Ready for the Crash

Some Americans Forced to Embrace Alternative Ways of Living to Survive the Economic Slowdown. Case Studies of Ordinary Off-Gridders. Learn How to Live Off-Grid. One Day You may Need to.

March 27, 2008 -- As Presidential hopefuls outline plans for housing relief packages to slow mounting foreclosures, some Americans have taken matters into their own hands.

The off-grid web site (http://www.off-grid.net) is teeming with stories from ordinary Americans living on backlots, using renewable energy, living ecological lives.....but also just surviving....on low incomes and with a good lifestyle: Many have come to the site to share their experiences or to ask for advice.

Off-Grid.net Editor, Nick Rosen has interviewed hundreds of off-gridders about their reasons for living this way, and says: "The number one motivating factor for going off-grid in America today is saving money. The desire to live a greener life is the second most common reason."

Nick Rosen is a leading expert on how to live the high life on a low budget. His book, "How to Live Off-Grid" published by Doubleday, is not about survivalism, but it is about survival at a time when the repo man is everywhere:

The Off-Grid site contains case studies that show many who are being repossessed are turning to the off-grid lifestyle. The site receives 80,000 US visitors per month.

"It's a combination of new technology and ancient wisdom." said Rosen.

"We lived beyond our income, charging, borrowing, refinancing....." says one of the site's authors, off-gridder Ladena Sipes in an article on the off-grid.net web site:
"...we waited too late to sell our house and instead the bank foreclosed. Bankruptcy loomed and frankly, we didn't know how we would make it.

"When it became obvious we weren't going to be able to hang onto the house we sold almost everything....furniture, appliances, etc....and moved into two travel trailers on 20 acres we owned. It was really our only choice."

Now says Sipes, she is happier than she has ever been: "odd as it sounds...it feels good...we are much happier since we accidentally escaped the consumerism and rush of our "other life. I know we'll never go back to the city. We love it out here and staying and building a mortgage free home is our dream."

Many visitors to the off-grid.net web site describe the precise details of their off-grid lives: "I live off grid in upstate New York, Southern Adirondacks," says tattoo artist Denise de la Cerda,32. " I have a good client base in New York City, and when I go there to work, I generally couch surf.
"Currently at home I don't even have solar - yet - and find that I really don't need electricity for much. This year I got a well dug, and now am able to hand pump my water. Previous to that, I was collecting rainwater and filtering it. In winter I heat with a woodstove. I cook with a small propane stove."

In London, England, Mayor Ken Livingstone has just called for the whole city to go off-grid, citing opposition from central government as the only obstacle. In a meeting last week reported in the London Observer, Livingstone told Thom Yorke from Radiohead: " We don't want the normal grid. We want to get everybody off grid.
"It doesn't matter if it's nuclear or gas, 65 per cent of energy is wasted in the cooling system."

Nick Rosen said: "There are practical, achievable ways that any city can reduce and eventually eliminate its dependence on wasteful power and water grids.
"From local micro-grids powered by renewable energy to Combined Heat and Power (CHP) supplies for high density dwellings such as high rises," it would be quite possible to unplug London from the National Grid.
"Human and household waste could be turned into energy by local treatment plants, rather than be transported miles to sewage plants.
"And rainwater harvesting could supply a very high percentage of our household water needs, especially in winter."

NOTES TO EDITORS: More than 1.4 million families lost their homes to foreclosure last year, an increase of 75 percent from 2006. Many of these families, racked with debt, were forced to become creative or face the prospect of living on the streets.

www.Off-Grid.net editorial team is based in London, England, but 75% of the audience is from US or Canada. It has over one million page views per month.

Nick Rosen is an award winning journalist and documentary maker (including PBS Frontline and CBS 60 Minutes). His latest book, "How to Live Off Grid" is published by Bantam Press on March 31st.

If you would like more information or to set up an interview with Nick about plans Americans can make when faced with the prospect of losing a home, please call Lindsay Hobson at 447971543703 or email editor(at)off-grid.net.

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