My brilliant friend Mike Simpson runs the NGO One Sky: The Canadian Institute for Sustainable Living. One Sky, in short, “promotes sustainable living globally,” from Smithers BC, to Calabar, Nigeria to Sierra Leone to Peru and beyond. They stand for integration, integrity and a sharing of ideas and practical applications on the ground. Every time I spend time with Mike (and Gail) I learn a ton of actually practical things (and things metaphysical), and of course these three August days in Smithers, BC were no exception. Upon my urging, Mike gave me a ten-minute crash course in living off the grid, and more intelligently on the grid, and let me film it. I hadn’t even heard of grid-intertie systems. And lo and behold, one of the reasons, Mike says, that solar isn’t yet common place is because all of the non-renewable resources, oil, nuclear etc, are relentlessly subsidized. Subsidized? In our ‘free market’ system. What the hell? Yes, that was sarcasm. Learn what you can, do what you can. You know, love is a sustainable resource, too. May all sisters and brothers live a little better, a little more sustainably, with a little more justice. Pete See www.onesky.ca See also Gail Hochachka’s www.drishti.ca www.petemccormack.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5