documentary
life off grid
A brief synopsis of what I learnt from watching this documentary.
Earlier this year I watched a documentary screened at Govindas restaurant/ theatre (a lovely vegan Indian buffet in
Kings Cross, Sydney. Do yourself a favour and check it out). I was so intrigued by the idea of living off the grid and
what it truly entailed – the environmental benefits, the living conditions, communicating with the ‘real world’. This
documentary captured the beauty, the hardships and the realities of doing just this.
“Off grid simply means living without a
connection to the electric and natural gas
infrastructure.” (IMDB, 2016) Based around the
scenic Canada, this short film/documentary
interviewed and showed snippets of the lives of
multiple people living off grid. The interesting
part was my preconceived idea that being off-grid
was
solely
focused
on
environmental
sustainability.
This
documentary
highlighted
differing
perspectives in which most focused on
sustainability, however, there were some that
decided to live off grid due to enjoyment or grew
up with this lifestyle. This bred many moments of
contradiction between interviewees such as the
belief that traditionally electronic utilities such as
televisions, washing machines and dish washers
should not be allowed when considering yourself
living ‘off grid’. However, others believed it was
okay as long as the electricity generated for each
item was through means other than a power pole.
Further, most would survive by having a diet
consisting of plants grown and food from visitors
once year, while others would make monthly trips
to the closest on grid grocery stores.
Despite differing views presented in this
documentary, in a sense, sustainability is still an
underlying factor when living off grid as this
lifestyle is very focused on using the earth’s
natural resources – such as water and the sun to
generate electricity. Ultimately reducing amounts
of waste each individual produces, and reusing the
little waste each person does create [I’m talking
down to using human feces for manure]. By
simply detracting away from the use of
standardized carbon-fueled electricity, this is one
step towards environmental preservation.
To live off the grid you need to know the
fundamentals of woodwork, wiring and surviving
off the earth. Most interviewees built their own
homes out of natural resources. The structures
they created blew my mind. The ability to create a
standing shelter from their bare hands – no
machines – just the environment and themselves
were insane.
While I have no current plans to live off the grid
in the near future, I love the concept of flexibility,
sustainability and isolation which can be found
behind this lifestyle.