tagged w/ living off the grid
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After seeing our recent interview with Colin Beavan about his No Impact Project, my friend Dara sent me an email link from gourmet magazine (of all places) about W. Hodding Carter's extreme frugality series. (she told me she thought his initiative was way cooler in her humble opinion). In the intro to the series Carter confesses the state of his finances and how he and his family have been living outside of their means. As a result, they are forced to return to a "little house on the prairy" existence, where they are making their own candles, canning Cod, and other back to earth activities that you do when you are saving money.
Now is the moment when I should step in and mock this, right?
Truth be told, I have no desire to. (I'm secretly craving a dose of this experience myself.) When the green movement began the media mantra was to show people there was a way to care for the environment and address sustainability issues without giving up the creature comforts of their current life style. And so the great green spending spree began. The message was, "you can keep spending, but use your dollar to vote for the sustainability practices that support your belief system."
But is "extreme frugality" the latest emerging trend? Have we come to a place where we understand that (gasp) resources are limited: and the limited resources in our wallet could be the best metaphor to understand the limited resources on the planet?
As it turns out, while in the middle of writing this post I hopped on over to my personal email account to check in how many love letters I have received today (the answer is none btw), but what I did encounter was an email from my sister-in-law about a new initiative that launched today called "slow money." Frankly, after spending 10 minutes on their site I wasn't entirely sure of what they are up to but it has something to do with a grass roots effort to create a new economy and support sustainable agriculture and involves donating $5. Here's what they have to say:
The perfect combo about slow food, slow money and local sustainable foodsystems, this “Thrive, Don’t Just Survive” set is a loaded, how-to guide on destressing, eating healthier with less, the missing links to achieving healthy immune and eco-systems, personal and planetary transformation, and Feeding Ourselves, No Matter What!
Ok...so they say things come in threes....what do you think? Has "green" turned a new corner? Are we entering into the age of self reliance and frugality? (Meanwhile, I'm going to head on over to the library and check out a few of the Little House on Prairie books, and start studying...)
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leahl
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added this
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3 years ago
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It could happen to you. You might just wake up one morning, and find a photo of a bunch of naked french people posing for photographer Spencer Tunick in the name of climate change.
That's what happened to me yesterday, and so I thought fine...I'll give in and do a post that celebrates just a few of the fabulous people out there willing to go the extra mile to raise attention for climate change.
Lets begin with No Impact Man, who, btw, gave me a hard time for calling his initiative of living off the grid a little crazy...
I went to Twitter for some inspiration...and @DaveBurdick pointed me to this awesome (and crazy) trend of people moving (their houses) via bike.
@enviroknow pointed me to this link about more naked people for climate change:
The very-active Avaaz Action Factory was in rare form recently when they showed up for a naked protest in front of the offices of DC's Astroturf King, Bonner and Associates. The point of their action was to not only get a nice shower but to drive home the point that Bonner and Associates is a naked fraud.
And last but not least, life wouldn't be complete if you haven't heard of David de Rothschild's plastic bottle voyage across the Pacific to raise awareness about ocean pollution.
Do you have examples of people going...over board..in the name of raising people's awareness about climate issues? Do tell! (After all, they are some of our favorite stories...)
Related links:
Apple Leave Chamber of Commerce over climate change stance
Everything I know about how to go green I learned from vampires
Health Haloween Candy IdeasIt could happen to you. You might just wake up one morning, and find a photo of a... more
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leahl
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added this
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3 years ago
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I kept stumbling across No Impact Man (aka as Colin Beavan) over the past few months. He was on Twitter, via his blog, and then there was the trailer to his movie. Each time as I skimmed the stories or posts at high speed I thought to myself, “Cool stunt, I should interview him sometime soon," and moved on.
Then my dear friend Amy Wilson called me up and told me she was working with Collin Beavan while he was on book tour in the Bay Area, and said that he was “the real deal.” Amy eluded to something that his critics have spoken to, which is that now that the main stream sees there is money to made in the world of green (aka people learning how to live a more sustainably), that there are a lot of people out there figuring out to make a buck on green.
With that said, I have yet to come across someone who makes an extreme "green" life style change who isn't truly dedicated to the issue of raising mass awareness about the state of the environment.
And with that said, there is a place where the rubber meets the road, and there is a difference between people who preach green for their living, and those who actually live a sustainable lifestyle. Colin is a refreshing breath of air and embodies both.
I found Collin’s social experiment of unplugging from the grid fascinating. Mostly because all the people I know who made the choice to live off the grid live in Alaska or Northern Idaho or Northern California…you know…out in the boondocks. Colin chose to unplug, and stay right in the center of it all: New York City. And I agree with Amy, he is the real deal. Colin and his family invested a year of their life to showing the world there is another way, and confronts the most famous story of our time: that you need to buy more, do more, and work more in order to be happy. And he manages to tell the story in a charming, accessible informative manner absent of self righteousness.
What makes me stop in my tracks: he managed to stay in the heart of the city, but create a new pace of life that most of us are only capable of tapping when we leave the city.
Enjoy the interview (special thanks to our studio crew who wasn’t planning a drop in guest that day). You can follow Colin on Twitter @noimpactman, his blog, and on his impressive project website: NoImpactProject.org. Or just go crazy and read his book.
Meanwhile, I am posting this one week after meeting Colin, and the issues we discussed aren't leaving. So I was thinking, what the heck, I'm going to take on just 1 of the things Colin did for a year: for 1 week. Starting tomorrow: I'm going to eat locally for 1 week. What the hell. Anyone want to join me?I kept stumbling across No Impact Man (aka as Colin Beavan) over the past few... more
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leahl
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added this
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3 years ago
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