Redoubt after the writings of …

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Community

Solar panels Suspected cause of Fire

A spate of reports across the world pinpoint faulty solar installations as the cause of serious house fires. Badly installed isolators are just one of the possible issues. The problems worsen when it is not possible to shut off the solar power after the fire has started.

But there are positive sides to sad tales of homes being immolated by faulty solar: Here is one from Will Elrick in Australia

“In a moment without realising, a community not seen, then suddenly a community rallying around and are ready and waiting to help pick up the pieces.

About five weeks ago our house which we had only lived in for three months burned to the ground and everything was lost.

We are relatively new to the area and do not really know many people. We lived off the grid and in an isolated area; hence no-one saw the fire until my partner came home to find the house burned to the ground.

It was then our lives were changed. With this tragedy (it is still shocking to be writing this) we have found such amazing people around, and to be quite honest I am not sure where we would be without the community and their generosity.

The reason I am writing this, is that we would like to say thank you; thank you for your help, generosity and outright kindness.

Luckily we were insured (thank goodness) and this has highlighted the importance of this.

Another point to consider when living off the grid is solar. If anyone has solar please get a check up and make sure an expert comes and gives you a ticket of health. We will never really know what started our fire but the investigation found that a strong possibility was that the fire started from our solar system. I think solar is one of the future ways for energy production however like all types of technology it needs to be installed properly and checked regularly.

We were lucky in some ways as a large bushfire could have started but, because of the fire prevention work we did this was not the case. It is also important for the other property owners around the area and also the animal and plant kingdoms that we reside with that they weren’t affected.

Again we would like to say thank you to our community, without your generosity and help life would be a lot different.

It is interesting that the fire affected us both differently; I still feel a huge sense of loss and sadness particularly for my partner as she had collected things from all over the world. She feels a sense of sadness but at the same time knows that life’s plans are never totally determined by us, as outside influences play such a large part in the world; but indeed how we react to them and the …

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Community

Montana retreat near Canadian border

If you want to unplug and enjoy the breathtaking scenery that Montana has to offer, head to The North Fork. Located only a mile from Glacier National Park and three miles from the Canadian border, this small community operates on off-grid generators and solar power, with no cell phone reception for miles.

“That’s exactly why we chose to build here,” said Bill, owner of a three-level log home. What attracted Bill and his wife Luann to the area is also what created a unique challenge for builder Scott Leigh. “To get to the site, we had to drive 60 miles up a gravel road, sometimes in terrible weather, and then have no cell phone reception the entire time we were there,” Scott said. To minimize the difficult commute, he would stay onsite with his workers four days a week and then drive back to his office on Friday and gather more building materials.

The layout and design of the three-bedroom, three-bath log home was a collaborative effort that included Scott, Bill and Luann and designer Eric Bachofner whose company provided the 12-inch Swedish cope, hand-hewn lodgepole pine logs.

Because the site had an unspoiled view of Kintla Peak in Glacier National Park, the scenery was a major influence on the design. “Bill’s big push was centered on how the house was oriented,” said Scott. “He wanted the bay windows to face the mountain range, so we sat out there together with a compass and the floor plans and made it happen.”

The other key essential was a dining bay with 14-foot ceilings that Bill saw on another floor plan and wanted to incorporate into his own log home. The room features large windows with a 270-degree view of the horizon. Western larch logs provide structural support for the roof, but also create a unique “speckled” design leading up to the ceiling.

Not to be outdone by the dining bay, the kitchen boasts amazing views that “look straight out into Lewis and Clark country,” according to Bill, and is decorated to transition seamlessly into the dining and great rooms in the home’s open design.

To complement the logs, Kurt Kress was brought in to create the kitchen’s custom cabinetry from knotty alder. He applied several layers of stain, glaze and lacquer before heavily distressing the doors to give them an antiqued look. He chose a deep brown hue with green undertones that plays off the copper farm sink framed with two handmade newel posts. Seeded-glass panels were inserted into several upper cabinets as accents. Crema Bordeaux granite countertops complete the rich look of the space with copper features that mirror the same accents found throughout the home.

If you want to disconnect from the wired world, Bill and Luann’s home is certainly the place to do it. And you couldn’t ask for a better backdrop than some of the most spectacular …

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Kelvin Griffin stadning in his field on the concrete pads that will house his new solar array
Energy

Queensland farmers battle “Ergon rip-off”

State-owned energy companies in Australia are gouging their captive market – farmers and companies that depend on energy to make their profits – and employ tens of thousands of taxpayers..

Three long concrete strips in a Bundaberg cane field mark a personal blow by Queensland farmers in retaliation against State Government-owned utility Ergon Energy’s excessive power prices.

The three strips, which have cost around AUS$20,000 to lay, will provide the hard standing for a solar power system which will take the Griffin family’s 200-acre Bundaberg sugarcane property completely off the Queensland electricity grid.

“This is a direct response to the soaring power prices which have been crippling farmers like us for years now,” said Kelvin Griffin, who runs the farm with his wife Helen and adult children.

“If we used Ergon’s power for irrigation, if we could afford it, we would be putting at least $40,000 to $50,000 a year into this power giant’s pocket. We won’t, and can’t, do that. But we can take our custom away completely and go off-grid. From now on, our power money goes to pay off our solar system, and make us independent of this government-run giant which obviously does not want to listen to farmers and ordinary families who simply cannot afford their huge electricity costs.”

For the Griffins, it means that after battling flood, drought and now low sugar prices, they have to take on a $100,000 debt to pay for the system.

“This decision to take on this debt has been forced on the Griffin operation due to economic negligence by the Queensland Government. Why should people have to buy their own power infrastructure when our gold-plated network has already been funded by their taxpayer dollars”? said Dale Holliss of the Bundaberg Regional Irrigators Group (BRIG).

“The State Government has had the chance to reverse the impossibly high power prices imposed by its 100 per cent government-owned electricity utility, Ergon – rip-off prices which have soared for irrigators by 96pc since 2009,” he said.

In late October, State Energy Minister Mark Bailey said electricity price “surges” were over and praised the Government and Australian Electricity Regulator (AER) as offering “stable” power costs. But he did not accede to Queensland growers” demands to wind back prices.

“Extensive research has shown that reducing irrigators” power prices by 33pc would prove revenue-neutral to the State-owned Ergon operation simply because farmers could then start using its power to irrigate again,” Mr Hollis said.

CANEGROWERS Queensland delivered data and supporting information around the proposed 33pc cut to Ergon CEO Ian McLeod and the Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) in April 2014. No action was taken by the power giant and its regulator.

“By the Government agreeing to leave the prices at so-called stable levels, it is pushing the irrigators to tipping point over whether or not to install their own solar.

“Current power prices are ridiculous and

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REfugee camps are almost permanent and residents are putting down roots for a permanent off-grid life
Urban

Refugee camps are future cities

The growing number of refugees flooding into camps worldwide could drastically redraw urban areas, it has been claimed. Most camps are largely off-grid, with fires and solar panels the main source of heat and power. In America Republicans have blocked asylum to war-torn Syrians, but around the world hundreds of thousands are arriving in need of shelter.

The camps they are building will become the cities of tomorrow, it has been claimed. An expert in humanitarian made the statement as it’s revealed the average amount of time people spend in the camps is a staggering 17 YEARS.

Kilian Kleinschmidt worked with the United Nations High Commission for Refugee s (UNHCR) for 25 years.

The former head of the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Northern Jordan says: “In the Middle East, we were building camps: storage facilities for people. But the refugees were building a city.”

“I think we have reached the dead end almost where the humanitarian agencies cannot cope with the crisis,” he said.

“These are the cities of tomorrow,” he continued. “The average stay today in a camp is 17 years. That’s a generation. Let’s look at these places as cities.”

The 53-year-old’s comments come at the end of a year which will be remembered for its vast refugee numbers, and the seeming unwillingness of host countries to offer them help.

The Zaatari camp which Kilian oversaw has now swollen to provide accommodation for 160,000 Syrians.

As such, it’s identified as the Jordan’s fifth largest city, with 6,000 people a day arriving after fleeing war against Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship in Syria.

The overcrowded 2.8 square mile camp costs £700,000 a day to run.

There are no trees or bushes to provide shade on sun-baked land which was previously snake and scorpion-infested scrubland.

But there are football pitches, field hospitals, schools and a children’s playground aimed at keeping some 60,000 youngsters busy.

Every day some 12 to 15 babies are born at Zaatari.

Now running his own aid consultancy, Switxboard, Kilian says that far from being resisted, migrants should be used to boost the economy.

He names Germany, with 600,000 job vacancies and a need for tens of thousands of new apartments, as a country where this could be put into practice.

ASYLUM POLICY

In the aftermath of the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris, anxiety is understandable, said Bill Canny, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of Migration and Refugee Services. But governors and other politicians are not responding reasonably by calling for a “pause” or even the termination of efforts to resettle Syrian refugees in the United States. Refugees being selected for U.S. resettlement, he said, “are certainly not a credible threat by any way, shape, or means.”

“The people who are fleeing ISIS are fleeing for the same reasons that anyone flees,” he said. “They’re being bombed. They’re not being allowed to …

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NC Outward Bound School Veterans
Community

Veterans forge a wild kind of peace

Relationships begun on rope courses, rock climbs and backpacking treks translate into an ease around the campfire where many US Army veterans start to talk about themselves, willing to share their stories about that most difficult of subjects for a male – how they feel.

Forty feet up in the air, eye-level with the autumn treetops, Rusty Achenbach felt his heart racing as he inched his way across the scariest part of the ropes course — a wobbly beam dubbed “Too Slack Jack.”∙”Watching, Rusty,” his spotter called below. Everybody in Crew 6 was watching, rooting for him. Strangers he hadn’t known four days before were now his trusted band of brothers and sisters.∙At the end of the ropes course, Achenbach found himself perched on the edge of a platform, stepping into thin air to swing in a huge arc back and forth through the bright leaves. “Awesome!” he yelled.∙Just another “aha” moment at the North Carolina Outward Bound School.

Achenbach and Crew 6 aren’t the typical teenagers or corporate executives who tackle wilderness adventures under Table Rock Mountain overlooking Linville Gorge. These military veterans have seen combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now they were fighting to find peace for themselves back home.

“I’m scared of heights. My boss won’t even let me get on a ladder at work. You guys getting me up there was pretty impressive,” Achenbach said, safely back on the ground as Crew 6 circled up for the debriefing. No adventure goes without a discussion of the emotions released and the lessons learned.

Every ropes course has its significant moment, explained instructor Shane Ambro. “You can feel the collective energy joining one person on part of the course.”

“The look on your face was priceless,” Army vet John Moder teased. “They ought to make you the poster child for Outward Bound. The motto could be ‘You’re dumb if you don’t come.'”

Moder was surprised to learn that the courses were free to military veterans. Outward Bound picking up not only the tuition, but also air travel and hotel stays.

“The vets have given for the country. We want to be able to give back to them,” said Matt Rosky, the veterans program coordinator for the NC Outward Bound School.

The Outward Bound School at Hurricane Island, Maine started a veterans program in the 1970s, working with those returning from the Vietnam War. The programs soon spread to other Outward Bound schools nationwide, but funding started to peter out by the late 1990s.

With the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the global war on terror with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, more veterans have gone on multiple tours of duty and cycled back into civilian life, some more successfully than others. With post-traumatic stress disorder, loneliness, depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug abuse, younger veterans are also less likely than older veterans to seek help or counseling

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Community

Spy in your fridge

PrintIndividuals deserve a clearer understanding of the data that companies are collecting from the new generation of digital, connected devices, said Vinton G. Cerf, Internet pioneer and Web evangelist for Google.

Mr. Cerf’s comments highlighted an ongoing debate that is gaining momentum as a growing number of connected devices, machines and objects, known as the Internet of Things, takes shape. As more devices connect to the Internet and collect data about users, who ultimately is in charge of it, and how are the data collection practices communicated to the public?

“It should be required that the users control this information that we accumulate,” he said Wednesday during a cybersecurity lecture at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering. “They should have the ability to say no, I don’t want this device because I don’t want to be forced into providing that information.”

“That probably means the fine print needs to be a lot clearer than it is today,” he added.

A potential challenge is figuring out how to limit data access to certain parties, in certain circumstances. A person may want a doctor to have access to his or her medical records during an emergency, but may not want that doctor to have continuous access to electronic health information. “You need to have this ability to grant ephemeral access to information,” Mr. Cerf said.

In a panel discussion following Mr. Cerf’s keynote, a group of Internet of Things researchers touted the public and commercial benefits of being able to access reams of user-generated data. But some on the panel, which included Mr. Cerf, Cornell Tech computer science professor Deborah Estrin and Tandon School professor Beth Simone Noveck, cautioned against making data available solely to private interests, an outcome that could restrict consumer privacy and hamper public research efforts.

“Ultimately and finally this is an issue about control,” said Ms. Noveck, who directs The Governance Lab at NYU. “This is about getting our own data back about ourselves.” She also stressed the importance of finding ways to share societal information collected by private companies – such as weather and temperature data – with government and researchers to more effectively address policy issues.

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Discovery TV's Naked And Afraid: Is it cynical to call this exploitation?
Community

Off-Grid making millions for some

The hottest shows on cable TV these days are about people who have no TV.

As the TV industry wakes up to this, expect plenty more shows about off-grid living.

Take Discovery Channel’s Alaskan Bush People, in which a character shows how to properly prepare grasshoppers by pulling their heads off and allowing the guts to leak out before laying them out in the sun to dry. Add a little salt and pepper, and dinner is served.

Not hungry? Viewers are lapping up the year-old show, as well as other offgrid reality series that have become very appetizing.

Shows like Alaskan Bush People, History Channel’s Mountain Men Home page, FYI’s Unplugged Nation and Animal Planet’s The Last Alaskans — as well as rugged competition reality shows, such as Discovery Channel’s Naked and Afraid and History Channel’s series Alone — are providing viewers with an aspirational look at an alternative lifestyle that eschews modern technology for life off the beaten path.

Some of the characters in these reality shows are hardcore naturalists who have no need for civilization; others are average people who are seeking the simple life. Some are new at it; others have been doing it for generations.

On these shows, hunting knives are more valuable than smartphones, and cable-network programmers say it’s the fantasy of unplugging from civilization that draws viewers in droves.

Offthegrid shows comprised nearly half of the 10 most-watched reality shows during the third quarter of 2015, according to Nielsen. Alaskan Bush People, which profiles a family born and raised in the Alaskan wilderness, was the most popular reality show of the period, averaging 3.6 million viewers.

TAKEAWAY

Reality-show aficionados are finding a refuge from modern living in the programs.

“There’s an aspirational element to the show that really communicates with people — we’ve always had that as a backbone to the program,” Russ McCarroll, senior vice president of development and programming for History Channel, said. “These ideas of managing to live and doing hard work in places that are beautiful are what appeal to viewers.”

WILDERNESS ESCAPISM

During times frought with threats of cyber-terrorism, economic difficulties and military conflicts, History’s Mountain Men — which follows the real-life challenges of six guys who use their survival skills to live in desolate mountain areas across the country — attracts both male and female viewers with escapist content that focuses on a simpler life where people control where and how they live, McCarroll said.

Mountain Men averaged more than 3 million viewers during its fourth and most recent season, which concluded last week.

“There’s a lot of doom and gloom stories out there, whether it’s the breakdown of the economy or the environment changing, so there’s a great appeal as to whether to sustain one’s self and to fi nd out, if everything really did go the wrong way,

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Micro-hydro has the Duracell effect - it just keeps on and on
Energy

125 watts of Hydro is plenty for a family

Murray Peden, runs an off-grid auto repair workshop in his home in the hills high above the isolated rural community of Little River, Banks Peninsula.

He has lived here off-grid for 17 years, with his wife, Tori, and their two young children.

The steep southeast-facing section is 700 metres from the nearest power supply. “I thought that could either be a disadvantage or an opportunity. I looked at it as an opportunity.”

Peden realised the potential of the site when he saw the small spring-fed creek running through it. This provides their drinking water and has also been harnessed to drive a mini hydro plant.

Although the unit produces only 125 watts, which is less than that required to operate a large household light bulb, it is sufficient. The electricity is stored in a bank of batteries, and because it is charged 24/7 the battery pack doesn’t need to be large to cope with the fluctuations that would come from only using solar-powered photovoltaic panels, as most systems use.

His system has since been reinforced with 450 watts of photovoltaic panels, but as they receive only three hours of sunlight during a winter’s day, the hydro is essential.

“The idea of not having power, not being able to turn lights on, doesn’t appeal. I did research and worked out we could set up here and live, not just survive. I want to have the TV and a microwave, but the idea of not paying power bills is always appealing.”

A coal and wood-burning range heats the water, warms the house via under-floor heating pipes, and cooks the meals.

Operating an automotive workshop on alternative power has required some clever thinking. Most commercial machinery requires three-phase power, and this isn’t available from Peden’s system.

His vehicle hoist, essential in a workshop, operates on hydraulics, which require an electrical pump. A part from a forklift has been modified to do the job, and the A-grade mechanic is proud of his handywork. “I sometimes work in town, and their hoists are a bit slow. Mine’s better,” he grins. Tyre machines and compressors have also been bought with their power requirements in mind.

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Off-Grid Undertaker Don Byrne works on a hand-made pine coffin in his outdoor studio on a 32-acre homestead in Bear Creek, N.C. Byrne lives off the grid, with no electricity and running water. In the background is his son, Niko, 4. He builds the coffins with antique hand tools, selling them for about $875 to $1,000 to people who want a simple, ``green'' burial.
People

Off-Grid Undertaker

Anti-consumerist pioneer, Duke University grad, walks away from middle class life to live the simple life in a 12×12 cabin

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Bristol group want to take themselves off the grid
Community

UK Surf Centre to go off-grid

A SURF centre in Easter Compton near Bristol is launching a £150,000 crowdfunding campaign that will help fund some of the site’s sustainability plans.

The Wave Bristol’s campaign got underway Monday, November 24 and Chris Hines MBE, head of sustainability for The Wave, said: “We want this project to be sustainable in all senses, including socially and environmentally. We have ambitious plans to sustainably power the site and eventually take it off-grid.”

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