"In 2003, one massive power outage put most of the Eastern Seaboard - more than 50 million people - into a complete blackout, affecting the water supply, transportation, communication and causing widespread looting. A highly dangerous strain of E. coli in the town of Walkerton's water supply was responsible for sickness in 40% of the population and even 7 deaths.
Power, water and the 'grid' system are what keep civilized societies moving, but a rapidly growing sense of concern has citizens everywhere desiring and then demanding control over their own utilities. A passion for self sufficiency is spreading, not in the 'I want to go and live back-to-the-land like in a hippy commune' kind of way, rather in a straight forward, no nonsense way that requires little to no sacrifice of any living standards and is affordable at the same time. Solar power, wind generation, even rain catchment are becoming hot topics all around the world.
In this poignant and personal documentary, Les Stroud and Sue Jamison, along with their two young children, share their experience leaving a world of electricity bills and water problems and going 'off the grid' as they move to their acreage in Northern Ontario. Filmmaker Les Stroud wanted to show first hand that you need be neither a back-to-the-lander, an electrical engineer, or rich to escape the clutches of government-controlled electricity and water."
