Friday, January 27, 2012

Off-Grid Living: Part 3 - Creating a Healthier Life

Part of my experience in off-grid living has had nothing to do with the lack of community-provided utilities or alternative building designs, but with a change of diet – and I don’t mean a foolish deprivation of food or endless calorie counting or obsessive weighing on a scale. Instead, I’ve been more active and I'm eating much healthier foods. More to the point, I’ve also become more conscious of when I eat meals, what I eat, where my food comes from, how it’s processed, why it was grown or raised as it was, and who profited from the sale of it. These have become very important questions to ask whenever I’m at the grocery store, ordering at a restaurant, or preparing a meal at home.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Off-Grid Living: Part 2 - Ignoring Stereotypes

“So you’re one of those weirdos who lives in their van in a hippie commune, sits around smoking pot all day, and doesn’t believe in bathing, aren’t you?” That’s a question that I guess must cross the minds of most people when they think of someone living off-grid. Imagine if I mention that I’m living off-grid in an Earthship. Cue the blank looks of complete unawareness about this particular subject.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Off-Grid Living: Part I - Sustainable Living

How many times do we think about where our water comes from when we turn on the faucet in our kitchens or where it goes after we flush the toilet? How often do we think about what happens to the water when it leaves our homes? I never really gave our water supply much thought until recently. Since I’ve been living off-grid for the last two months, I’ve given water a lot of thought.