So I’ve mentioned before the #futurepresent residency I was part of earlier this year. And it’s been playing on my mind. Climate change. How we live. The impact my choices are having. How tough it is to make choices that reduce that impact. Where to start?
If my facebook feed is anything to go by there’s a growing interest in off grid living from both an environmental and financial perspective. During Future Present we were lucky enough to spend a day with Roberta and John in Milang, who live almost entirely off grid – including growing most of their own food. Roberta said the only things they buy from the supermarket are rice, dishwashing liquid and toilet paper and they buy fresh milk directly from the dairy down the road. Roberta and John’s place was like stepping into a whole other world, they have a beautiful sprawling garden on 3/4 of an acre with a number of larger and smaller structures and dwellings they’ve built, including a beautiful house made from predominantly recycled materials. The day spent with them is one of the Future Present site visits that’s stayed with me the most. Roberta talked a lot about the time it takes to live their lifestyle and that they love it but it is a sacrifice, there are things they actively choose to miss out on to make it easier. John and Roberta have chosen a fairly extreme version of off grid living which aligns with their other values of living a simpler life. And of course, it’s some of those sacrifices that scare others away from off grid living, the other issue of course is that even when we do want to make some off grid choices, it can be really confusing knowing where to start or knowing what will actually work with our lifestyles – particularly in relation to powering our homes.
Which brings me to my agenda in writing this post – I’ve been part of a beautiful tribe of rad young entreprenuers this year with Foundation for Young Australia’s ‘Young Social Pioneers’ and one of the rad lads from our little tribe is somewhat of an expert on off grid options and is putting together a resource for people who want to make some changes for either environmental or financial reasons (or both). They’ve just made ‘Off Grid Made Simple’ live and would love some people (other than friends and family) to jump on and test the site and make sure it’s user friendly and appealing and then provide some feedback to their team as they tweak it all and make it the best resource it can be. So dear readers – jump on, have a look and flick your thoughts through to Michael Furey (yes, he even has a superhero name!) so we can all make some simple but awesome choices about our energy use.
http://www.offgridmadesimple.com/
A free resource to get you on your way, get to grips with the basics and finally get you off your grid addiction, and released into a world of abundant natural energy.
creating art in the desert 