This past weekend marked the culmination of many months of work for me. The celebration of Lakes of Fire, a regional Burning Man event here in the Great Lakes area. What does a gathering of a bunch of freaks have to do with green living you might ask? Well, I’ll tell you. There are ten central tenents of Burning Man, one of which is Leave No Trace.

Leave No Trace is a philosophy that means whenever you leave a Burning Man event the area is left, at a minimum the same as when you arrived, while we strive to actually leave it in better condition than when we got there. This philosophy is not just a Burning Man philosophy by any means. I, as an active outdoors person, have practised this for many years while backpacking and camping, as many others have.

I was speaking with a group of people that work for the ranch that was kind enough to let us have our event on their property this year. The subject of their having to clean up after the event came up. The look on their faces was priceless when I told them that if we had done our part correctly there would be no clean up for them. They actually found this hard to believe. A good part of the ranches revenue is generated by renting out space for various music festivals over the course of the year, and I listened to horror stories as to the amount of trash that they have to collect and dispose of after these events, which are put on by supposedly conscientious people (i.e. hippies).

Leave No Trace is a philosophy that we all should embrace and practice in our day to day lives. If we all did this, think of how different the world we live in would be today. Strive to leave anyplace you go as clean as when you got there. If you really want to be a hero, stick a garbage bag in your back pocket when you go for a hike or a walk on the beach. It takes almost no more energy to pick something up than it does to ignore it, and think of the little bit of additional joy you are spreading to those that will be there after you. Live responsibly, it is a gift that will come back to you.

Now put down the computer, grab a trash bag, go for a walk, and help us beautify this place we all must live in.

I watched a program on Sunday night called Off the Grid. It was based on a family who, for reasons of their own, had decided to pursue a life of living off the grid. Self contained and self sufficient. They had purchased 125 acres in Canada. Beautiful property. No electricity, no running water. The property held 2 out buildings that were still standing from the early 1940’s. They planned to refurbish those buildings to accommodate their family.

The show was very interesting to me because, although I live in the middle of suburbia, I would love to be able to live that way. In fact, that is one of my life goals. Solar powered, recycled water, gardening, the whole shebang.

We are in the process of purchasing a home. Within the plans for settling into this new home, we are making plans to convert over to some off grid living. It will be interesting for me personally to see just how far we can take that idea. This show made me realize just how much potential there is for it. The family installed wind & solar power options for their property. They brought in composting toilets. Put in their own rain disbursement system. It really was amazing to watch. I am also curious to hear just how many of you out there think that you could do it.

There is a man in New York that is trying to do it. In New York City!!!! I am in Miami and even I know there are options for my family; but could you do it? If not the whole off grid thing, could you do part of it? Comment away.

I don’t want you to see the world with a blind eye, so today’s post is designed to help make you see, what you may forget from time to time. I hope this inspires you..

This is where your trash goes, it’s not “gone” like you think, it just has a new home…

You think your hungry? Think again as you look at this child…

Don’t want to spay or neuter your cats? They could end up here:

So there you have it, it’s only a small dose of reality, but I may continue experimenting with this topic later on.