There was a film some time back called 'Off the Grid' or something like it. It covers just that - the naive and almost selfish attitude of running away from the world's problems to live in a spot where you have the luxury of space and wilderness etc. Great for you, but the world which supplies you with stuff is still on its way to hell in a handbasket.
When I was 17 I'd just finished high school and my folks bought a bush block about 30 km outside of town. I was about to travel 300 km south to go to university (I'm the youngest) so it was a bit of 'empty nesting' on their part. But I also had a beautiful place to go home to over vacations. Lovely spot on a creek which ran almost year round, nestled amongst the basalt mountains of the Main Range.
In 1997 it was a shack in the bush with 2 x 80 W solar panels and a couple of car batteries. It was quite the shock for mum and dad; dad especially. He used to love coming home from work and vegetating in front of the telly for 4 hours - not anymore. It was rough, but he did come around. Eventually at the end of the first year, they saved up enough to install four 80 W panels and an 1100 Ah 12 volt flooded lead acid battery to run the lights and a small inverter so they could do the laundry once a week. They even bought a 4" black and white television
As time went by, the solar system was expanded again up to a 24 V system and about 16 x 80 W panels - still tiny by today's standards, but entirely liveable and quite luxurious compared to the initial setup. They were out there for a little over 11 years. I loved it, so was sad to see them sell up and move back into town, but hey, their money, their life.
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Many things about our lifestyle out there were great, even sustainable. We grew most of our food, raised goats, beef, chickens, grew our own food, had an orchard etc. However looking back, lots of this was done off the back of liquid fossil fuels. Water pumping, driving diesel 4x4s into town every second day or more, and running the tractor. They did make bio diesel for a long time too, until the engine seized up and they spend $6k on a new one... But ultimately, while our electricity and heating needs were being met, our transport and water pumping needs were not.
EVs and EV technology today would easily meet our needs for a very comfortable existence, but at the time, we probably poured tens of thousands of dollars into the fuel tanks, and up in smoke after that. A solar pump and battery might have fixed those problems, but again, early 2000s, things were still expensive and my folks were getting old. Only so much wood you can split before you're sick of it.
It was a good life, and arguably more sustainable than many, but it would be fanciful to think it might have been impact free. We still had a rubbish top to take our crap to, and mum and dad had jobs in town to pay for it all.
So what problems did we fix by living out there? Well I planted about 4 hectares of native hardwoods, and we proved to a valley full of redneck Queenslanders that solar power was a viable option. But I guess that's it. The "city problems" didn't go away, and invariably they had to move back to town because that's where the amenities were.
Still miss that place.