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This is not a
place where I grew up.

I did not inherit this house.

I built this house.

You built it yourself?

Yeah.

It looks amazing by the way.

We hope you can show it to us.

Oh yeah, you can look at it.

It's this, this is, I mean this
is what I built in my spare time

and it's you know it's an
architectural monstrosity,

but it's mine.

I don't owe any money on it
and yeah, it's where I live.

How did you come
up with the design?

I didn't.

It doesn't have a design.

Yeah I poured the foundation.

I milled the wood.

I cut down the trees.

I trucked the wood
here and there.

I nailed the boards
up, but never,

no construction crew has
ever worked on this house.

You know it's like people what's
it like to live off the grid?

I don't know.

I'm just living.

This is where I live.

On Lasqueti Island and
when you're off the grid,

we spend our time dealing with
the three things that you people

in the city spend
the least time with

and that's heat,
light and water.

- Yeah.
- Is that right?

When your water goes down
your water doesn't come

out of your tap.

You call up somebody and bitch

when your electricity
doesn't work.

You call up somebody and bitch.

Well around here if your water
doesn't go out you think,

oh God the hose is broken or
something and you go out there

and find it before
your water drains away.

After all the Y2K panic
every community had

to have a disaster
management plan.

They send over a woman
from the regional district

so she starts off
and she says, "Okay."

She says, "What are you going
to do when your power goes out?"

And I said, "Well my
power's not going to go out."

She said, "Well how
can you be so sure."

And I said, "Well
I make it myself.

I have solar panels and
a water wheel and because

of what I'm doing I
have three generators.

But basically if my power
goes out, I fix it."

We've done a lot to have
a convenient lifestyle,

but it's a lifestyle that
we have really built up

and made for ourselves.

I mean I just like it when I
turn on the water I know exactly

where the water's coming from.

You know I know when the
washing machine is draining.

I know where that water's
going to and I know

when I flick the
light switch I know

where that electricity
came from.

You know I can account for it
all within a very small area.

I grew up on boats
and in the bush, alright.

And one of my favourite
sounds is silence.

I mean lived off the
grid for most of my life

until I was about 28 or 29.

I had a cell phone
for six months.

Yeah, I hated it.

It was terrible.

I mean I went from having no
phone to having a cell phone

where people can call you when
you're walking in the woods.

I don't want to be called
when I'm walking in the woods.

I have very similar fears.

I don't where to start
to become self-reliant.

Right, yeah.

And so I think
that's a problem.

Yeah, yeah.

Because I have grown
up as part of generation

that just flicks on a switch.

Absolutely.

That's part of why I'm
doing what I'm doing is

to create a place where my
daughter can survive really.

Because I, you know I don't want
to sound like a doomsday person.

But I, we're virtually
converting the biosphere

into a human sphere.

And you know it can't,
it's just not possible

to sustain what we're
doing at all.

So I mean this is one of the
last frontiers if you will

of where civilization
hasn't come

and fundamentally
chopped everything down

and created human
plantations you know.

I think there's a portion of the
population probably mostly older

who find it you know more
challenging to live here.

I would like nothing better
than to have a power meter

and all the power they need
for electric heat and not

to have to haul firewood in.

I think in general
most of the people

that live here would not
wish to connect to hydro.

In the 70s Lasqueti
turned down hydro.

They didn't want to give
Lasqueti electricity.

They wanted to use Lasqueti as
a jumping, as a stepping stone

to get electricity
from the mainland

over to Vancouver Island.

I think it was more of
an anti-establishment,

anti-corporation kind of mindset.

In the 80s solar, wind
and micro-hydro became sort

of viable options and a
lot of people got really

into alternative energy stuff.

And so when people realised
that they could have electricity

without running a generator they
were pretty excited about that.

I mean the reality
of Lasqueti is

that it's just not close enough
to any connected communities.

This place as you probably
found just getting here is

a pain.

It's not an easy place to live.

We don't want a car ferry.

Tell me why.

Because we know who's here.

The people that I know
that live here really

like it being different and
that you know we're wanting it

to be difficult to live here

because we don't want you
know folks to come here

and just change the
beauty that's here.

If you come here because you
love it here and then leave it

and that's what I'm trying to
do in my impact is develop it

in a way that's sustainable
for humans, but not going

to forever destroy
it ecologically

for all the other species
that this is home to.

We have legislation in Lasqueti

that says one house
per 10 acres.

And we brought that
legislation in because we felt

that 10 acres was the
smallest sustainable parcel

of land the family could live
on for firewood, for water,

for the ability to grow
food and be sustainable.

The general attitude of people
that will trouble themselves

to live in a place like
this is independent.

And most people you will talk to
I think will tell you that part

of the allure of living

on Lasqueti form is
that it's off grid.

And I think most of
us have a great deal

of fun for that challenge.

It's not unusual to see
houses with solar panels,

farms with wind turbines,
people collecting rain water.

Some have even managed
to disconnect

from those traditional
connections

by going off the grid.

That's something Dr. Philip
Vannini is interested in.

He's the Canada research
pair in innovative learning

and public ethnography at
Royal Rhodes University

in Victoria B.C. And Dr.
Vannini joins me now.

I think we all know
what off the grid means.

But what does it mean for the
purposes of your research?

The government of Canada
actually defines off the grid

as being disconnected from the
electricity grid servicing a

particular region.

So essentially see

if you produce your own
electricity you're off the grid.

Now we use that expression
in other context as well.

Now generally people
that are self-sufficient

for their electricity
are also off other grids.

They may have their
own water supply.

They may take of their
own garbage rather

than have pick-up.

They may have no television for
example and things like that.

I'm interested in
this for two reasons.

The first reason is because
we keep hearing as a society

that bad things are to
come, because we are running

out of those resources that
have made our life possible.

Oil, coal is of course still
abundant but it's not going

to be with us forever.

The resources are becoming
more and more expensive

and so we hear that our
life is going to change.

Things are never
going to be the same.

I can't tell the future.

I can tell the present
though and I'm interested

in documenting the
lives of those people

that are live in
the future today.

And I'm relying on
renewable resources today

and I'm interested in seeing
what their life is all about.

So what we do by traveling
the country and going

to every single province

and territory we actually
learn different environments

where people adapt
in different ways.

Actually I would say that what
has made our work possible is

the fact that pretty much
everyone who's off grid wants

to teach others.

You and I probably don't
know half of the skills

that our grandparents had.

It's skills on you know how to
build a fire properly or how

to can your vegetables that
you've grown in your garden.

And the idea is that if
we continue as a society

to forget these skills we'll be
less and less self-sufficient

and more and more reliant on
distant providers that burden

with non-renewable resources.

Generally we like to begin
with a million dollar question.

We live in a country
that is by historical

and global standards a
pretty comfortable place.

We've got access to all kinds
of comforts and conveniences.

All technologies that have
supposedly made our lives

easier, better.

And here we have instead a group
of people who go off the grid

and disconnect themselves
from this kind of world.

Why?

Good question.

I told you it'd get deep
and get you going for hours.

Yeah. Why indeed?

There's a certain amount of sort

of let's see how little
I can get by with.

You know, let's see how
basic I can make my life

or how simple I can make
my life and still be,

and still be you know
happy and comfortable.

It's equal parts
necessity and philosophy.

When I decided that
I wanted to live

at these locations there was no
option of having electricity.

You know, I mean this
location was off the grid.

The grid was miles away.

Right.

So there was no chance.

But I stayed here so long

that the grid has actually crept
closer and closer and closer.

We need more power
because we're,

you know our little
farm has been growing

and we had actually made
the decision that we were,

we were going to bite the bullet

and have the power come
the rest of the way.

And then we got into all
kinds of negotiations

and difficult things about
easements and what not what not

and it didn't pan up when that
choice seemed to be slipping

through our fingers

and we actually tripled
our solar capacity.

Brian I wonder if someone
from Yukon Power came in today

and said well, we're putting
the grid closer to your place

and no extra expense here.

We can connect you.

Would you like to be connected?

What would you say to them?

I think we would do
it to get the power in.

You know we've been
off grid for 30 years.

It's probably time.

I mean this is our home.

We will probably
always live here.

Okay.

How long we'll continue
to farm I guess will depend

on our level of energy
and stuff.

But we will, I think
we will live here

until we just absolutely
cannot live here anymore.

There's something that I
love and I've always loved

about the bush, the wilderness
even as a child in California

and backpacking into
the high Sierras.

The decision to live
off grid was not sort

of saying we are
determined to live off grid.

It was more we're
determined to live in the bush

and the only way to
do that was off grid.

Because I meet people who are
similarly you know off grid

or whatever and sometimes
it comes from kind

of an apocalyptic
view of the world.

And we had a guest here the
other day who's you know very

committed to storing up food
and you know he sees what...

The survivalist.

Yeah, a survivalist
kind of thing.

I mean he looks at
what's happening

with the economy and
all these things.

And you know for him
it's the precipice

and so he was wondering you
know what we had been doing

to make sure we are ready for
the coming apocalypse you know.

So I am not off grid

in principle is probably
the best way to put it.

I would have used their power.

It's just not feasible
economically.

What did that cost you?

Well I never, I never, I
never totally checked it out

but I'm guessing a quarter of
a million dollars or something.

It's a common thing that people
come and they see the winter

and they see the solar
collectors and stuff.

And then they say wow, you know
you get your power for free.

And I always have to laugh and
say, "Well no actually it's,

what I did was I paid for
30 years of power up front."

When there's excess power the
batteries are fully charged.

So if the wind is blowing
and the sun is shining

and the batteries
are fully charged,

basically it's just dumping.

We have more power
than we can use.

So here is the what I
call the upper array,

because there's the lower array.

So each of these, each
of these is 175 watts.

Yeah.

So, six times 175.

There's 12 of them.

And there are 12 of
them, 24 altogether.

Now how did you learn
to do all this stuff?

By trying and made mistakes

so you know you had
to redo stuff.

So I wasn't speedy.

Reading, researching,
trial and error

and asking questions you know,
yeah seeking advice from people

who know and who are happy
to share their knowledge.

I mean think about anything.

If you thought about any kind
of project and as a whole

and said how can I do
that it's overwhelming.

You know but it's the old adage
how do you eat an elephant you

know, one bite at a time.

And so I, I didn't
have to figure

out everything before I
figured out this part.

And as this part evolved then I
needed to figure out this part.

Then I needed to
figure out that part.

And as you move along
it evolves and it works.

Then you find your way step by
step and it's only looking back

that you realise oh my goodness,

wow how did I pull
that off you know.

I live on a small island.

I am self-reliant for
my own water supply

and when I moved there I
realised how much your attitude

changes when you are
self-sufficient for something

and you're much more
careful with it.

And I wanted to see if other
people also were as careful.

You have somebody taping
this right now so you're kind

of documenting everything
as you go along?

We work non-stop.

Yeah and so this is really
becoming this I guess is part

of [inaudible] to...

Oh absolutely.

Document in whatever
way you can.

If people listening want to
get in touch can they do that?

Oh absolutely.

I would love to.

After Off the Grid we'll
make our way there.

If you look back on any life
it's a bunch of stepping stones

and you just never know where
they're going to take you.

So my training was
industrial electronics

and Joanna was a
registered dietician.

And I was working at a
company, electronics company

and I just felt there
had to be more to life.

Joanna came up with the
floor plan for the house

that she wanted to have.

So I took the floor plans and I,

I researched construction
techniques that would deal

with a harsher climate
and I was not impressed

with what I researched.

So I kind of came up
with a unique design.

I've never seen anybody
else do it.

Well everything has worked
better than I expected.

I, I didn't know a lot of the
things I've learnt because I,

everything, every
challenge we came

up against what did
I do, some research.

I found out how to do it and
I did it, as simple as that.

And people said, well
how'd you get this done

or you can't do that.

Well that's nonsense.

Of course they can do it.

We haven't run up
against anything

that we haven't been able
to do or handle ourselves.

We're retired school
teachers and we spent...

Thirty five years in town.

Thirty five years in town.

And what we wanted to do is

when we retired the first
thing we did was sell the house

in town and move out
here to the bush.

Basically we've got
everything we could

possibly want.

You've got all the comfort.

All the comforts of home.

All the necessary conveniences.

We watch all the TV.

We listen to the stereo.

We have all the lights
that we want on.

We have a computer.

We run the coffeemaker.

You know we run, we do
all those kinds of things.

That's a rare thing fortunately

that I haven't been
able to fix something

or joy rig something
to get it to go.

You must have had some
contractor do some part.

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

We've done it all ourselves.

I did absolutely everything.

Part of living out here
is having an inventory

and then anticipating
what things

and spare parts are
you going to need.

We have degrees coming out
of our ears in this place.

So many books.

And so we have tonnes
and tonnes of books.

With anything machine
or engine wise I may refer

to things that you can kind
of take a wild stab at.

I built this thing and then she
said, oh well that's not enough.

And generally if
something's going to break

down I mean it's going
to be something simple.

Just this fall I built
this air compressor

out of a lawn mower motor.

Very rarely have we
had to deal with something

that couldn't be fixed out here.

The generator was
definitely one of them.

I guess that's really...

Well the first winter
that was the second one.

Yeah, but that's
not our problem.

I mean that's kind of faulty

or we could debate
the design of that.

Well, there's a million things.

I also want to build
an electric car.

That's definitely
a feeling that most

of the population is really
dependent on others and being

out here we're dependent
on ourselves.

The oven is a little bit
tricky sometimes to get used to,

but once you kind
of get the hang

of it I don't know it just
becomes like second nature.

If I was to have this on all
day long even in the wintertime

on a sunny day it would
get stiflingly hot in here.

What's really important
in this country is that first

of all we have massive
amounts of insulation.

That's the most important thing.

The second thing is that
we have tonnes of material

that can be used
as thermal mass.

So once you warm it
up it regains the heat

and radiates heat for
days and days and days.

Here, for example, I have
5000 gallons of water

in the crawl space
under the floor,

under where you're sitting.

All these different
jugs, different sizes,

two gallon jugs, five
gallon jugs, 13 gallon jugs.

Soap and wax jugs.

Yeah that originally
had soap and wax in them.

Laundry detergent, and some
of these are the

from the hotels in Dawson.

Well they just, they
don't recycle them.

They just throw them away.

And these are questions
that I haven't asked before

because you know sort of how
often do you leave the house

on a yearly basis, or
monthly basis, I don't know?

Generally twice a
year, usually in spring

like March before the ice
goes out and then in the fall,

end of September beginning

of October before the
ice starts forming.

Our daughter lives
in Edmondton and we go

and visit her quite often and
our son lives in Dawson Creek,

which is only 35 miles away.

But we have a lot of friends
that come from other cities

and camp out here with us
in the summer especially.

We're, we're comfortable
with our own company.

We're not antisocial but we're
just happy to be out here.

We have no set schedule.

We see the rest of
the world is working

and spinning their wheels like
a hamster in a cage trying

to just make money
to live and survive.

isn't intimidating

to be off by yourself out here?

I think initially I
was a little bit nervous

about how am I going
to react to that.

But I'm basically in
introvert to begin with,

so I'm not like Ron said,
we're not antisocial.

I mean we had friends
when we were

in Maine we had friends
that I worked with.

But we're not social
butterflies either.

When the road is open
between freeze up and break

up I make a trip
every three weeks.

And when I'm done loading
my truck everything

on that truck is paid for.

And then I bring it
here and sell it.

Okay.

If I could go down
into Washington state

and just Seattle or someplace
like that without having to go

through the hassle of the
border or whatever I would do

that because it's going
to be that much fresher.

You never what the prices
are going to be from one trip

to the next anyway you know.

I mean I pay a price for
like say broccoli one trip

and the very next trip three
weeks later and it'll be double.

It's all supply and
demand right.

So what you have now is a
town that only grew to three

and a half thousand although
it was projected to one day go

to 10 and everything is laid out
needs over there.

We do have our year
round water supply.

We of course have the road.

We have you know shipping
still comes in on the river.

We still have the highway.

Basically they're fully
functional towns sitting

in the middle of
nowhere in the arctic,

which is really quite
fascinating.

A lot of times when you
know researchers or people

from the south whether it's
a journalist or researchers

or people from the south
whether they're journalists come

to [inaudible] they come up and
try and sometimes sensationalize

over the isolated north.

But when you're living here,
I've been here 18 years,

it's no different than
any small town in Canada.

You need with probably
60,000 people

to get the amenities
we have here.

You know and I know we're off
the grid and you say well,

and you look on the
map and where we are.

because it's
a small town in Canada

and it could be a small
town anywhere in Canada.

Yeah starting sort of
mid to late October that's

when it starts because
things start to freeze

in the two river crossings.

And it's impossible to take
a boat across so they have

to close the ferry
crossings and just wait

until it's frozen enough
that you can drive across.

When they're doing
that during freeze

up everything perishable has
to be flow in so the cost

of dairy products
goes through the roof.

The flip side of it, the actual
break up when it happens in May,

that's kind of when people are
celebrating or placing bets

as to what day the
river will break up.

That ice road is, it's kind of
an artery for transportation

around here because a lot
of local folks have camps

and they can take the ice road,
you know can take there skidoo

out there and just
go up to their camp.

It's sort of off the river.

I have three cabins really.

I got the one for chopping.

I have the summer one for
whales and I have the far one

for hunting the caribou.

And there are whale,
beluga whale and we get

that in the summertime.

It is a way of you know
subsidizing ourselves

because we can do it.

It's our right.

Before the weather gets
too warm here we try

to bring all the heavy
stuff on the road

or ride skidoos to the cabin.

Up here we know how
to travel on that ice.

For me it is you know top to me.

My grandfather and my father are
pretty confident in what I do

and that's how I learnt.

Like if I'm not confident
then I won't go.

If I'm confident I'll go.

It's, it just how I travel.

This is where we are now, okay.

Yesterday we went up this
way and part of this river.

And then we went this
valley through that lake.

So that's what we did.

Way far away from anywhere.

As far as I can
remember I've always wanted

to have my own house
because that's,

I was already drawing houses
that looked like this,

except the only difference was

that I was using cement
to build the walls.

An earth ship is an
idea and I came

to Michael Reynolds
about 35 years ago.

He wanted to build a house
that would be easy to build

for everybody so everybody
could have a house instead

of having a mortgage.

So they made the earth ship
create its own power,

collect its own water, reuse
the water as much as possible

and also build it out of
material that is available.

And the principle component
that everybody talks

about when talking about
an earth ship is the tyres.

And you just basically
use the tyres as a form

to pound dirt into it.

So it's really a rand earth
house where the tyres are used

as a form that stays in place.

So this is tyres
and covered with mud

and then there's
lime plaster finish.

They provide mass so they're
like a battery that stores heat

or drains heat when
it's too, too warm.

So are these Michelin,
Good Year,

Parelli, what, just kidding.

It doesn't matter the make,
only that it's four seasons.

My design comes
from the earth really.

Like I look at the rocks and
they go okay, this makes sense

for a cog building since in
the sense of less work for me.

I looked at where the rocks
were and a lot of the foundation

of the main house was
not needed to be built,

because it was already there.

This is, this is called.

Yeah.

This is what's
called the house right?

What you're feeling is plaster.

But inside, which you can see on
the outside easily is a mixture

of sand, clay and straw
mixed together with water

and it's a sculptural technique.

There's no posts here
holding up the roof at all.

It's the cog itself is
strong enough to do that.

It's a technique that's been
used by humans for millions

of years, more or
less earthquake proof.

And it's insect proof, rodent
proof, it's dirt cheap.

I probably paid 200
to $300 dollars

for the sand to be delivered.

Okay.

And I don't know
what else I paid for.

I mean I bought the doors used.

So, yeah this whole
place, which is very small,

but I might have spent a $1000.

Is that some kind of energy
efficient genius behind...

No. not really.

Okay so it's just style?

It was just an,
it's very cheap.

Part of living off the grid

for me has always been
living with less money.

Wood is cheap and now roofing
and foundations are expensive.

So I thought I'll get extra
square footage for cheap

by building lots of floors.

When I started this house I
might have had a couple grand

to my name that I'd
scraped together

over the last seven
or eight years.

So everything had to be
low tech and low cost.

So, most of the choices
I have made are just kind

of your default off
grid choices.

It makes sense conceptually
in a way unless you think of,

unless you try to live in it

and then you realise you
know, I'm 40 years old.

I can't run up and down seven
flights of stairs twice,

three to four times a day
every time I forget a sock

or whatever.

A lot of peoples'
houses are fantasies.

You know everybody is building
their fantasy little dream house

and in some ways I consider

that to be a ridiculous
way to spend time.

It's just a distraction
from important things.

It's the same way
as everything else.

It's not because
the house is big

that it's more complicated
than anything else.

It's just one step at a time.

You just have to try and see the
big picture and then split it

up into little pieces and
it's not living off grid

that is the answer.

And it's not living in an
earth ship that's the answer.

It's a way of thinking
that needs to change,

being able to realise
where things come from

and what they actually cost.

So there's obviously
no water here right now?

No. It comes from
way up top and then

through this pipe all
the way down here.

A little turbine you
might be able to see

that the water hits right.

And so it spins and
it makes electricity.

It sounds stupid and it
sounds like I'm being hokey

and spiritual or
whatever, but you do.

I had to anyway.

You have to figure out where
the water is coming from.

You have to change
things to suit.

You see how far the frost goes.

You see how far the water goes

into the ground when
it's not moving.

It's not rocket science.

Actually it's more precise
than rocket science.

Yeah, right.

That's all there is to it.

This, this disc here,

this flywheel there's very high
strength magnets underneath

and as it turns it passes by.

There's a whole lot
of coils under there.

I don't know, is it 24 of them?

I can't remember.

Anyway as it spins
it makes power.

If there was enough fall,

if there was enough water
it could make 500 watts.

Me, I've only got a 32
foot fall, over 300 feet

so there's loss in the pipe.

So, when the pond is up and it's
running I would say maybe 90

watts, 80-90 watts.

But, the good thing about
it is, it's 24 hours a day.

Each panel, each of those
panels is 180 watts.

So there's 360 watts.

That's ideal.

So let's say 340 watts really,

full direct sunlight
which is rare.

When does that happen
in the summer?

Now basically you've
about 400 watts worth of PV

and then we added 600 there.

That's about 1000
watts worth of panel.

So that's a 1000 watts
or it's a kilowatt.

So if I get five hours of
sunshine on those panels I end

up with five kilowatts or five
kilowatt hours of electricity.

And the average family
in Ontario uses

about 35 hours of electricity.

So I can, I can live on
five hours in kilowatt,

five kilowatt hours
if I shift my thermal

or my heat loads to propane.

So what we've done over
time is increased our panels

like we've added a second set of
solar panels in the wind turbine

so we can, we can reduce how
much propane we have to use.

But you know we lived off
grid and everybody talks

about kilowatt hours and
I never understood it.

So I said, until I got, I
figure this is a 1000 watts.

I get an hour worth of sun
comes on I get one kilowatt hour

of electricity and it all
started making sense to me.

My solar panels are
all up on the roof.

That's so small.

I was expecting it
to be something,

we have more than that.

There's also another,
that's about one kilowatt.

We have two more
kilowatts right on the roof.

I built this myself.

I'm very proud.

You built this yourself.

I, I, it's my first wind
turbine tower that I ever built.

Yeah.

Mind you I had a kit.

It's a kit comes from Michigan
and it has instructions.

It's wind tower building
for the complete idiot.

I need to lower it once a year
because this wind turbine,

that's yeah it needs
to be inspected.

And it's infinitely
easier to lower the pole

and look the generator than it
is to climb up the pole and look

at the generator okay.

Well one thing that does come
to mind and we're kind of proud

about it is that we've
never had a power bill.

We've heard people, we've
heard talk about it.

We really don't know
what they are.

One of our design factors
was that people coming

to visit us would not know
that we lived off grid.

Is this a normal dishwasher?

It's an energy star compliant
dishwasher and we have choices

to run it low power, so
it's consumption is minimal.

And we choose when
we want to run it.

So, if we you know if we
say, hmm it's a good time

to run the dishwasher
when the sun's out.

We utilize our stuff
as much as we want.

But there's always an
eye on the battery.

There's always that
thought in the back

of your head are
we using too much

and what's the weather like?

What's the weather, it
looks like we've got to...

You know, oh great we're
going to go in the hole.

And I just like to stay fully,

fully charged as
much as possible.

This is where the
electricity lives.

We have a 1500 amp hour
24 volt battery bank

and 2-1/2 kilowatt inverter.

Okay.

A couple charge controllers,

maximum power point
tracking charge controllers.

This is the what's
called the mate.

It's the brains of the system.

So right now, we just,
I just heard it kick on.

So something's just turned on.

So we're now using
1800 watts of power.

The batteries are 49.2 volts.

The output today in terms

of generating power we've
generated goes back and forth.

We've generated what was it,
nine there nine amps, 440 watts.

So not very much.

Today's a Grey day
and there's no wind.

Right now we're inverting
1800 watts.

So we're using more power
than we're producing.

I figure the whole system
probably cost ninety, ninety,

in the neighbourhood of $60,000.

Including the solar panels.

Including the solar panels
and the wind turbine, yeah.

What would you say is the
percentage of power that you get

from wind and the
percentage of power...

Oh we probably get about
10% from wind and about 70%

from solar and about the other
20% from our backup generator.

You can use a generator.

We don't have a qualm
about using it.

But we are aware that it costs
money to fly the fuel in.

Fuel costs money by
itself and all these gizmos

and gadgets have a lifespan.

So let's maximize that lifespan.

If we don't need to fire
up the generator we won't.

I've met a few people
who live off the grid.

There's one not too far
from here, a big system,

big big system, huge
system really.

His whole roof is
covered with solar panels

and he should have
all kinds of power.

But when I went to go see
this huge wonderful system,

he couldn't even watch TV.

Why can't you watch TV?

Oh well you know, it's not
very, it's not very sunny today

and I don't have
enough electricity.

Where does it all go?

He's got a central heating
system and he uses electricity

to run his hot water pumps.

He's got three hot
water circulating pumps.

What in the world are you doing?

You know and he heats
the water with wood.

If you had a decent stove in
the basement, a wood furnace

in the basement for crying

out loud you could
heat your whole house

and your electricity could
be put to better uses.

Water pumps, constant
hot water, oh.

It's just, it just, some
people have the idea

that like you say I'm lucky.

I can rationalist things.

Our son challenged
us a bit, quite a bit.

He went to an outdoor ed
leadership camp when he was

in high school and when he
came back his mantra was

if it's yellow let it mellow,
if it's brown flush it down.

We have a tank up on the hill.

We'll show you when
we go outside,

but it's buried so
it doesn't freeze.

Okay.

And it's probably level
with the upstairs floor

which doesn't really give
enough pressure for you know

for normal pressure in a hose.

But the less pressure you
have the less water you use.

So, and this is what we
do, a 100 pumps a day.

A 100 pumps a day each.

Each.

About like it and it comes
through the pipe down into an,

it's an old milk truck tank and
that's what feeds the house.

And so it's made to go into a
drilled well so that's why it's-

And I've hit the top
of the water now.

So that's fills up.

And when it fills
you'll hear the blurb.

And then it's full.

So then you pull that.

And then you pull the trigger.

Two gallons of water.

That quickly.

So it's not too hard to do.

Nope, quickly.

It's actually quicker

than actually sitting
here and priming the well.

you
know for like 15 minutes

and then finally watch
it trickle out you know.

I haul water.

So I bring the water
from the fire station

where they have bulk water.

It cost me two dollars
every time I,

to fill my 300 gallon tank,
typically about once a week.

Once a week?

Yeah, it depends how many,

you know if we have
guests it's more frequent.

And if I have to fill the
hot tub it's more frequent.

And for the price
it would cost me

to drill a well here
I can buy a truck

and haul water for 10 years.

What we do in here, we
heat the water or we put...

Make a fire.

Make a fire in this
little stove there,

heat the water on top.

So this is boiling essentially
and we take cold water

and then we add it
and then we feel it.

And that feels about right and
then you'll put it up there

in that little thing there
and you take a shower,

which is about five gallons
of water or less, really.

This right here.

I usually sit and take
a shower actually, but.

Yeah.

These can be self-serviced

so there's you know we
can fix them ourselves.

All the insides are stainless
steel so they're going to last

for a long time and they
were made on this continent.

I've just been amazed by this,

because it's super lower
energy use and super low water.

Yeah.

It works for us because
it's got a separate wash side

from spin.

So you can wash a load, spin it
and aim the water back in here

so you can do your second load.

You don't do a second
load of whites

because the water's got a little
bit of dirt in it by then.

But, you can, I do three or
four loads using the same water.

When this gets filled

up you know you take it
outside and dump it you know.

And we don't really use any
kind of fake chemicals too much.

So we, you know we just put it
in different place all the time.

And so we don't really feel like
that's necessarily a bad thing.

Water from the sink,
the kitchen sink will go

into the planter
into an infiltrator,

where it will be
treated if she wants.

Let's say I use something
nasty in the sink

which I try not to do.

It'll go into the septic system.

It's like a Grey
water you know situation

and we don't use harsh
chemicals in here either.

Right.

And the one thing that I
feel pretty strongly about

and you'll see within our
house within our house too is

that it's like it's
our own waste.

We should, we have the
responsibility dealing

with our own waste and if we
die from it it's our own fault.

I think that people
are so afraid of like poop

and not afraid at all
of chlorine bleach.

It like blows my mind.

There's involvement
with your own excrement.

Okay.

And living off the grid.

You can't get any simpler
than pooping on the ground.

This outhouse is
basically just a compost box

or really it's just a few
compost boxes in a row.

When the first area fills

up I just shovel it
into the second area.

Okay.

This is non-scientific.

If you want to get really into
it people by the composting ones

with the rolling drum and
things like that and the peat,

throwing peat moss in.

Then you're making
serious compost.

So underneath the house
is sort of a big tank

and it has a handle
on it for raking.

And so everything goes
in there every day.

You put a coup of peat moss
down it, which I haven't done

yet today so I'll do that
first for your benefit as well.

And it just goes down in
there and every day you give

that handle on the tank
outside a little rake and it,

the gadgets inside
of it, aerated.

We got to a big hole you
know and we build our outhouse

over the hole and we made this
so you can actually pick this up

and move this and the
whole thing comes off.

And so when it's full

and we start getting what
we call a stalagshite,

which is actually, but
you know what I mean.

What we do is we pull this off
and we take a shovel and we put

into a wheel barrow
and we take it

and we go dump it
somewhere, you know.

In the woods?

And you can't even recognise
it is poop at that point.

It looks like you know some kind
of dirt or something like that.

So this is the product.

You know it's a fantastic
product you know

like it really is worth waiting.

It smells like dirt.

It's just dirt.

Yeah, it's good top soil.

Like you can get these
plastic compressing

that people keep under
their kitchen counter.

But this is what I find
hard about this you know.

And I was amazed.

Like in four days it was
gone, completely gone.

So I thought oh, I'm
onto something here.

So then I started
setting up systems for it.

Now it's ubiquitous.

And then the cycle
begins again.

You eat your...

Yeah you go back and
forth like you know.

You can do it forever.

There's something that I've
always dreamt of doing ever

since I was a teenager
and I've been lucky enough

to be able to do it.

And that's sit down to the
table and 90% of what's

on the table is stuff that
you grew or made yourself

and you're not depending
on the grocery store

and you're not dependent on
some farmer in California

and that whole distribution
system.

I had a huge garden out
there, vegetable garden

and I always managed to
find the time for that.

I do a lot of canning
and pickling

and those sorts of things.

So, I actually can
have my headphone on

and be doing a business
meeting and I'm pickling

at the same time you know.

Carrots, tomatoes,
peas, marmalade.

We would have corn, juices,
tomato soup, tomato...

- Sauce.
- Tomato.

Stewed tomatoes.

This year we have a
crop failure of potatoes

because we had a flood.

So there's not many potatoes
in here but we have a lot

of canned goods in here.

Strawberry jam, raspberry jam,

Saskatoon jam and
a lot of fruit.

Saskatoons, raspberries,
strawberries and then I do

of course buy a few
peaches and things too,

but other than that we should
probably take some fruit

into the house anyways
to have for lunch maybe.

That's hot water for
my sauce for my dinner.

Oh so there's, there's a
pot of hot water in there.

Yeah and this is going
to boil some pasta as well.

Usually I can say I have
three hot meals a day,

but today because it was

so cloudy this morning
I only had two.

I had lunch and dinner.

So, they just, they reflect the
sun into this insulated box.

It's just, it's, that's
how much power the sun has.

It's incredible.

It's so easy to get
it up to 300.

Today when it was cloudy they
were about 150 and if I was

to really, like in
the middle of the day,

and if I was really
focused on focusing

on these I could get
it up to 350 or 400.

Organizing and planning
is really important.

And so if I'm going to
have something frozen

at night I take it
out in the morning.

We don't really, she
doesn't really it meat.

So we don't, that's one
thing that we don't.

And I think that
like if you make a...

If I make something
for him that's

like frozen meat,
the I cook it frozen.

For two people and one person
doesn't eat meat I'm not going

to make a turkey.

Yeah.

If he wants turkey he can
have it at the neighbours.

So what we do is instead of
growing our own meat now we,

every two years we fly in
a side of beef and we fly

in a whole pig frozen and then
we still do our own cutting,

wrapping.

We make our own sausages.

We smoke and cure our
own bacons and hams.

So this is kind of
the bows of the beast.

We can keep potatoes even

through the winter
if weren't here.

That's the wine that we make and
we thought that if you guys are

into a little bit of wine we
could have some wine for dinner.

Don't you get bored?

No.

No, not at all, never.

So how do you not get bored?

My biggest hobby is woodworking

and I woodwork the old
fashioned way with hand tools.

The wintertime it's
more indoor stuff.

For me it might be sewing,
quilting, knitting, spinning,

weaving, any, I love
doing any of that stuff.

The one next to the vent, the
higher one is the TV satellite

and then the one that's close

to the porch is the
internet satellite system.

When we built the
house that was one

of the first things
we put in was the TV.

I think we've only met
one, two, three people

that didn't have the
internet in their homes.

On the other hand we've
only met a handful of people

that have a TV, satellite
or cable subscription.

I wonder why you decided to
have TV when you're so remote.

For that, for the
entertainment value.

We're not big on the
soaps and stuff like that.

Well we don't watch them at all.

But the educational TV is
something that we do enjoy.

So we watch a couple,
three hours a day.

I mean...

When you're alone in
this place in the middle

of the winter and it's minus 30
outside, you're going no place.

You're staying at home
watching TV or you're reading.

I read a lot.

I don't watch TV
unless it's Saturday night

and the hockey game's on.

And at the same time
I'm grinding flour

on an exercise bike.

So it's my compromise
with the devil.

I'm consuming our energy

in a sense frivolously
using the energy,

but at the same time I'm
saying well if I'm going to be

so darn frivolous then I
better grind some grain.

Actually that's what
Nan told me.

Quite honestly there's nothing

on television worth watching.

And I just got so that
I wasn't even using it.

One day I stopped and I said,
"Gee that thing hasn't been

on for at least a year."

Why am I even bothering to
dust it and so I threw it out.

Television is
always pushing okay.

I use the internet for emails

and for looking things
up alright.

And I go there and I, if I want
the news I'll go to El Gezera

or BBC or someplace like that,
not Fox News or someplace

like that and read the news
and then I turn it off.

The computer's kind of like
a crescent wrench for me.

Alright, it's a tool.

I run the Lotus Centre in
St. Johns and that's a yoga

and meditation Centre, lots
of spiritual activities.

And when I met Ian I'd been
always looking for a place

to do a retreat and Ian's
been sort of, he has this land

out here and he's wondering
what he's going to do with it.

So the two of us got together
and brainstormed this vision.

We have the meditation hut

and that has two
accommodations in there.

And we also have the new bunk
house that we're building

so that will accommodate
12 people.

So we'll have someone coming
for the day, someone coming

for the weekend, sometimes
people say for a week or two.

Sometimes we you know have a
work exchange where people come

out and work and they stay
for accommodation, food.

Miranda brought more of
the people aspect to it right.

I'm bringing more of the
nature and the building

because my training
was in science.

When I lived in India
it was a lifestyle.

It was a spiritual lifestyle
so it wasn't really a business.

When I came back to the west,
Canada it was like looking

around I'd think
everything's a business.

Everything's in terms of making
a living and how to design it

so that a dollar comes
out at the end of it.

I had to get my head around it.

For several years I had
to get my head around it.

But I came with the
desire to create community.

The freedom of you know
waking up in the morning

and you don't have to
be somewhere else, okay.

You know and you still got
a lot on your plate maybe

that you want to touch
down on that day.

But you know you're
not going to company B

and putting in your day, right.

You're just waking up and you
can choose what you want to do.

So you're going to work on...

The only thing is we didn't
really have to get a job

because we had money from
the sale of our other stuff.

But that quickly ran out.

You know what I mean.

And over a period of
time we build everything,

we buy everything.

So we really didn't have any
bills you know so but we got

to the point where you know
we knew we were going to have

to do something for income.

And we always thought
the whole time well

when that comes why don't we
see if we can sell what we love,

which is our lifestyle
you know what I mean.

And so that's what I kind of did
and you know you can see a lot

of things that she does.

She has a website and she does
shows and she sells crafts

and art and stuff like that.

On Friday I should be
getting my very first old age

pension check.

So I don't know how much
they've cut my Canada pension,

Quebec pension, pardon me.

I don't know what
I'm getting yet.

It might turn out
to be so little

that I can't afford
to stay here.

Nan retired in 70, 1976,
worked part-time on occasion,

was always very supportive
of me when I needed help,

which is daily and the
kids, the three kids.

Nan had time to pretty well go
full-time at this as I tried

to keep my job and
pitch in here.

Do you think that a couple

who both work full-time
could live off the grid?

Off the grid yes, but
not quite like we do.

If you're going to go the
extra step then it takes a

rare family.

You need two partners
who are raring to go.

That's the key.

You do need a second person.

Yeah.

And a supportive family.

Yeah.

I think, do you think it's
easier for men than for women

to deal with some
of these things?

Yeah.

You think so?

You know maybe women
need to pee more often.

The women's community
I found to be very strong,

which is I think pretty
different compared

to many golf islands.

The ones I'm familiar
with are

and certainly there's
strong women there.

But I found a lot of
patriarchy like overts really

in your face patriarchy
there as well.

So this place has that as well,

but not to the same
degree I think

and the women are very
much more prominent

in the community I think.

Our youngest daughter was going

into grade nine when
we moved out.

And she had a bit of a challenge
because we were leaving a place

that was ideal for a teenager.

It didn't take her
very long to adapt.

And she soon felt proud to
bring her friends out there

and show them what we
did that was different.

It took her a bit
longer to figure

out that she couldn't
change her jeans every day

and stuff like that.

So a lot of people who
do this still want to live

like they're in the
city or in the country

with a big power supply.

So they want to live off grid,
but they don't want anything

to change in terms
of their lifestyle.

So that's what's
different about us

without taking ourselves
too seriously.

Here we live in North
America and you just walk

into a home that's
been built for us.

We really wanted to
experience what it was

like to actually
do it all yourself.

And I'd always had a dream
as a little girl to live

on Old McDonald had a farm.

That was my dream.

I wanted very, very much to
work with the horses and part

of that was logging with them.

We bought two horses that were
made to pull logs out of woods.

Neither one of us had any
experience in building,

in logging with horses.

I had ridden all my life but
I'd never been behind a horse

and driven a horse with a cart.

We have 150 acres so the idea
was A we would never have to cut

down a live tree, because there
was enough you know dead fall

out there and that's
what we did.

We did that for the first
three or four years.

The biggest issue that we
are dealing with right now

because we couldn't
financially keep it going

as an ecotourism
establishment we are now left

with the burden of the fallout.

We just didn't have
the numbers of people

that you needed during the
tourist season to be able

to maintain that, that
type of lifestyle.

Because it's only
two months of the year.

You've got July and August
and you can't make the money.

You just can't do it.

So either you have to have
money to live off the grid,

to own outright your
property and have no mortgage.

So, we just, we couldn't do it.

We just couldn't do it.

So enter working off the farm.

Judy's working off
the farm as a cook.

I'm working off the
farm right now

as a security guard
at a hospital.

That changes the whole
off grid situation.

We were functioning
with the weather before.

You can't function
like that now.

No. Now we come
home and we want things

and I've got four hours and
I have to either sleep or go

to work so we use more power.

Now it becomes a
major pain in the ass.

In one sense you have
to weigh the ethical

or the ideological
side to the practical.

Our other option and this is
very ironic is that Jim go

out west to work
as a driver for...

Oil [inaudible].

The big part of what's
next is we will be on grid.

If Jim were able
to go out west,

the first thing we
would do would,

it would probably take us
20,000 to get the lines in

and you know get a system going
whereby I can have running hot

water and I can have a little
propane stove with an oven here.

I have to have some
easier option here.

The people I work with just
cannot possibly understand how

I've survived this long.

They have spent the last 50
years getting away from this.

So they don't want
to go back to this.

Whether you live off the grid
or on the grid you still deal

with life and life can be
very, very rollercoastery.

We love it here.

I mean who wouldn't?

This is, this is paradise.

It's a little piece of heaven.

We have no issues
with neighbours.

We have 150 acres
surrounding us.

I can have my horses
in my back yard.

I can look out my window.

It's the most complicated
life I've ever lived

and that's the truth.

I have never felt more
stressed than I feel today.

The thing about it
is everybody comes here

with a dream.

And after about four
to six months they find

out that the dream doesn't fit.

And the smart ones
change the dream

and they're the ones
that stay here.

The ones that try to make this
place fit their dream usually

don't stick around.

The learning curve for somebody
moving out of the city coming

to this place is straight up.

- Alright yeah.
- Straight up.

Yeah.

You've got to
understand plumbing.

You've got to understand
basic wiring.

Every coffee table

in the suburbs has got
"Country Life" on it.

Right.

With glossy photographs of
all these gorgeous houses full

of antiques and nic nacs
and they have this notion

that that's the way you
live in the country.

Well you bloody well don't.

Nobody's got the time
to dust that shit.

My grandfather and
I were very close.

So I'm the one he told
all the stories to.

He left me the island with
a promise to do my best

to you know keep it in
the family or protect it

and that's the promise
that I've kept.

When I used stay here with
my grandparents in the 50s,

60s they had a very
small grid system.

So every house had I don't know
if it was 60 amps, 80 amps tops;

very small electrical services.

So when the neighbour
down the street turned

on the toaster your
TV went like this.

Like you understood that there
was a limited amount of power

and now there's no demand
metering on residents.

There's no feedback loop.

You can use any amount
of power you want.

You can run all your
electric heaters at once.

You're going to get a bill.

Price is a great factor,
but in a way it means

that if price is the only
control on consumption,

it just means that wealthy
people can use a whole bunch

because they can afford to.

So what I find interesting
with human behaviour is

that if people can access
the power they'll use it.

If they can't, they'll
take it to the limit

and go oh, that's the limit.

You should bring a
paradigm where I want

to covert my city house
to being off the grid

and I want my dishwasher
and my dryer

and my washing machine
and blah, blah, blah.

Well that's all fine if you've
got you know $45,000 to spend

on a power system to run
your house renewably.

All that you've proven
is that a person

with $45,000 can live
off the grid just

like they live on the grid.

That is not really
progress in my mind.

Do we want people in the city
to be independent with respect

to an electrical
generation or do we want them

to take ownership
and understanding?

The first thing I would
say to someone who wanted

to live off the grid is first
turn everything off and live

without electricity for
as long as you dare.

And then you will have starting
place from which to sort

of truly appreciate what
it is to be off grid.

And then from there
you could start

by for example buying
a small solar panel

and a car battery or something.

And you could say
now I'm going to live

on what I can make with this.

I think there's something
deeply rooted in what it means

to be human, to have
the connection

between being productive
and having stuff.

In our society that
connection has become tenuous.

You get a paycheck but it's very
hard to see what you're doing

in your office actually
connects to producing anything.

For me to be in a physical
environment where taking care

of stuff, making sure that
I have wood for the winter,

making sure that the various
systems are working properly,

that I have to take care
of them, and as I invest

in those things then
my needs are satisfied.

Seeing that connection
I think is a,

there's something deeply
healthy about that.

Is it doable?

Yeah.

Of course it is.

We can do anything that we
set our minds to, anything.

I built my house.

I live off grid.

I do, some people
do amazing things.

Lots of people do
amazing things,

but are there enough people

who think it's worth
it to save the planet?

I'm not so sure.

As soon as you step outside

of this little closed group you
notice that there is an ocean

of people who have no clue
and who are not interested.

On my bad days I think
humans are a parasite

and the earth will get
rid of us sooner or later

and it doesn't bother me at all.

It's being found fast and
furious by the television

because that's what
they want you to do.

They want you to consume
and work because the mandate

of our civilization is to start
a plan as quick as possible.

I mean it sounds silly but that
explains everything you know.

And like that's where it
all comes from is the drive

to have it all now
regardless of the consequences.

And that's the kind of system
and that's the kind of system

that we're operating under.

It's the collective
consciousness.

It is civilization, people as a,

humanity as a
entity is

like on this trip
everything

until there is nothing left and
there's nobody that can stop it.

It'll have to stop itself
and it will you know.

Things will change you know.

It's not going to
be pretty okay.

That's what's got lost
in a lot of this and I worry

that those that have lost
all the skills of taking care

of themselves and you know
having to actually work

in harmony with nature in order
to survive, that there's going

to be such a mass of people
that don't get it at all.

I had 20 years in
the Federal Government

and after a while you just sort
of come to understand that all

of this process that we have
in our society that's supposed

to make this a better
place you know

for environment is
not really working

and that you're inside
of a system.

And you're in there initially

because you think
you can change it.

It was the corporate world
that really opened my eyes

to just how, how little
the corporations care.

For example our food.

We don't know where
out food comes from.

And the only time that the
corporations will do anything

in a green sense is if
the people push for it.

We need to stop buying
energy from utilities,

from fuel companies,
from coal companies

at such ridiculously
heavily subsidized rates.

If there were real prices
for the energy we use,

renewable energy it'd
be a screaming bargain

and people would be banging
down the doors to buy it.

However, as long as it's cheap

to take a mountain top off
some poor chunk of Virginia

or Pennsylvania or North
Carolina and profitable

and subsidized by a variety

of business interests we'll
hear about clean coal.

We'll see wonderful ads about
what a great idea fracking is

until we start paying for
poisoning people's wells.

And if we start paying those
real costs we'll see a real

change in perception
and usage of energy.

We've taken that
wonderful concept

of North America pioneering
and entrepreneurial spirit

and we adopted it to our
hearts as back to the earthers.

And it didn't occur to us that
perhaps was colossally selfish.

There's really no reason
four families couldn't share

this property.

And in most parts of
the world they would.

We live in a place where we
have the ability and the soil

and water resources to grow
the majority of our food.

Our heat energy comes from
trees that grow on our property.

Our electricity falls
out of the sky.

We have the luxury of
being largely independent

from what's going
on economically

or socially in the world.

This in true North American
terms is a colossal luxury.

What's wrong with that?

We can't afford to have
three billion people being

that luxurious.