Going for The Gold-- I mean the Green!

I once sat at the work lunch table and listened while a coworker described her “colorful” uncle- -someone who made lunchtime chatter more interesting, but definitely someone you needed to keep your distance from in real life. Another coworker asked the niece, “Oh, does he live off the grid, too?” Hmm, what was that supposed to mean? I wondered. That only far-out weirdos live off the grid? Didn’t the same guy who put that question out there run our environmental club??

I know I’ve written about this topic before, but I have to say that one of the most attractive aspects of our lifestyle has to be living off the grid. Furthermore, I hope that in my lifetime I will get the chance to see the tables turned whereby more people in civilized countries live off the grid than on. When I think about how our bodies can heal themselves, how we have such a variety of available foods that nourish us, and how we have so many renewable resources available for us to use to make electricity for us, I feel downright spiritual! We have everything we need if we only use these things correctly, responsibly, and respectfully.

It seems like there almost needs to be some sort of true global energy crisis ($4-5 a gallon for gas isn’t enough of a crisis, apparently) before people are forced to look to other energy sources. How is it that after a hurricane the only people in the islands with clean bodies and ice in their drinks are the boaters? It’s because we’re too cheap to live at a marina, so we live on moorings or on the hook and have to use solar and wind to make our refrigerators and laptops work! So it’s a necessity, but it’s also a choice. Believe me, real live-aboard boaters often work and have savings like the rest of the world, but fixing anything on a boat is super expensive, so it’s hard to get ahead sometimes. I won’t bore you with those details. And I won’t delve into my disbelief at what people in the US Virgin Islands actually pay for their government-run energy source in their homes and places of work because it’s nothing short of appalling. 

I can’t pretend I don’t turn my boat’s engine on to get where I need to go when the wind doesn’t cooperate, nor will I say I don’t run an outboard engine off of my dinghy to get around. Of course I do those things, because barring accessible alternative fuels, it’s my reality right now. In the summer when we go to a marina’s slip, though, I’m seriously thinking about insisting we try to not use any shore power. Horrible as it sounds, I like microwave popcorn, real toasters, and flat-screen tvs. C’mon, who doesn’t? But just because I can have those things in my life, it doesn’t mean I have to, and that’s a critical difference in the way we as a consumer society live versus they way we can consciously choose to live. Everyone has a place to begin. It could be taking a shorter shower, only heating the room you are in, or being better about turning off the tv when you aren’t watching. 

Over the past year, we have had to be vigilant about our power consumption because our boat’s batteries were not holding a charge as well as they should have been. So that fabulous extra solar panel (see prior blog) hasn’t been doing that much for us, actually. And the wind generator has been broken all through the glorious, extended Christmas Winds this season. There have been (too numerous) days where we admittedly had to turn on the engine to charge up our batteries. It broke my heart from both from an environmental  point of view as well as from a mindset disruptor vehicle (kids got grumpy and I was shorter tempered, I think, with the engine running in place). 

Yesterday, all that changed, I think. We made it to Fajardo, PR where there is a state-side marine shop. Long story short, my husband swapped out our old batteries for new ones, hooked them up right away, and they are currently holding a fantastic charge!!  When the wind generator is fixed, we will be unstoppable! At least for our meager needs. And that’s the whole thing, really. If you can only afford 150-200 watts worth of solar panels, then live within your means. It won’t kill you or your kids.