Off The Grid
Thoreau said that if an emergency struck, a man should be able to leave his home with nothing more than the clothing on his back and feel like he left nothing behind.
Self sufficiency is almost impossible to obtain in modern society.
Did you know there’s a dream that still prevails now as strongly as it did in 1882 when Thoreau wrote Walden? It’s that of a return to the wild.
This is not the story of hippie-communal-back-to-the-landers, this is the story of what it takes to live with alternative power sources now – to live with nature in this modern age.
This is to be our permanent Walden; a life lived off the grid.
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Worth while watching for any one with a mind and a conscience.
What about the overall cost? Helicopters delivering supplies? Latest technologies, no recycling of building materials. Using chemicals to insulate your house. Give me a break. I could pay electricity bills for two lifetimes on what this ‘sustainable’ lifestyle cost. Typical mainstream attempt at taking the city into the bush.
I hope he does a follow up, this is a good film. I’ve seen it several times.
I really admire Les Stroud, and am a big fan of Survivorman (having used several of his techniques on various occasions), but I must admit I partially agree with Vipeyr on this one.
The horrible judgment in deciding to start building in mid-fall, the neglecting of his road in/out, etc was a little scary.
Ultimately, Les’ “let’s try to outpower Mama Nature through semi trucks, back hoes, and helicopters” approach smacked more of his competitor’s Man Vs Wild style, not the simple elegance I’ve come to admire in his series.
The dialogue was silly at times, but I guess it is just a show.
Well said Vipeyr, I mean really this is just a reasonable well off semi rich guy’s dream home in the woods, awesome though it is.
I understand that but how much does it cost to BUY your own home. I’m sure the price would be comparable. The only difference is that he is now sustainable. Can you boast that?
as an architecture student I can tell you that the design of a truly net zero or off the grid house is a far more in-depth challenge than is presented here, and would make for an entire series not one single show. It puzzles me how little interest the media generally shows towards environmentally conscientious design. it is a vibrant and interesting field of endeavour, however its core philosophy (for want of a better word) is almost the polar opposite of the wider capitalist society which we now live in, moving into a new order of society based upon efficient and long term management of available resources; whilst still clinging to the ideology of capitalism will be almost impossible, or perhaps if it is forced upon us unbearable.
I love survivoman. His shows are awesome.
Yup Ive got to agree with the above, to live off the grid and self sustaining sounds great. However every doc/show ive seen on the subject uses the same format. Massive expenditure on ‘green living’ gimics that will never return the initial investement within their lifetime, and titanic start up costs which seem only atainable to the more well off people. As said before, it really is a case of trying to move the city into the woods. The doc is worth a watch if only to get a grasp of how not to do the green thing.
There are many ways you could achieve a greener life, but none that i have seen rely on clockwork systems and there is bugger all on the internet on adapting clockwork gubbins to use in labor saving devices, i would recomend have a look into this avenue of R/D. Cast steel gears are not difficult to make to a good standard and will last you atleast half a lifetime.
Oh and just a quick one, if your looking for good ideas for greener living (living without electricity typically) It is well worth investing the time reading up on what the WHO (world health org) recomend for 3rd world countries. The irrigation systems ive seen recomended are so simple it boggles the mind how they are not used in big industry today as their mass manufacture potentials are incredable.
Thoreau is turning in his grave! They may have been technically “off the grid” but they were as dependant on petroleum based technologies as they would be in a city, if not more so. (chainsaw, SUV, mobile sawmill etc). Thoreau’s underlying philosophy was “Simplify, simplify”. But these people seemed intent on finding hugely complex ways of recreating all their city based luxuries in the wilderness. Thoreau lived frugally – I’d like to have seen the total price-tag for this venture…
i quite enjoyed this prog, will have to watch survivor man when i get the chance.
i found some things particularly interesting, i,e, the human waste/compost potty – a shame he didnt use this it would have been interesting to view – something we used to do a few hundred years ago, funny how we downgrade to become greener. it did annoy me however how they had the chimney poking outside – it could have a water tank curled around it to gain warm water and minimise the heat loss via smoke…just an idea, i could be wrong.
welshman – firstly, glad to see another welshman online!:)
secondly, i thought the idea was to (as Thoreau) live ‘off the grid’ yet still live a normal life from a social standpoint – some sort of medium between self sufficiency and having a suburban lifestyle. not to trivialise your point at all but Thoreau didnt have a growing family with him nor did he intend on living indefinitely in the wild
Hi Kain – good point, I did feel a bit sorry for the kids! You’re right Thoreau’s life at Walden was an experiment in “living deliberately”. I do think though that greater simplicity is an essential factor in living sustainably – and Thoreau repeatedly makes that point. Our complex, high consumption lives require a lot of energy – mainly fossil fuels. Surely the “off grid” movement is about reducing dependence on our oil addicted society’s goods and services? It got me wondering how Thoreau would have interacted with modern western civilization. Would he have saved time with a chainsaw? Food for thought!
Best Wishes
Welshman
I totally agree with Vipeyr. This is just another mainstream ‘reality’ program that took more energy to produce than it ever would have saved.
Too bad we can’t all go out and get a piece of land in the middle of nowhere. A lot of people live in areas that have practically no natural terrain left. Where are they supposed to go? Stuff like this is mostly for the priviliged.
Wow …. you guys are really clueless. There are no titanic start up costs here at all. I have gone and the research on the products and methods he used because I live here in Ontario , Canada as well. I am going to be using some of the same suppliers , if your think a 2400 square-foot home for $60,000-70,000 CAD is a lot of money than do some research.
There is all kinds of affordable natural land available here in Canada …… it is not for anyone priviliged. Get off your butt and move if you want to live somewhere beautiful and natural.
This is not for those on a tight budget…at every obstacle he was able to do (spend more $$$) what was needed to overcome, such as an auxilary cabin that doesn’t even get done in time…that whole ordeal was costly, by its self.
If you wanted to see a how to do video, this is not the one to watch.
Finally, living off the grid implies the ability to not be found…in the 21st century, this is not off the grid, this is living outside of a town or community – there is a difference.
By the way – modern technology can still completely disrupt their lives as can the sun.
EMP weaponary and solar flares can completely fry their electrical circuitry…whoops!
To continue…after posting I realized that perhaps I should explain the worst case scenario if a solar flare from the sun should fry their electrical circuitry.
The emp from the solar flare would overcharge the entire system from the batteries to the circuit boards in any electrical component and all that is in between, the wiring to the lights and all a/c outlets ect.
To fix, they will need to communicate but their phones will be fried and the electrical grid will be down so there would be no one to call anyway…their truck, car, snowmobile and tractor will all be unusable…anything with a battery and electrical circuitry will be fried…they will be stuck – stuck in a time where…
NOW THEY ARE REALLY AND TRULY OFF THE GRID!
Lost alot of respect for him when he said believed in water dowsing! next he will say he believes in god lol. Off his head!
This can only be achieved with the help and technology supplied by the rest of society. Imagine everyone in the world owning and living on 150 acres of farm/wood land… Not enough good areas in the world for the 6.5 billion of us to do that! So this idea that these people have of sustainable living is only possible because the rest of us can’t. Once again the privilege of the few who can afford to do this, while the rest of the world have to content themselves with dirty polluted water and most of them without electricity, gas or other energy source because it is too expensive.
Totally unrealistic attempt at showing life ‘off the grid’; I believe Thoreau would be thoroughly disappointed; obviously a product of the mainstream; but, what do you expect? It was still better then watching a documentary on Dancing with the Stars.
Did anyone else think of the Yearling by Rawlings when his daughter was talking about having wild animals as pets? :(
I would have liked to hear a lot more detail about the building process,the technology involved, and the costs. I could do without the family drama interviews. However that is the current standard formula for TV documentaries. He seemed to have done very little planning- ie: using a helicopter to longline in his cabin in the middle of winter, (lets face it at least half his energy was actually spent thinking about how to film it and trying to make it interesting). I hope he does a follow up when everything is finished but with more detail and less drama. I also hope he invests in a pair of chainsaw chaps or pants and learns how to do a proper falling cut.
are You kidding me? the guy talks about living with nature and all those nice words but he drives the biggest and most polluting truck there is (dodge), I mean… really? wtf
This is more like an expensive family outing than anything to do with living off the grid for its so called environmental benefits.
And he is smart enough to record it in reality show style. nice way to recoup the expenses and have other tangible/intangible benefits for future adventures, I guess.
Very disappointing.
I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary. However, as many commentators have already stated, this isn’t exactly green living, or a realistic project that most people can embark on.
It would have been far ‘greener’ to re-use existing city structures. Renting an apartment that’s walking or bicycling distance to work and school would be far greener. How much gas does that truck consume, anyway? Raising up new buildings, buying a bunch of ****, and trucking it in is not the right way to go. Re-using existing infrastructure is.
Let’s face it: living in nature, being away from it all, living off-grid… that was the real aim. The greenest was secondary.