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Comment by orf

6 hours ago

There’s a person living off-grid in Alaska that comes up on my YouTube page occasionally.

They have a “flag-stop” Alaska Railway line somewhere close-ish to them that they use to ride into the nearest town to buy crates and crates of supplies. Basically a personal freight station.

How much of this is sustainable living vs massively subsidised (and unsustainable) LARPING?

People living “off-grid” often seem still dependent on society in ways that are uniquely unsustainable and/or subsidised.

Living in Alaska like this is feels to me way more sustainable than living in a city with millions of people - might be wrong though, I guess it’s a question of scale.

When you say subsidised you mean the state is paying for essentials here?

  • The cost of bringing a large, heavy and loaded freight train to a standstill in the middle of nowhere so that a single passenger can board is non-trivial.

    There’s definitely an economic reason that stations exist.

    The ticket they have is subsidised by the money the state-owned corporation makes from freight.

    • I've seen a couple of videos and I think you've missed some information, at least if we're talking about the same thing. The train is specific for a bunch of flag stop people along it, small locomotive and only a few cars. It might not be as sustainable as walking to the store but it's probably on par with driving an SUV to Costco weekly, especially when a lot of stuff at Costco is trucked not rail.

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