Off the grid, tiny house living, in the city — Transcript

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1. 0:00Welcome to my off the grid
2. 0:02in the city teeny tiny house life
3. 0:04My name is Rob Greenfield and
4. 0:06I live here in San Diego California
5. 0:08without a single debt or bill to my name.
6. 0:11It wasn't always this simple though.
7. 0:13I used to have a half-dozen credit cards,
8. 0:16a fair amount of debt,
9. 0:17and wanted to be a millionaire.
10. 0:19But now my life is all about happiness,
11. 0:21health, and living for the benefit
12. 0:23of the earth, my community, and myself.
13. 0:25I'm largely able to do this through
14. 0:28simple living and today I'm going
15. 0:30to give you a tour of my simple place.
16. 0:32So how do I not have a bill to my name
17. 0:34yet have a sweet spot like this?
18. 0:36In exchange for using someone's unused
19. 0:39backyard, I am building him a fence,
20. 0:41rainwater harvesting system, a garden,
21. 0:43doing yard work, and improving the place.
22. 0:46Plus he's just into what I'm doing
23. 0:48and wanted to be a part of it.
24. 0:50So come on inside!
25. 0:52This is it. All 50 square feet of it.
26. 0:54It's real simple but it gets the job done.
27. 0:57I don't spend most my time in here,
28. 0:59but what I do in here is sleep, read,
29. 1:02and cuddle. Most my time I spend
30. 1:04outside, either out my community
31. 1:06or out in the great outdoors.
32. 1:07So this is it.
33. 1:08I've got my possessions down to
34. 1:10pretty much what you see here but that's it
35. 1:13So let me show you the outside.
36. 1:14How about off the grid.
37. 1:16What does that mean?
38. 1:17It simply means not dependent on public utilities.
39. 1:20Here I'm energy and water independent
40. 1:23These are the solar panels which I use to
41. 1:26charge up a couple the batteries.
42. 1:28I also harvest rainwater.
43. 1:29Right here you can see the gutters
44. 1:31that I built on my neighbor's house.
45. 1:33That just channels the water down
46. 1:35into the downspout,
47. 1:36then through the diverter,
48. 1:37into these blue barrels
49. 1:39and since I'm a couple feet higher up
50. 1:40than my neighbor
51. 1:41I actually have to pump it
52. 1:42out of those barrels
53. 1:43using this pump into these 5 gallon jugs
54. 1:47just like this and dump these 5 gallon jugs
55. 1:50into these barrels which can store
56. 1:53165 gallons of rainwater
57. 1:56Then to use it, I just turn on the spigot and
58. 1:59then I can use this for everything I need.
59. 2:02This is my outdoor kitchen.
60. 2:04Some people would just say
61. 2:06I'm permanently camping
62. 2:08and I have no problem with that.
63. 2:09The rain that I collect goes into these jugs
64. 2:13and I pour that into the Berkey filter
65. 2:20and the water comes out of here
66. 2:22worry-free, no chemicals
67. 2:24like chlorine, fluoride, arsenic, lead.
68. 2:27It takes care of everything
69. 2:28like that as well as bacteria, protozoa,
70. 2:31and viruses. Then I fill up my cup
71. 2:34and drink the purest water,
72. 2:36at least the purest water to around here
73. 2:41and it is delicious.
74. 2:45So this is the cabinet / refrigerator
75. 2:48and I don't need to refrigerate really
76. 2:50because I buy my produce
77. 2:52often and very fresh
78. 2:54and everything else I buy in bulk
79. 2:56dried goods that I put in jars.
80. 2:58So you can see here all my jarred food
81. 3:01at the top which I get
82. 3:02from the local co-op.
83. 3:04Then below I have my kombucha.
84. 3:07I have my staples like honey,
85. 3:09olive oil, and then my spices.
86. 3:11I have my produce
87. 3:13that I buy in small quantities often
88. 3:16and just two bowls, two plates,
89. 3:19two forks, and two spoons.
90. 3:23So this is the kitchen sink and stove.
91. 3:26It's pretty darn simple.
92. 3:29Not a single drop of water
93. 3:31goes to waste here at my home.
94. 3:32When I wash the dishes
95. 3:34or wash my hands
96. 3:35or whatever I have to do
97. 3:36the water goes down this little drain
98. 3:39into these 5 gallon buckets which
99. 3:41I then use to water the garden.
100. 3:45Here is the stove.
101. 3:46It's just a simple propane stove
102. 3:47which is hooked up
103. 3:48to a 5 gallon propane tank.
104. 3:50I used to use a rocket stove which
105. 3:52was more environmentally friendly
106. 3:54than this but what's good
107. 3:56about this at least is
108. 3:57that by not being hooked up to
109. 3:59the utilities where there's a seemingly
110. 4:01infinite amount of fuel
111. 4:05I at least, since it's a 5 gallon tank
112. 4:07really have to pay attention to
113. 4:08and watch my usage
114. 4:09so I'm much less wasteful.
115. 4:11This is my bathroom
116. 4:13welcome inside. It's very simple.
117. 4:16The most important part of this
118. 4:18is the toilet.
119. 4:20The average American toilet uses
120. 4:211.6 gallons per flush.
121. 4:24Since I only have about 2 gallons
122. 4:25of water per day total for everything
123. 4:27I can't have a flush toilet.
124. 4:30This is a compost toilet.
125. 4:32You simply sit on the toilet and you go
126. 4:35just like any other toilet
127. 4:37but afterwards instead of flushing
128. 4:40you grab some leaves and put the leaves
129. 4:41and you put the leaves
130. 4:43on top of your poop
131. 4:44and then this goes into the compost.
132. 4:47Also there's a sink right here.
133. 4:50This is just a basic sink
134. 4:51that I can use to wash my hands
135. 4:54and then this water of course
136. 4:56is used to water the garden as well.
137. 4:57So very simple bathroom.
138. 4:59This cost me about $60 to put together.
139. 5:02Next we'll head off to the compost.
140. 5:04In a typical house you would find food scraps
141. 5:07as well as yard waste in a compost pile
142. 5:09but here I'm doing humanure as well
143. 5:12which is human poo and pee.
144. 5:14If you're ever going to do this
145. 5:16I recommend checking out
146. 5:17The Humanure Handbook
147. 5:18which has all the important
148. 5:19information in there.
149. 5:21It's important to do this right,
150. 5:23but the amazing thing
151. 5:25is that it doesn't smell at all.
152. 5:27I mean it's important to heat
153. 5:30the temperature up to at least
154. 5:32I think it's around 130 degrees fahrenheit
155. 5:35and as you can see here
156. 5:38there is actually steam rising.
157. 5:40You can just feel the heat
158. 5:42coming out of this.
159. 5:44So everything breaks down
160. 5:45and with humanure
161. 5:46You have to let it sit
162. 5:47for an entire year.
163. 5:49This tarp is simply over it
164. 5:52to keep the moisture in
165. 5:55since I live in a dry climate.
166. 5:57This is a great way to reduce your impact by
167. 6:01not having an agency or the city
168. 6:05have to deal with your own poo and pee.
169. 6:08Instead I turn it into nutrients
170. 6:10which will then be used in the garden.
171. 6:12This is my favorite spot.
172. 6:16This is my garden.
173. 6:18What you see here,
174. 6:19these are called wicking beds
175. 6:20which are really awesome
176. 6:22for drought tolerant gardening
177. 6:24and just making your water go further.
178. 6:26Below here is a reservoir
179. 6:29that's filled with rocks
180. 6:30and there is burlap over that
181. 6:32and there is soil over that
182. 6:34and you water the reservoir below
183. 6:36through the PVC pipe.
184. 6:38I planted all this food from starters
185. 6:41about 2 weeks ago
186. 6:43and it is looking great.
187. 6:44I'm just excited to have organic,
188. 6:46delicious, nutritious greens
189. 6:48and this is another reason
190. 6:49I don't need a refrigerator
191. 6:51because my food will be
192. 6:52growing right here
193. 6:53and I'll just pick what I need
194. 6:55when I need to eat it.
195. 6:56So as far as the city code goes
196. 6:57I'm actually pretty much
197. 6:58in alignment there.
198. 7:00As crazy as a lot as this may look I'm
199. 7:03doing pretty well but for me
200. 7:05it's not actually city code that I follow.
201. 7:07I follow Earth Code.
202. 7:09It's about doing what's right for the earth.
203. 7:11for my community, and for myself
204. 7:13and that's what's most important to me.
205. 7:15You will also probably have noticed by now
206. 7:17that I don't actually have a shower here
207. 7:19and it may come as a surprise
208. 7:21but I actually have gone
209. 7:222 years without showering.
210. 7:23That would be pretty surprising to me
211. 7:262 years ago as well
212. 7:28as I had been everyday showering dude
213. 7:30but I learned that
214. 7:31you don't need to shower every day.
215. 7:33Instead I go for a swim
216. 7:35in a natural body of water
217. 7:37and I learned that I don't need
218. 7:38soaps, shampoos, conditioners,
219. 7:40body washes, colognes and all that.
220. 7:42My body functions just fine as it was intended to do
221. 7:46so I go for a swim here in the Pacific Ocean
222. 7:49which is 5 blocks away.
223. 7:52And lastly how do I get around?
224. 7:53That would be my bamboo bicycle
225. 7:56I've actually biked across the country the
226. 7:58the last 2 summers in a row
227. 7:59on a bamboo bike
228. 8:01so biking around town,
229. 8:03not too big a deal at all but
230. 8:05when I am feeling real tired
231. 8:06or I have something
232. 8:07to carry that doesn't fit on my bike trailer
233. 8:09I take an electric car through car2go
234. 8:12which is an electric car share program
235. 8:14because I sold my car
236. 8:15about 3 years ago to live
237. 8:16more environmentally friendly
238. 8:18and just without so many bills.
239. 8:20And as far as internet and cell phone goes
240. 8:23I don't have either of those.
241. 8:25When I do need to use the internet
242. 8:27I hop on my bike, ride to a cafe,
243. 8:29and share internet with other people.
244. 8:31So life is pretty good here and life is pretty simple.
245. 8:49FOR INSPIRATION TO LIVE
246. 8:51HAPPY, HEALTHY AND FREE
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