Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa

Along the lines of my earlier post, I thought I'd let you know about a couple of TV shows that are relevant. If you get the Sundance Channel, you might want to check out this show that is airing tonight at 9:35 pm E/P:

Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa
Some 400 people make their home on a rugged 15-square mile stretch of New Mexico desert known as the Mesa. Devoid of basic amenities like running water, paved roads and power lines, the Mesa isn’t an easy place to live, but it does offer solitude and autonomy to those who need it, as well as an alternative to contemporary consumer society. This candid documentary captures the tenor of a proudly self-contained and democratic society while profiling several residents, including Maine, a magnetic Gulf War veteran; Mama Phyllis, an even-tempered former psychiatric nurse; and Stan, a kindly pig farmer and father figure to the teenage runaways that have come and gone for years.

If that doesn't float your boat, there is another show on at 9:00 pm that you might like (also on the Sundance Channel):

Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Grow
Green spaces are essential to the health and welfare of cities and suburbs alike. As urban populations swell, creative environmentalists are scouting surprising spots for vegetation amidst the cement and concrete. Suburbanites lucky enough to have green space are introducing a new level of environmental consciousness to their lawns and gardens.

I haven't watched them yet (I have Sundance's The Green series on DVD, but have been too busy to watch and review), but hope to do so one of these days.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Magnetic like a magnetic personality, or magnetic like attracts bits of metal due to some weird government hoo-ha?

Walking Green said...

I absolutely love Big Ideas for A Small Planet. They shows are well produced, informative and just enjoyable to watch.

I really liked the one from the first season about the guy building furniture from lumbar yard scraps and the other brother design team.

Anonymous said...

We saw OFF THE GRID a while ago on DVD (the benefits of having a film critic wife). It was interesting how the mesa community was a collection of people sincerely wanting to break with the values of mainstream society for good reasons, and others who appeared to be in some stage of anger/depression/meltdown. And yet, somehow, they kept the community together and kept it running as a self-regulating collective. Pretty amazing.