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This Sustainable Life

609: Finishing My Off-the-Grid-in-Manhattan Experiment in Month 3

Ep. 609
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Having just started month three of living off the electric grid in Manhattan, technical issues led me to stop the experiment. I'm not sure the problem, but connecting the solar panels to the power station, it doesn't charge. I don't know how to diagnose it without another power station or solar panel I know works to find the problem.

Here are the notes I read from:

  • Last use of electronics off-grid before cooking lunch with pressure cooker, which will mean reconnecting the apartment's master circuit that I disconnected in May.
  • I knew I'd feel dirty because I would cause pollution.
  • Up and down stairs, sleeping in heat, knee injured
  • The hard part wasn't living traditionally. My food was more fresh. I lived with more meaning and purpose.
  • The hard part was living in a different culture, even if just me, than America.
  • I lived by Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You and Leave It Better Than You Found It.
  • As for America, by its fruit shall ye know a tree. What are America's fruits? Not Do Unto Others or Leave It Better.
  • American culture: more men with breasts and fewer sperm than any culture in history.
  • But choice made for me: Power station broke, the computer battery, then charger, now either power station or solar panels.
  • Yesterday had to postpone two meetings.
  • Used power from last time it charged down to six percent on station, about an hour on computer, though longer on phone.
  • Will cook stew, declare victory, and keep using little, especially the fridge.
  • I expect to make twelve months without the fridge

Earlier episodes on the experiment:

Plus I spoke to a city government advisory group and talked about leading up to it.

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