INSPIRING CHANGE – OFF-GRID’S HEADLINE SPEAKERS.
Sunrise: Off-Grid will be playing host to some of the leading minds, hearts and voices in emergent culture. Our main speakers have been selected for their wisdom, knowledge and experience and their ability to inspire change and ask the big questions.
LITMUS – Freeman on the Land
Part 1: A Freeman’s Evaluation – A Summary of The Freeman On The Land Hypothesis: What’s it all about? Testing The Hypothesis Through Research: Where it does and doesn’t check out based on my research
Part 2: A Freeman’s Strategy – How Litmus used his Freeman Strategy to protest against the Crown and its State Implementing The Strategy: Using real life situations to test various Freeman remedies and implement the most successful techniques, such as discharging debt, parking tickets and serving lawful notices to discharge claims against A Freeman
Part 3: A Freeman’s Success – Protesting through non payment of income tax, de-registering vehicles and discharging council tax claims. Again, this section will use real life examples of Litmus’ work as case studies.
Litmus is a self employed music writer, performer, producer, teacher and therapist. Since freeing himself of “employment” (which after all is defined as “to keep busy and occupy”!) he has been on a journey to freedom which really came to a head when he became interested in the Freeman On The Land concept late in 2008 and has now really got stuck into researching it since January of 2009. He has set up a project and website, (www.projectfreeman.com) managed by his close associate Andy Freeman, under which he aims to fully test the concept and determine the best ways in which it can be achieved as a way of life. He has also started a band, “The Freemen” (www.thefreemen.org.uk) to help spread the Freeman word in a fun way via music. He currently spends his time between a houseboat, caravan and camper van with his soulmate and their daughter and has two grown up boys from his earlier marriage.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
William Bloom – William Bloom is one of the UK’s most experienced teachers, activists and authors in the field of spiritual development and holistic healthcare. His work has helped thousands of people. He is the author of many important books including the bestselling The Endorphin Effect, Psychic Protection and Soulution: The Holistic Manifesto. He co-founded Alternatives, is a founder of the Foundation for Holistic Spirituality and the Spiritual Companions network.
www.williambloom.com
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
MARK BOYLE – Living without Money
Mark Boyle is the founder of the Freeconomy Community, whose aim is to help reconnect people in their local communities through the simple act of sharing. His pioneering ‘justfortheloveofit’ website is based on the principal of “pay the favour forward” i.e. if someone helps you, help someone else.
On 29th November 2008 – national ‘Buy Nothing Day’ – Mark began a year-long experiment to live without money. “I decided to practice what I preach and stop wasting so much.” To prepare for his new life, Mark started weaning himself off money by selling his home – a houseboat and its accompanying berth on Bristol harbour – using the money to hire a designer to set up the Freeconomy Community website. He also packed in his job as general manager of an organic food business to concentrate on his new life.
“My passion in life is to use the power of sharing to simultaneously re-build local communities AND reduce waste. After completing a Degree in Business and spending 6 years in the organic food industry, I decided to follow my dream and vision. So in the middle of last year I sold my beloved houseboat to finance the setting up of ‘The Freeconomy Community’, a new project whose raison d’être is to take the problems the world faces today and turn them into opportunities. With over 6,400 members and hundreds joining every week, this thankfully seems to have taken over my life!”
The Freeconomy Community won the People’s Choice Award in the 2008 UK Catalyst Awards.
http://www.justfortheloveofit.org
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
NICK ROSEN – Off The Grid
Nick Rosen: Nick Rosen is an award winning documentary maker, journalist, and broadcaster. Born and based in London, he has often lived and worked in the US. Over the past two decades he has been a Teaching Assistant at the Georgetown University Philosophy Department, a journalist in San Francisco and a documentary filmmaker in New York. Nick is an off-grid expert, editing the website
www.off-grid.net and since 1994 has been off the grid part-time.
Author of ‘How to Live Off-Grid’ and ‘Off The Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America’
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Charlie Veitch – In Service to the Goddess – One Year on the Frontline.
A round up of one year of the Love Police with an in-depth look into the occult beliefs of the founder, Charlie Veitch. He takes you through the need for full-spectrum resistance and discusses why the hippies failed and how mankind can only evolve by swallowing the bitter pill and accepting the challenges from the machine-men.
Charlie Veitch is no different to all the other apes with over-clocked brains running around on the surface of this beautiful planet we call Earth – at least in his words! In the words of others, Charlie is a shining light, one of the founders of the Love Police and an outstanding protector of the right to be heard, to promote liberties and to raise awareness of the vast machine! An ex-banker, Charlie has seen both sides of the story, and has chosen the light. The Love Police, a co-creation of his, are dedicated to spreading messages of freedom in public areas in whatever shape that takes (often outrageous!).
Charlie Veitch is perhaps best described by Che Guevera himself… “At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.” ~Che Guevara
To see lots more about Charlie and the Love Police check out his Youtube Channel www.youtube.com/user/cveitch
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Tamsin Ormond talk: Life of an Environmentalist
Cambridge educated Tamsin Ormond has over the past few years become a pin-up for the Environmentalist movement.
She will be discussing how she went from aspiring to be an Anglican Priest to playing a pivotal role in the protest against the expansion of Heathrow Airport, leading the Suffragette inspired ‘Climate Rush’ on Parliament, getting arrested for her efforts and most recently how she ran to be an MP in the 2010 General Elections.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
THE KINDNESS OFFENSIVE – 21st Century Hippies?
Most people are aware of the 1960’s Hippie movement and the massive cultural impact it had. Few are familiar with the small group called ‘The Diggers’ whose very practical approach to feeding hungry people got it all started.
Kindness Offensive members who were actually there with the Diggers will talk about their experiences and how the lessons learned from that bygone era can be applied in a corporatised 21st Century context and are being applied by The Kindness Offensive who have in the past two years fed 100,000’s of people and given away £2.5 million worth of goods.
TKO had lots of fun at our Sunrise Celebration this year. Check out their video here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/KindnessOffensive#p/c/81FDF330DE8AB835/0/velmWKtMGbk
www.thekindnessoffensive.com
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
TONY WRIGHT – Left in the Dark Book Tour
A presentation at Sunrise: Off-Grid outlining a radical new theory of human evolution and how that led our current state of mind. A diagnosis explaining the root cause of human suffering, a means of treatment and ultimately prevention that will restore sanity where madness has prevailed.
Virtually all cultures preserve myths with an almost identical theme; that from a past golden age humanity has suffered a progressive degeneration. Is this near universal tradition based on real events? The answer appears to be ‘yes’. Recent scientific evidence supports the idea that we suffer from an inherited hormonal condition that has damaged part of our brain. In an unexpected twist, it is the damaged part that is not only driven to play the major role in telling us who we are but also dominates our basic biological functions. Such a scenario explains some extraordinary anomalies that have emerged from research into how our brains function. It provides an underlying reason for the present crises in health, from the dysfunction of the immune system to the declining age of puberty. It also makes sense of the diverse mystic and religious practices that are said to lead to enlightened states or ‘oneness with God’.
If our common experience of near constant low-level fear and anxiety is actually a consequence of a neurological disorder, there may be a fundamental solution to the problem. We all know that fear, distrust and a lack of connection lead to conflict and ultimately war. Such a solution therefore could be of crucial importance to our global future.
Despite the staggering implications the basic proposal is already attracting emotive endorsement and support from sceptical mainstream academics and scholars in many disciplines to spiritually inclined philosophers, environmental activists and pretty much everyone who has read and understood the basic proposal as outlined in the book.
“A stunningly innovative and challenging theory” Dr Dennis McKenna (Heffter Research Institute)
“This is a startling book that makes us rethink the most fundamental issues of religion, psychology, and philosophy.”
Richard Heinberg (Post Carbon Institute)
“Left in the Dark offers a provocative and original answer to the most important question of our time.”
Linda Buzzell-Saltzman (IAE)
“ It will be, it must be, taken very seriously in any discussion of human origins.” Prof. Colin Groves (ANU)
http://leftinthedark.org.uk/
The Camping Barns – Fernhill Farm comes equipped with some amazing accommodation facilities. There is space for up to 32 people, beautifully done out with wooden furnishings, panelling etc all made from trees grown on the farm, completely wheelchair-friendly, lovely location with prices negotiable for groups (contact us via email). The roof is insulated with wool and the wood-burner powers underfloor heating – with 2,000 trees recently planted on the farm to provide fuel, to be topped up by willow grown on the WET sewage treatment system. Hot showers are guaranteed!
The Camping Barns will provide quality dormitory-style accommodation for the full 4 days and nights of the event, complete with breakfast each morning, for just £100 per person, £160 per couple (each bed is a small double with privacy curtain). Wren Cottage can also be hired privately with two king size beds, four small doubles and a travel cot & Moses basket – thats up to 12 people for just £1200 for the entire festival. Booking for all this is through 
