I recently stumbled across the popular novelist John Twelve Hawks, of the popular series the Fourth Realm Trilogy. Reading up on his bio he's known to be "off the grid". He's stated to have never met his editor and communicates through an untraceable satellite phone with a voice scrambler. All I could think was... this is a character straight out of the movies!!
Recently I've found some friends describe their dreams of being "off the grid", making their own house of bale hay and buying solar panels. A few are even in the process of creating a house that's completely energy independent by building it from scratch.
It made me wonder... How hard is it to really get off the grid?? Completely? There seems to an endless number of sites about the subject, all to varying degrees of course. Many challenge the reader to learn to move against profiteering, capitalism, and paying taxes. Some have useful information on making your own water source, energy source, gardening,farming expertise.
It's a pity there's no book on how to create a Mennonite community from scratch because aren't they absolute pros at this? I did find a few links to recommended Mennonite cookbooks from Amazon however.
Going Green can also lose you Green if you aren't careful
As some of my friends become more energy conscious (which is certainly a good thing) they rely more on email, internet, and satellites to make money and stay linked to the community. But even as you take steps to become more energy efficient you can fall into a con. According to Off-Grid.net, Magniwork was swindling gullible buyers with a $50 do-it-yourself guide to building a magnetic power generator claiming to produce free energy. Not to mention many ads that promise free power for $200" or "build your own solar panel for $200". I find this comical since some of those very ads appear on the Off-Grid.net site (which they readily warn you off).
Unfortunately I'm not a saint, but I do try to remember that every dollar I spend is a representation of what I support.
