Someone in the homesteaders group made a post wondering if the lifestyle of someone calling himself off-grid was really valid. The person she was talking about lives in his car
I commented:
For some of us, at the current stage of society, living off grid or nearly off grid includes utilizing resources that would otherwise go into landfill. This includes clothing that people are throwing away; food that people are throwing away that is still perfectly good — not to mention public buses, bicycles, taxis, industrially produced materials & machinery; etc. And yes even one’s personal automobile or van.
So it can seem like a contradiction in terms that we are still using things from the industrial society as we transition to remembering more of what people in pre-industrial societies did. BTW a big mistake for a lot of people is trying to live alone and off the grid. Yes, some people suit that lifestyle but for most of us, being in network with other people – a social grid, if you will – is not in contradiction with being on the path toward off grid or grid light living. Hope this helps, and thank you for your post. And thank you to all who are commenting. Everybody’s perspective is valuable.
(You can check out the post here; it’s a public group.)
BTW the group itself is called homesteaders looking for helpers, helpers looking for homesteads.
There are a huge wealth of valuable experience of being shared in there. Almost 145K members and counting!
Note, in other groups I’m part of, such as the permaculture design community and bioregionalist circles, many of us who are on an anti-racism and decolonization path have ceased using the word “homestead” because it has racist & genocidal antecedents. Many of us prefer homesite, smallholding, or just dwelling, sustainable household, etc. Incidentally (nit), a lot of what us EAs are calling “homesteads” are basically an aspiring plantation! Yikes. We don’t need to go down that path again please.