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Life Off-the-Grid

Tag Archives: Climate Change

I Do NOT Represent the Wind Industry

By Cam Mather A couple of Sundays ago I spoke to the “Transition Cornwall” group. There was a good turn out and it’s a great group with lots of great activities. They are very much committed to increasing resilience in their community. Resilience to peak oil, climate change and economic collapse. Oh sure, it’s a …

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“On the Road” vs. “The Road”

By Cam Mather There is a book by Jack Kerouac called “On The Road.” It’s considered to be a classic. It’s the defining book about the ‘beat generation’ who broke all the rules and set the new bohemian standard for existential coolness. I use many of these terms not really knowing if I’ve got them …

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Measured Out in Coffee Spoons

By Cam Mather In my on-going “life as a song lyric” series, where I live vicariously through music, I was recently taken back to my suburban life. It was one of those “angry Cam” days when a whole series of things had me in a pissy mood… climate change/idiots & morons/May weather in March exposing …

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The Off-Grid/Green Myth, Part II

By Cam Mather When Professor and Canada Research Chair Phillip Vannini came to visit us recently as part of his research on people who live “off the grid” he had just come from an off-grid home north of Toronto. This couple had indicated to him that they had gone off grid for “environmental reasons.” I …

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Crossing the Gardening Rubicon

By Cam Mather This hasn’t been much of a winter here at Sunflower Farm, just like many places in North America. The area south of us along Lake Ontario had virtually no snow. By the end of the winter in 2008 and 2009 after numerous dumpings of snow we had enormous piles and snow banks …

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Documentaries vs. Hands-On Workshops

By Cam Mather Recently I was invited to become involved with a documentary that is being made for the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for my American readers.) I turned them down.  It must seem weird for me to turn down a chance for shameless self-promotion but my dealings with the producer left a bad taste …

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Working My Way Down the Corporate Ladder

By Cam Mather It all started at a little 50,000-Watt radio station in Peterborough, Ontario. I started out selling radio advertising. Then I moved on to selling television advertising. I went back to university, for a year, then quit, got married and started selling microcomputers in the early ‘80s just as they came on the …

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It’s Not Bugs in Your Food That You Need to Worry About!

By Cam Mather I saw an article in the Toronto Star newspaper recently about how weevils had been found in some bags of rice. But they just weren’t found in the rice, they had “infiltrated and contaminated” the rice. Really? Contaminated? http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1115473–weevils-found-in-rice-at-real-canadian-superstore-in-toronto After the contaminated bags were removed the area was inspected by a pest-control …

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There’s a Freight Train Sliding Off My Roof!

By Cam Mather Last night a 747 landed on my roof. Or at least that’s how it sounded. But first, some background. As we were preparing to move in to our century-old farmhouse (it was built in 1888), we were passing around some photos at a social gathering. Someone at the gathering took one look …

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How Hi Def Could Save the World

By Cam Mather I LOVE TELEVISION! No really, I love television! And I watch a lot of it. Well at least at this time of the year I do. Sorry to burst the burst the bubble for those of you who have this dreamy little image of homesteaders who spend their candle-lit evenings huddled by …

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