Mail tfurrows [at] sdf.org
This article is about an area near where I currently live. It's about 20miles North of me, to be precise. This area is popular with "preppers," and "off-grid" folks, as well as people that just want to be left alone. There's a lot of cheap land around here, especially out where there aren't many roads or amenities. Presumably, that's just what these people want.
Some of these people also experience what they call "environmental illness," which they correlate with electro-magnetic fields, among other things. Some of them coat their walls with tin-foil, and turn off all electrical currents in rooms they are in. Others require all visitors to bath with special soap, and change into provided clothing.
In doing a quick search, this type of experience isn't new; even during the 1800's people complained of ailments caused by the telegraph and other new technologies. I'm not sure when chemical sensitiviy was first believed to be the cause of major health challenges.
Now, science and society may or may not agree with what is causing these people's problems. I'm not sure that matters, at all. What I find interesting in this whole thing is that people are searching for alternative ways of living their lives, without harming anyone else, and actually finding a measure of success.
I don't experience any physical problems because of the way that society "forces" me to live, but I certainly face some emotional challenges. I'm not that interested in living a conventional lifestyle. Things like tiny homes, yurts, and off-grid intrigue me. But I have found it difficult to find a community, county, state, etc, that accepts people living the way they want to live.
I guess for now I can count myself lucky that I'm living in a place that is tolerant of alternative ideas.
