Filed under: Reviews
When we first arrived we stood for about 20 mins at the box office waiting for the chap on duty to finish his chat with the guy ahead of us, but this change of pace was by no means a deterrent. In fact, the complete lack of urgency proved a welcome contrast to city life.
The pervasive sense of calm on site did not however divert from the severity of the context – promoting sustainability. If anything, the laid-back social/economic interaction provided a tangible sense of the beauty of the way things can be; the way things should be.
When a distraught lady lost her son on Saturday, everyone within earshot offered assistance and within minutes, seconds even, mother and child were reunited. Amidst the exceptionally relaxed vibe, this condensed traumatic episode appeared in stark contrast. If you’re going to lose your kid, Sunrise Off-Grid is pretty much the safest place you could wish to lose them – they’d probably toddle back half an hour later, grinning, wielding a raw chocolate brownie and fully versed in the ways of Neolithic pottery.
Sunrise Off-Grid does what it says on the tin. The site is 100% off-grid i.e. completely powered by renewable energy sources and in support of its ethos of empowering individuals and encouraging a transition to sustainable communities, the whole site is testament to the cause – it’s one living, breathing manifestation of it’s own ideal.
Any inefficiency in other areas, such as poor public speaking skills and technical difficulties, did not detract from the prevailing message. Everyone was there with the same thing in mind: to teach, to learn, to share. And it’s amazing how resonant this was –context and place alter one’s perception and engagement levels and here the result was an engrossed and captive audience – not afraid to question, and not afraid to listen to the answers.
That said, some were obviously very comfortable with their place up front. John Harris held the attentive gazes of a tent full of people for what must’ve been at least a couple of hours of discussion on ‘lawful rebellion’, punctuating his servings of “truth” with a winning grin and a whole heap of readily- acknowledged cockiness. Fergus Drennan proved himself to be a charming guide as he led us around the edges of the field, delving into hedgerows to teach us the art of foraging and the unbelievable scope of variety it can bring to a diet. The man toys with a stinging nettle like it’s not out to get him, has been living off purely wild and foraged food for 6 weeks (46 left to go) and strongly champions leaf curd – ‘leaf curd is the future’. Fact.
One of the concepts highlighted throughout the festival was that of disconnection – from our environment, from natural cycles, from each other, from the results of our actions. The solution? re-connect with the Earth by taking off our shoes and going barefoot for at least 30 minutes a day – and no, standing unshod whilst having a shower doesn’t count! This, and many of the other ideas expressed this weekend will not be everyone’s cup of green lentil chai, but the underlying principles are such that we can all relate to them. You don’t need to define yourself as a hippy or new age spiritualist to come away from this festival with a refreshed perspective.
For me, the point of the whole experience was really brought home during a solar powered screening of (rather appropriately) ‘Home’. As poignant questions were posed in the narrative the projector wobbled and the screen seemed to nod in agreement. When the film drew to a close, the word ‘together’ lingered on screen, and somewhere in the background, a voice carried across to us singing ‘one love’. In that moment, huddled in that tent surrounded by people united in mental and physical space, I felt overwhelmingly positive for the future.
(Cassidie Alder)
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