There’s a pretty cool infographic making the Internet rounds, but it does have a problem, this blogger thinks. It’s called “What You Need To Live Off The Land,” and was created by 1BOG.org.
The question is how much land would you need in order to basically live off of it? For one year That is, how much land do does a family of four need to grow your own food and produce your own energy?
The infographic below answers that question, but it also leaves something painfully out of the answer.
Home Solar Power Discounts – One Block Off the Grid
Obviously the answer is 89,050 square feet. Of that, 375 square feet would be taken up by solar panels, and a large 76,666 square feet would produce enough veggies for 9,200 calories per day, and so on.
But the problem is the infographic doesn’t explain how much it would cost to make the land produce the food and energy required for that family of four.
The reason I was so interested in the infographic, is that as I blog this, I’m sitting in the middle of our home on four acres of land. We could actually “do” what’s on this infographic, and with room to spare.
So, my question was, what would it cost to do this?
Well, we’d have to build a fence, get the soil ready, clear a lot of trees, and so on.
My Mom, who grew up on a farm, took one look at the infographic and said “That’s too much work.” So we have two costs we’re dealing with, expenses that would explain why people go out to eat from time to time: a time expense and a money expense.
It costs money to prepare the land, and install such equipment as solar panels. Then the land and the solar panels have to be maintained over time. You have to feed and care for the animals on the famr that was made. In all, it’s more work, in construction, maintenance, and operation, than the infographic implies.
On top of all that, you’ve got to find and buy the property. It’s easier to do in Georgia, where the cost of land per square foot is less than in, say, California. About as little as 5 cents per square foot versus something like .53 cents per square foot in California’s Central Valley.
In all, this infographic shows why what’s advocated as a “sustainable” living, is one that, until someone comes up with a cheaper way, largely available to the rich.
Sheds a different light on the idea, huh?
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll