Going off-grid and living off-grid take a change in mindset. It’s about being more present. 

Inevitably, being off-grid is perceived as more peaceful. 

It WON’T be more peaceful if you don’t work on your mind.

Maybe you’re thinking about getting away from it all because you’re stressed and fed up with the fussiness of life and work and family. Neighbors. Noise. 

Even if you did get off-grid, you’ll carry your feelings, behaviors, and tendencies off-grid. If you get stressed about the little things at home now, you’ll just get stressed at the little things when you’re off-grid. 

To start your off-grid journey now, and to generally improve you life, start your off-grid journey in your mind. Being off-grid means more nature and quiet. Start to seek that now.

A GREAT place to START is forest bathing. Forest bathing is the concept of being present with trees and nature. Office workers in Tokyo successfully participated in “forest bathing” by going to a tiny park, and their mental state was much improved. So, no matter where you are, you can start to forest bathe. 

I listened to the book Forest Bathing, but there are plenty of resources online, or in any media that you enjoy consuming, like podcasts or YouTube videos. 

If you can’t even make it outside, you can still do a forest bathing guided meditation. 

I use Insight Timer for guided meditations and music for meditating. They have loads of free meditations, and membership based tracks and courses. I have the premium version so I can download tracks so I always have them, even when I’m out of service. 

If you like, please use my referral link to download the app:
Insig.ht/tQjYrVAmaEb

Earthrise 
https://earthrise.guide/

This site is a place with guides, for improved living.

This can mean a lot of things. Practically, with your lifestyle, spiritually… it’s purposefully open ended. 

What is here is here to raise your consciousness. It’s knowledge. 

Earthrise Guide is a container for what we’ve learned in this journey. 

Rus and Elena live off-grid and live differently than the vast majority of Americans. They’ve exited the matrix, or at least recognize the parameters of operating in this plane of existence and in the context o fthe current overculture. 

This site is a place for you to learn. We’ve learned many things from experience, and we’ve learned things the hard way. We don’t have all the answers because it’s a journey, but we thought we’d leave some breadcrumbs for others so that it’s easier for others. 

This site is a place for what we and others have learned. It’s meant to be elevating. 

We hope to be your guide for improved ways of living, whether it’s living offgrid, to connecting spirituality, to healing burnout. 

Living in this plane of existence can be exhausting. We’ve found ways to rise above it or escape it. ​

​https://earthrise.guide/

I feel like I’m past the crossroads now. I feel like I’m on my new path. My legs feel a little shaky on the path, like I’m walking off my sea legs. 

It’s been a long time and a long journey to get here. 

Now it feels like… now what? I’m a new person on a new path, and I’ve left behind so much, or journeyed through so much, Now I get to exist in my newness. I feel like my job right now is to breathe it in and keep coming back to my heart center. Keep it simple. Do what Ioknjow I want to do right now, which is to write the off-grid cguide. Do that first. Get a finished section out the door. Then do the next thing. 

I feel like I can breath clearer now. I need to let that be. I need to accept and enjoy clear breath. I am worthy of breathing lightly. I am worthy of enjoying this life that I’ve worked for. 

I can feel that the dark things have passed to the past, like sushi that has passed you on a conveyor belt. It may come back round again to me to work through the next layer of emotions for those past events. 

I am thankful to be on this side. 

I just need to breathe it in. ​

How my mind has been blown in the past 6 weeks

1. Mineralization - As modern humans, we are undernourished and under-mineralized. We don’t get the right minerals and nutrients anymore. Our food has 10% of the nutrition is had a century ago, and we’re sick because of it. And conventional supplements don’t help. Our lack of minerals causes our illnesses and is the reason we get grey hair.

This podcast introduced a completely new way of thinking about food and nutrition. It was validation for how I’ve been making foraged tea in sealed mason jars, in my solar cooker. Discovered through a  podcast interview: https://mythicmedicine.love/podcast/hamid-jabbar


2. Cervix - I listed to this podcast over the course of two mornings, and I cried each morning. Via the same podcast with a different guest; https://mythicmedicine.love/podcast/denell-barbara-randall

3. Earthing - I now ground myself everyday and I feel great! I go outside and put my feet on the earth or sit shoeless on the ground. 

More about earthing: As humans, we’ve been separated and technically insulated, via non-conductive materials in our shoes and environments. This has lead to a build up of free electrons in our bodies, which has led to inflammation, which leads to most medical maladies. The solution is to literally ground yourself… put your feet on the ground. The earth is negatively charged, so excess electrons can flow out of your body. Besides being in contact with the earth, you can eliminate non-conductive materials and electronics during a part of your day or use grounding technology, like blankets and mats. You ground yourself like you would ground big electronics like your fridge, or industrial machines. 

It has forced me to confront a mental block I have about putting my feet on the dirt. Girls are supposed to be clean. There is some programming that is telling me not to get my feet dirty. Don’t touch the dirt. I need to sit with it, but it feels pretty reflective of gender roles. 

Earthing is a book by Clint Ober and I listened to the Audiobook. 

4. Earth Magic - Starhawk is a spiritual writer who is into awe and ritual and magic and permaculture. I wish I had bought her audiobook sooner, but I had the fortune to listening to Earth Magic recently. It connected a lot of what I’ve been studying and reading, and distilled and clarified concepts for me. She also provides ways to develop rituals, and includes a shamanic journey at the end of the audio book. It’s great. 

I listed to the audiobook. 

​Maybe you’re ready for a change… you can start small and immediately. You can also start thinking about what you really want and need. I now know that I can live in a Ram Promaster van and my essentials include instant coffee with cinnamon, camomile tea for nighttime or when I’m stressed, and my purple pillow. My dog Pepper and my husband also help, hehehe. 

If you curious about going offgrid, I’m writing a book/guide. 

The main thing that I’ll say is that you may think you know what going offgrid is like from things on social media - but those people edit out many mistakes and you see things as they are happening. You don’t often hear about how a person or family arrived at their current project, and how they disqualified other offgrid plans. How did they decide what would work for them?

My goal is to provide a framework and guide to people who are curious about living offgrid- or at least starting to exit the matrix. Yes, it is the matrix.

Come check us out. Stay with us. Camp with us. 
Earthrise.Guide

Hello, my name is Elena Foukes. 

I have been through a dark night of the soul. It’s more like a few. But saying “dark nights of the soul” sounds clumsy.

They came in waves over the past few years. If you’ve had one, you know. It’s challenging to put words to them. The only way for them to end is to go through them. 

I have made it through them. I’m still alive. I know the darkness. I choose light. 

I also choose to start talking about them.

I also am a new person. I’ve evolved through several versions of myself. I don’t think I knew this was possible. 

Up until the past few months, I lived in my head. No heart. This is going to be a doozy to explain. It might take a writing about it a few times because it states to make sense or for it’s description to feel right. 

How do I describe the journey from top-of-her-game professionally and achieving by all of society’s standards, to eating a yarrow flower? 

In any case, I’ve been sober for 6 weeks and took myself off of synthetic, seasonal birth control 7 months ago. I had my period every 2-3 months, and I had been on the pill since I was 13. I was on the pill for 23 years on the pill. Now I’m discovering what my body is. 

Topics to cover:

• Going off of the pill
• Stopping drinking
• Father dying
• Parents hoarding
• Mother in decline
• Financial psychology
• My stolen $400k catamaran 
• Spiritual practices
• Rocks
• Plants
• Fear
• Prayer

What I’ve done and have been doing over the past few years have been experiments. Of you could call it wandering in the desert. 

I did the things. I went to school. I got married. I started and grew a company. 

Climate change still matters. 

To stay sane during it, it take more than tech solutions. Climate change is a whole body experience. 

Climate change is about extraction, and zero sum. And breaking our connection to the earth. And power, and patriarchy. I’ve been spending a lot of time reading and listening on these topics. Lots more to come. 

I’ve started things in fits and starts, trying new things out. I was figuring out the next thing or things for me. I’m still figuring it out. I’m sharing what I know right now. It may change. I may go silent for some time… again. It’s the ebb and flow of growth. Thanks for understanding. Thank you for the compassion.

Maybe you’re figuring things out too? 

I hope by sharing what I’ve gone through, it can can you or someone you know. It was hard. It can be hard. I didn’t have examples of the journey that resonated with me, so I hope my writings help you. 

In the meantime, please take a listen to my podcast, Climate Avengers through Resource Labs. It’s available on every podcast platform. Search my name or Climate Avengers. I interview founders and founders in ClimateTech. 
​

8 Climate Career Myths… Debunked
Tuesday, April 18th, 3pm EST/ noon PST

Climate Money: Put your $ to work for the climate
Thursday, April 20th, 3pm EST/ noon PST

Upgrade Your Climate Career
Friday, April 21st, 6pm EST/ 3pm PST

In the past year, I’ve made a bit of a pivot, or two. I realized that for this (ClimateWealth.io) business to work for me, I want it to be completely automated, so I can go and take care of things when and where needed, or fun things like going to visit my mom in Michigan.

I started building an automated career course called “Start Your Climate Career,” and the target audience was people NOT in climate. 

Along the way I realized that I knew way more people who were overworked and undervalued in climate work.

I’ve been there. I’ve felt stuck in my career. I’ve burned out. I’ve started my own thing, and worked the corporate side of life. 

Now, my FIRST course will be “Upgrade Your Climate Career,” along with a Membership. 

Far too many times, speaking with climate friends and colleagues, I hear stories about their work being undervalued. Friends accepted lower pay and reduced titles.

These are people whose hearts are in the right place. They’re doing everything they can, in their position, to address climate change. They’re going above and beyond, yet they still feel stuck. There is still something missing. 

Now, I’m ready to AMPLIFY the work of friends and colleagues with an online course that will enable them to upgrade their climate careers, and their wealth.

Locking in higher pay sooner in your career means more financial security, faster.

This is especially important for “diverse” people… aka, this is a way for me to address the wage gap, and to help others get what they deserve.

You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you tolerate…

…this is the phrase that propelled me when I was the lowest level analyst at PG&E, and within a year I was co-founder and CEO of a funded ClimateTech startup. 

I’ve been re-working the content from “Start” your career to “Upgrade” your career, and I’m still feeling inspired because I imagine my clients getting the new job or promotion that they deserve, making at least 10% more, and more likely making 20-35% more after my course, and on their way to a more fulfilling career. 

The content is designed to be 8-10 weeks, however we’ve had some early members, crush it, and go through it, and much less. Remember, the most important part of the “course” is the homework, including discovering your “Why” and developing a vision. 

​

…This is what makes what I’m putting together different than other climate courses. If people want to learn the technical side of climate, there are great courses out there. I’m excited to elevate people’s perspective whole lifestyle. 

My content includes systems and tools that go beyond facts. I’ve been through a dark night of the soul. I’ve been through shadow, and darkness, and here I am.

Along the way, I’ve gathered tools that have made all the difference, and I know that challenging the status quo, whether with a new job or a new career direction can touch on insecurities, or bring up insecurities, or trigger insecurities to the point of shutdown. 

This is why I’m excited about my course(s) and membership.

There is the course, and then there is the membership: two live calls per month, recorded and shared in case someone can’t make it, along with additional resources and posts. This membership is the regular, scheduled accountability partner I wish I had when I was figuring out what to do next. I

It’ll be a community of people. We’re in this together. We’re figuring out what a limited career means, and we’re never alone. This membership is the community we want and need. 

During each call, we’ll ground, and envision, and hope, and commiserate. We’ll ask “what did you do in the past two weeks?” and “what do you want to accomplish in the next two weeks?” and “what’s holding you back or in your way?”

If you’re ready for a promotion, bay bump, title boost, new job, or new sector, I hope you’ll join us. 

Both start in May - and I’m pre-selling them at a steep discount right now. There are so many events and so much support for climate work during April, I wanted to make sure there was more support in May and ongoing… 

This newsletter will have more great content now that I’ll be writing and sharing more with the world, so get excited! 

In any case, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE FOR THE JOURNEY. This newsletter is 9 years old as of April 1st. Woah. Thanks for being here. 


Until next time,
Elena

I am a Venture Partner with Climate Avengers, a climate tech investing group with a syndicate and rolling fund, both based on AngelList.

Climate Avengers was started by Kyle Cherrick, and with my fellow venture partner Nico Johnson, we wanted to start a podcast as a resource for the climate tech community. 

Podcast tag line:
Can climate tech save the world while still making money? Hear from successful founders & investors who are proving it’s possible.

​Our working description:
The world needs technological breakthroughs that preserve our planet. But nothing changes until $1 moves, and venture capital enables dollars to deploy into the most scalable solutions quickly. 

Join Climate Tech founder & investor, Elena Foukes, every week as she engages leaders in the climate tech ecosystem. Together, we seek to demystify the world of climate tech venture capital and unlock gigatons of carbon reduction and resource sustainability. We are an angel investment group which deploys capital to climate solutions, generating personal returns and making the world a better place. Climate Avengers is here to find & fund these breakthroughs.