Any singles interested in eventualy getting off the grid? Are there lots of us?.... Free Dating, Singles and Personals

Any singles interested in eventualy getting off the grid? Are there lots of us?.... Posted: 10/26/2009 5:56:02 AM
I've been off-grid for nealy 6 years now and downshifted considerably since. I do believe in antropogenic contributions to CO2 buildup, that humans can drain aquifers, deplete mineral deposits, create huge dead zones where our rivers pour into the seas, devour more fish and wildlife than can procreate, leave continental sized plastic dumps in the ocean, obscure the stars with light and other pollution, and poison their food, air and water to the point of harm to everyone. Even if the global warming deniers are comfy in that pot being brought to a boil, there is adequate evidence that we DO impact our life support system negatively. Sometimes the evidence hits too close to home with a child's leukemia, a favorite stream posted for no fishing or swimming, oily crud in your well water, asthma attacks from being in the "pristine air" of the Smokey Mountains, e-coli from your peanut butter, boulders crashing into one's home from mountains being blown off for coal, or a giant coal ash tsunami rolling into your yard or river. These are just a few of the things that friends of mine have dealt with in the past year alone. These are tangible evidence that what we are doing is not sustainable or healthy for us or the rest of the planet's creatures. I was compelled to go off grid after visiting the coal fields and meeting the people whose communities were being destroyed, their lives threatened with violence for trying to defend themselves, and the general terrorism that goes with large corporations taking control of state government. We get around 60% of our electricity from coal. There is no such thing as clean coal, so the least I could do was quit supporting that endeavor as much as individually possible in our interdependent culture. I still have work to do on food sustainability, but recent viewings of Food Inc., King Corn, and The Real Dirt on Farmer John, have compelled me to focus more on that aspect of growing actual healthy food, and supporting local decentralized production as much as possible. If you are still not moved to make some changes after watching Food Inc., perhaps the preservatives have taken their toll. I applaud those who do wish to take on a bit of personal responsibility in living a more ethical, self-reliant and sustainable life. Now is a great time to buy panels. They are half the price they were a year ago, thanks to the global recession. I practiced while still gridded with a few panels, the charge controller, inverter and some great off-spec batteries that I got cheap. Snow, ice and wind power outages no longer affected me. I used a $20 watt meter to replace power intensive devices with low watt, high performance alternatives. The so-called "payback time" for solar power investment does not take into account maximizing nega-watts, conversion to efficiency and conservation techniques that require far less juice for the same quality of life. Northern Europeans use half the per capita juice that Americans do, with the same or higher quality of life. It's hard to be perfect in going greenish, but incremental small steps do make a difference in the lives of others down the mountain, down stream and down wind, as well as those down generations.