Off Grid Academy
Manifesto
The
current crisis – which is first and foremost an ecological crisis, and thus
social, – makes clear the need for profound changes and the identification and
testing of new paradigms. But how is it possible to give life to an
ecologically responsible society without first posing the question of what kind
of social model to apply, starting from the considerations of inequity and the
unsustainability of the existing model, both in the short and the long term.
Today,
the ultimate value and desirability of something is based solely on one type of
instrumentality – that of the market; of efficiency, of technical expediency
and cost, while at the same tome ignoring the negative consequences of such
valuation for society and the environment.
The
unsustainability of this approach arises from a lack of political foresight
that fails to evaluate carefully essential factors of demographics and the
escalating consumption of energy, resources and territory, which are out of
scale and beyond the carrying power of the planet. This is accompanied by an
excessive concentration of control in a few hands of such key factors as
energy, food production and the management of economic and financial power.
More
then ever before in history, the result has been to create a highly integrated
and extensive network of nodes in a global, virtual, and above all deeply
'in–grid' system that concentrates and controls the production and distribution
of essential resources for the functioning of our society (energy, food,
culture, finance, etc.). It is also important to note that these nodes, on
which this networked system focuses so much power, enjoy an extreme
extra-territoriality such that they are at one and the same time everywhere and
nowhere.
Here,
our goal is to free us from these networks/facilities, restoring and sustaining
widespread 'places' operating entirely off grid for what concerns the
production of energy, food, mobility, land management and social aspects, while
utilizing the opportunity to be connected to a global network for the exchange
of ideas, proposals, insights and solutions.
As
in the past, the systemic change of policy, of social and cultural institutions
and of the economy can only be done starting from the local community, which is
transformed into a laboratory for a new humanism that knows how to address the
problem of compatibility between development and responsible commitment towards
equity and the preservation of biodiversity. The evolution of communities
composed of citizens in possession of the tools necessary for a participatory
and sustainable economy is essential.
The
challenge is to build a different present to safeguard the future, and to
design entire communities "off the grid" meaning by this this
concept, communities that are autonomous, self sufficient, and sustainable.
