People Archives - Page 4 of 34 - Living Off the Grid: Free Yourself

People

Crazy things Scott Pruitt said

The new head of the EPA has vowed to dismantle US environmental protections. No suprises there, given his previous record.

Once he has laid waste to the environment, here are some indicators about what he might try to ruin next

ABORTION LAW

“Parents should be notified when women seek an abortion” (The Oklamhoman 18 June 2002)
“Physicians who perform an abortion without parental consent should be liable for cost of subsequent medical treatment” (Ditto)

“women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound image placed in front of them while they are having the abortion” Associated Press Newswires, 26 March 2013,

OBAMACARE

“Its necessary and urgent to defend Oklahoma’s Constitution against a federal government and president that have gone too far in their overreach of power and authority.” (Reuters 7 Jan 2011)

EPA EMISSIONS CUTS

“Action by the EPA inappropriately usurps the state’s authority to dictate our own energy and environmental policies.The appropriate stakeholders to address Oklahoma’s energy and environmental needs are Oklahoma’s citizens, energy producers, industry consumers and policymakers.”

McClatchy-Tribune Regional News – 8 March 2011

CORPORATE POWER

“We may may probe Google’s dominance” (he didn’t)

Bloomberg 25 June 2011

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

“Feds should pay Oklahoma’s cost of incarcerating illegal immigrants” The Daily Oklahoman (MCT), 30 July 2011,

OPPOSING REGULATING FRACKING USE OF CHEMICALS”

“This law would have significant and destructive impacts

SNL Daily Gas Report 18 December 2012

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February 17, 2017 No Comments

People

Getting hooked on tiny houses

American architect and designer Meg Stevens was “immediately hooked” on tiny houses when she discovered them five years ago. She set a plan in motion to design and build her own tiny house – which was realized last year when she moved into The Lucky Linden, a tiny house RV measuring about 170 square feet.

Meg grew up in Michigan in a neighborhood under construction. Spending her spare time helping her dad with building projects, her interest in architecture, design and building was piqued at an early age. When she became interested in tiny houses in 2013, she purchased a ticket to a workshop at Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, an organisation focused on designing tiny house RVs, in order to learn more about the process. She ended up being hired as an architect, and her Lucky Linden RV design is one she created for the company – with a few changes made to suit her (and her husband Dan’s) personal living style.

“We decided to build a tiny house about five years ago, and immediately started planning (and saving up money),” Meg said. “We didn’t want to go into debt for the house, so I would work on the build as we had the funds, and put it into storage while saving up for the next phase. It took three years to build this way, and it was in storage for stretches of time from six months to over a year.”

“While we were building, we gradually downsized until we were living in a 330 sq ft studio apartment,” she said. “The apartment was just a bit over double the size of the tiny house, so when we finally finished the build and moved in to the tiny house it wasn’t much of an adjustment at all. We love it!”

Tiny houses can be anything smaller than the normal for family size, according to Meg. A four-person family living in a 600 sq ft house is tiny, because there is only 250 sq ft per person. But conventionally – at least in terms of the growing Tiny House Movement across the US – a tiny house is between 100 and 400 sq ft. And the majority of them are built for off-grid living.

Meg, a prominent member of the Tiny House Movement – a community of like-minded individuals across the US advocating tiny houses as energy efficient living spaces – says the American tiny house community has experienced “rapid, almost exponential growth” in the last four years, owing to environmental concerns, financial issues as the cost of living rises, and the desire for more time and freedom.

“Designing especially is more difficult in a small space, but it’s rewarding. Efficiency is everything, and really considering ‘needs’ vs ‘wants’ vs ‘nice-to-haves,’” Meg said.

“Tiny houses are more energy efficient just because of their size, but also I think the general …

February 15, 2017 No Comments

People

New American homesteaders – author

In new book “The Unsettlers:- Buy it on Amazon” , three American families go beyond ditching the Utility companies –they also walk away from supermarkets, cars and even banks — to define authentic living for themselves.

For “the Luddite curious,” says the LA Times “The Unsettlers” offers a compelling account of diverse Americans living off the grid. These homesteaders in Missouri, Detroit and Montana show us how the other other half lives.

Author Mark Sundeen will appear at Visit Skylight Books this Sunday at 5 p.m. Sunday, spoke to LA Times from Moab, Utah, where he himself spends time off the grid.

You begin with Ethan Hughes and Sarah Wilcox, a young couple who created an intentional living community in Missouri. Why them?

I’d decided that just living off the grid was no longer true dissent. I was curious to hear from people who could go all the way — stop using cars, stop using the banking system.

An intentional living community that forgoes cars, cash and electricity feels pretty radical, and yet you note similarities they share with libertarians and right-wing Christians, some of whom are their neighbors. Was this common ground surprising?

Totally surprising … and totally inspiring. I was so impressed that they were able to find that common ground. That’s something that I think’s important now that Trump is president. The divisiveness that he engenders, it pits people against each other who actually have the same values. Liberals and conservatives both want to live with moral integrity, but they have separate names for that. The right says, “We want to have Christian values, family values,” and that’s interpreted as anti-other religions or anti-single parents or anti-same-sex couples. Liberals say, “We want to end racism, we want to end bigotry, and we want to save the planet,” and that’s another way of living with integrity. I think there’s a lot more commonality than we tend to think.

You never suggest that the reader should renounce her worldly possessions and head to the farm — but are you hoping to influence people?

I’d specifically like the well-intentioned liberal to ask questions about their consumption and not just about their political stance. People say, “I’m going minimalist, I’m going to get rid of all my books and CDs and records and just use a smartphone.” Well, OK, I’m glad that your house is less cluttered, but you’re actually using more fossil fuels and doing more harm with that smartphone than you would with a whole library of books.

Each family’s commitment to the good life is inspiring but intimidating. For those of uswho are inspired to make a change, where do we begin?

I don’t think you begin by depriving yourself of things you love. On the one hand, this book is about the ethical boycott of destructive industries, but on the other hand it’s about following …

February 13, 2017 No Comments

Burt's Bees founder next to his Cabin in the woods

People

Burt’s Bees Founder’s Cabin

Burt’s Bees founder Burt Shavitz was a modern day Thoreau. He loved nature and lived in a cabin much of his life. For him, as he said before he died: “the old ways are the best ways” and “the land is everything”.

The company he founded unveiled Mr Shavitz’s iconic, low-key cabin in January. Sadly, the company moved the rustic cabin from rural Maine to its headquarters on the American Tobacco Campus on in Durham, NC. The cabin displays Burt’s personal artefacts. The 300sq ft converted turkey coop originally had no electricity or running water.

“Burt was a living embodiment of our purpose to connect people to the wisdom, power and beauty of nature. A year after his passing, Burt’s life is a potent reminder for all of us that we can’t lose sight of our relationship with nature”, said Jim Geikie, General Manager of Burt’s Bees.

An observation bee hive was also installed to help educate the 1.5 million annual ATC visitors on bees and their importance to environment and humans. At its seasonal peak, the observation serves as a home to over 15,000 bees and is the largest of its kind in North Carolina.

Geikie spoke of his former boss’s habit of not using any electronics and instead choosing to embrace nature.”Burt used to say ‘I wake up when the sun comes in my window and go to bed when it’s too dark to read…Each day we come to work, we’ll be able to fondly remember the man who didn’t use an alarm clock and applaud his way of life as a beacon of inspiration in our hurried times”, said Geikie.

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February 9, 2017 No Comments

People

Obamas depart Necker haven

Barack and Michelle Obama left their relaxing 10 days off-grid vacation last Thursday. They headed back to Washington and will remain there until their daughter Sasha, 14, graduates from hSidwell Friends School.

After saying goodbye to the White House, the couple had wasted no time in boarding a private jet to the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean last month. Social media was bursting with images of them posing with police and staff at Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport.

The Obamas then took a boat to Necker Island, where they stayed in a resort owned by the British billionaire Richard Branson. Branson’s Caribbean home is a 74-acre stretch of sand that includes a luxurious resort for up to 30 guests. Celebrities such as Kate Winslet, Mariah Carey, Robert DeNiro and even Nelson Mandela have reportedly vacationed there.

Up for rent at $80,000 a night, this billionaire’s bolt-hole has a staff of 100 to serve guests staying in the Balinese-style villas that offer panoramic views of the Caribbean Sea. The eight guest rooms and huge lounge are known to be packed with antiques from flea markets of Indonesia. There is a rooftop hot tub and the famous infinity pool, from which one can watch boats sailing close to the shore. The Turtle beach is easy access from this point as getting to the beach no longer means tackling a steep stone staircase thanks to a speedy new zip-line.

Guests can also take part in daily feeding of the resident flamingos, lemurs, iguanas and giant tortoises during their stay.

The Obamas vacationed there with the owner Richard Branson, who recently was blessed with a grandchild. Branson took to social media about the birth and posted photos to celebrate the moment. Branson announced the good news by sharing a sweet snapshot of Sam, 31, cosying up to Isabella, 36, and Bluey.

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February 2, 2017 No Comments

People

From a Caravan to a Community

Moving into a caravan in the middle of Hill Holt Wood in 1995 gave Nigel Lowthrop his roots.
His purchase of the 22-acre woodlands in beautiful, rural northern Britain near the evocative C16th village of Norton Disney led to the beginning of a sustainable social enterprise community which he and his wife Karen have been growing for 20 years.

Gradually building and then moving into a kit house by the side of a lake, Nigel’s entirely self-sustainable area comprises 12 acres.
The house is fully equipped with wood and stove heating, purified rainwater tanks and solar panels.
The remaining Hillholt area is now a successful social project, home to several protected species and owned by the Hill Holt Wood Charity, which oversees educational, social and health programs.

Nigel, a biologist who has worked in land management since 1970, said his desire to build a social enterprise community was born from a need to do better by the environment.

“I felt we as a country weren’t doing a very good job of managing the countryside,” Nigel told the Newark Advertiser.
“I believed you could manage it both sustainably and economically. The whole basis (of Hill Holt Wood) was to apply a [social, environmental and economic] legacy, to mutually benefit each other.” However, it wasn’t an easy road to success – Nigel fought a battle with government and planning representatives when building lakeside property. He recalls the first day the Forestry Commission’s regional director came; Nigel overhead him and his team wondering why they were there.
“I knew what they were picturing: this eco-warrior who was dirty and smelly and living in the woods.

They were getting ready to say ‘you’re a nice loony, but you are a loony nonetheless; this isn’t mainstream,’” he said. “But by the time they had walked around the land once, you could see them thinking ‘this isn’t what we expected’”.

Nigel, who recently put his property on the market for £650,000 due to health reasons, among others, believes more work needs to be done to educate the wider community, and government, on the benefits of sustainable living.
“I don’t think most planners understand sustainable,” he said.
“One of the things that would take years to overcome after we first moved here was the planning. They seemed to be against things that were outside towns and villages.
“The government has changed the planning rules so that there should be a presumption of positive response to sustainable development — but there is no definition of sustainable.”

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January 12, 2017 No Comments

People

RIP Doug Tompkins

By Aurora Herrera

Can you imagine the founder of a multi-million-dollar company living off-grid? The man at the helm of the globally successful The North Face went off-grid with his wife in the early 90’s to explore the mountains of Chile and Argentina. Their love of the wild outdoors moved the couple to purchase more than 2.2 million acres of land, spending more than $370 million, to restore, improve and protect the land and then return it to the public as national parks

That man is Doug Tompkins. He passed away exactly one year ago.

His wife Kris McDivitt was the CEO of Patagonia and successfully ran the company of Tompkins’ long time friend and fellow climber Yvon Chouinard.

Described as an “adventure-junkie rock-climber” Tompkins showed that he was an outlier from an early age. He did not graduate from high school and spent the early 60’s rock climbing in Europe, Colorado and South America. In 1968 he set off to Patagonia with Yvon Chouinard, travelling for six months southwards from California. Tompkins made a film about the journey title Mountain of Storms; him and Chouinard had put up a new route on Mount Fitzroy.

When Tompkins moved to Chile he established the Foundation for Deep Ecology and also made organic farming a priority, establishing farms which produced organic products that supported the families in the community. Tompkins and McDivitt established two parks before his death; Pumalín Park, Corcovado National Park and was in the process of setting up Great Iberá Park, carded to be the largest national park in Argentina.

In 2007, the International Conservation Caucus bestowed its ‘good Steward’ to Tompkins and McDivitt. In that same year he was appointed an honorary member of the American Soceity of Landscape Architects for his work in restoring affected landscaoes. In 2009, Latin Trade named Tompkins ‘Evvironmental Leader of the Year’ and in 2012 the African Rainforest Conservancy awarded him and the couple the ‘New Species Award’.

We remember Doug Tompkins for his remarkable work as a conservationist, philanthropist, businessman, agriculturalist and an off-grid talent.

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December 8, 2016 No Comments

Mobile

Four Gay years travelling to every US national park

Whatever thoughts you had about turning 30, I bet they didn’t make you leave your job, pack your bags and spend 4 years living in your van. Well, it did if you were Mikah.

In 2005, his dad passed away after a battle with cancer, and Mikah, aged 19 took a road trip- supposedly a fun, post-freshman year getaway. It quickly turned into an unforgettable experience of self-reflection and independence. Now he has visited very national park in one trip as a tribute to his Dad and to the USA’s amazing LGBT peoples.

On the 11th anniversary of his fathers’ death Mikah, originally from Nebraska, made the choice to dedicate his dad’s love of driving and travel to each and every national park in the United States. This double world record trip will not only make him the youngest person to experience every unit, but the sole person to do so on one continuous trip.

Mikah has dedicated the trip not only to the memory of his father but also for youth diversity and says he wants to use his trip to “connect with youngsters, along with an LGBT community stereotyped outside the parks, and show how the national parks can be part of their lives.”

“Whether it was Yellowstone, Arches, or The Statue of Liberty I wanted to see all the U.S. national parks.” He said.

You can keep up with his journey by following his interactive map or following his Facebook page for updates.

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October 8, 2016 1 Comment

People

Dartmoor community eviction

An off-grid community located in woodland within Dartmoor National Park, UK are faced with eviction after 15 years of living side by side with nature. The park authorities are ordering them out on the grounds that they had a “harmful impact on the character and appearance of the Devon park”. Meanwhile, the same authorities are allowing property developers to make millions building hundreds of homes. See our new video here

The Steward Community Woodland group appealed the decision, stating they have “hugely improved the biodiversity on their 32-acre plot”. Their homes are completely off-grid, made up of recycled timber produced on site, amongst other reused materials elsewhere, that fit nicely with the woodland.

A community stalwart named Merlin manages the community energy schemes such as solar and hydro power systems to generate and store power for the 23 occupants.

The group welcomes locals to come and help in the communal gardens. Schoolchildren from the area are also invited to learn more about woodland and growing skills in a hands-on and fun way instead of inside a classroom.

Tom Greeves, the chairman of the Dartmoor Society has praised the group, stating: “We admire the tenacity and dedication over 15 years of the small group of men, women, and children who have opted for a very different lifestyle”

However, the park authority does not agree. It granted temporary planning permission twice in the past and now the development management committee has refused permanent permission.

The 14 adults, four teenagers and five children who live there are devastated. Sonia Parson who has raised 3 of her children on the commune said she is heartbroken by the news in a video you can watch here. She says her kids see the other members and the animals they live among as family and do not want to be moved on.

After the decision on 10^th August 2016. The group took to their website to express their anguish over the news: “It is with huge sadness and utter shock that we must let you know our appeal has been dismissed” one post reads. Whilst another exclaims gratitude to their supporters: “We received over 400 letters of support and a significant number from our local area. We would like to THANK all the people who wrote in and have supported us mentally,

Whilst another exclaims gratitude to their supporters: “We received over 400 letters of support and a significant number from our local area. We would like to THANK all the people who wrote in and have supported us mentally, physically and emotionally. Your support will and has been a huge help to us.

You can view the details of the appeal here.

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September 29, 2016 2 Comments

Community

We want to hear YOUR UNPLUGGING stories

Some of you will be reading this at your desk at which you spend 8 hours a day, just to pay the bills and mortgage. Some will stare at our off-grid memes, posted on our Facebook page just wishing they could trade in their current situation for something a little more extraordinary. But if you were given the chance, would you be brave enough to take the leap of faith?

Author Vanessa Run has done just that. She studied Journalism and went on to work in various media companies, but the work bored her and she realized that ‘living for the weekend’ was not living at all. Her current book is on escaping the rat race for an off-grid lifestyle, close to nature in a campervan traveling around the picturesque beauty New Zealand has to offer.

Writer Nick Rosen has also published his own book, How To Live Off-Grid, in which he embarked a similar journey in a campervan.

Nick has also made short films all over the world about off-grid homes and the people who built them.

Enough about other people, we want to know about you. How do you live?

Can you send us a video? Or some still photos? Have you tried to live unplugged from the grid? Did you ditch your job for a mountain top cabin and a simpler life?

We want to hear from you!

Write to us at news@off-grid.net

Your name*
You don’t have to use your real name, just tell us what you would like us to call you

Who are you?* Where do you live, how old are you, are you living alone, in a family or in a group etc, do you work.*
What do you do?* What job do you (or did you) have?
Your unplugging story*
How did you do it?*
Why?*
Where did you go and why?
How has it changed your life?*
Do you plan on moving back?
Tell us about your new life
so how remotely do you live? Tell us your daily routine)
Please add a photo or video if you think it will add to your story
File uploads may not work on some mobile devices.
Can we publish your response?*
Contact details
Please provide a telephone number or email. This will be kept confidential but we may contact you to ask you to contribute to our coverage.

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September 22, 2016 No Comments

Community

Art in the desert

You can see many things in the desert, some see desolation, others see stark beauty, yet others take what they see and transform it into an even more interesting and ethereal vision. Light is one of the driving forces in the desert, by adding mirrors to this run down shack, this artist took what would be ignored and passed by into a reflection of the surrounding beauty. The wood appears to float, seemingly supported by air. At night it transforms yet again into an ever changing palette of color. Have you been there or seen this?

https://youtu.be/5rB5K_SS67w

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September 1, 2016 No Comments

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