Following our wonderful work party yesterday afternoon in the GANG (Green Acres Neighbohood Garden) I lay in bed reading the latest issue of Communities magazine, a little “niche” publication that I have enjoyed for at least the last 20 years (published since 1972). Each issue presents nitty gritty issues, real-life examples, process-oriented ways of working through difficulties, origin stories, impossibilities, rousing success stories . . . It’s one of the most real and radical publications I’ve ever come across, has never been diluted into nonsense, and I can’t get enough of it.
Hey everybody, wake up! It’s time for folks in all urbs and suburbs of America (including my own) to turn towards each other, notice each other, start to talk and listen to each other about what’s real, and transform into real communities. No real need to create new infrastructure. We can go “off grid” right here where we live, by first, changing our perceptions of ourselves, each other, and what, together, we can accomplish.
So of course, I stumbled across this article and enclosed videos today. All sorts of good stuff here. If you don’t have time, at least watch the 3-minute Greek video, young people who have decided to be the change they want to see.
Nick Rosen to George Noory: First step, “change your consumption. . . You can watch the big screen TV and run the washing machine, just not at the same time. . . . go off-grid with a group, 200-500 homes, because within that area, you’ll have all the skills you need, and can bulk purchase solar panels at a much better price . . .”
Creating Change and Living off the Grid
February 9, 2013
If you have any interest in moving beyond the current system that we are playing with, it’s more than likely that you have heard the term “Living off the Grid”. So what exactly does it mean? Nick Rosen, a living off the grid expert, sums up the term in an interview on “Coast to Coast” radio with George Noory very simply:
“It means living independently, mainly living independently of the utility companies. Providing your own power. It does not mean living in the stone age, it’s not about bush craft. It’s about generating your own power, your own water, dealing with your own waste. Probably as part of a community, not living on your own like a hermit. It’s also about being more self-reliant and being less dependent on the system. Perhaps realizing that the system isn’t really protecting us anymore and we have to look after ourselves.”
In our first world and urbanized cities and nations, a large dependency has been created on our societal system. We rely on utility companies to provide us with power, and if you pay your own bills, surely you understand how limiting it can be. We rely on the banks to provide us with loans and financial stability to live our lives as we wish. We rely on politicians to make laws and rules, most of which we don’t enjoy and find very limiting. We rely on major chains of restaurants as well as grocery stores to provide us with the food needed to survive on a daily basis. We go to our jobs, which the majority of people don’t enjoy. And all of this we’re playing with because of two reasons. Fear of the unknown and letting go of it, and the disbelief that a new way of living is possible. This is the inspiration behind this article as I wanted to show you that so much is being done around the world to create new ways of living and sustaining communities, without relying on major corporate entities who don’t have our best interest at heart. The way we’re doing things now doesn’t have to be like this. Communities are being built all across the planet right now that are finding and also inventing new ways of doing things that are allowing us to get back in tune with nature, working with the planet as well as with each other and the animals in harmony.
If you have any doubt that a new way of life is possible or if you have any fear that it can’t be done, here is some great media to check out for you to gain more knowledge and understanding of living off the grid. Enjoy! 
Young Greeks Create Self-Reliant Island Society
Interview with Nick Rosen on Coast to Coast with George Noory: “750,000 Homes in America Have Gone Off the Grid”
Watch the documentary “A New We”. The film leads you through the fascinating world of Eco-villages and Self-Reliant Communities in Europe:
