David Michael Oehler (; January 2, 1938 February 2, 2016) was an American

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

and author. He was a proponent and designer of affordable and sustainable alternative forms of housing. He became well known for his appearance in episodes of the Louis Theroux

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

documentary series '' Weird Weekends'' (1998).

Early life

David Michael Oehler was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

on January 2, 1938, the son of Polly and Chet Oehler. He grew up in nearby Wilmette and had three sisters named Patricia, Gretchen, and Sioux. He graduated from

New Trier High School New Trier High School (, also known as New Trier Township High School or NTHS) is a public four-year high school whose main campus for sophomores through seniors is in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, with a campus in Northfield, Illinois, for ...

but dropped out of college to pursue his writing career, then served in the U.S. Army before working on fishing boats. He then worked in gold mines in

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, joined the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering of land. The major divisions of the agency are the Chief's ...

, cruised around

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and finally ended up in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, where he embraced the

hippy A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to different countries around the w ...

movement and lifestyle.

Career

Oehler partook in the 1960s

back-to-the-land movement A back-to-the-land movement is any of various agrarianism, agrarian movements across different historical periods. The common thread is a call for people to take up smallholding and to grow food from the land with an emphasis on a greater degree o ...

. He lived on a 40-acre homestead in the

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

mountains. He wrote numerous books and appeared as a university lecturer, as well as a TV and radio guest on topics related to

self-sufficiency Self-sustainability and self-sufficiency are overlapping states of being in which a person, being, or system needs little or no help from, or interaction with others. Self-sufficiency entails the self being enough (to fulfill needs), and a sel ...

and housing. In 1998, Oehler appeared in an episode of Louis Theroux's

documentary series '' Weird Weekends'', in which Theroux visited Oehler's underground home in the mountains. Later that year, he appeared in the follow-up special episode "Weird Christmas", in which he and three others who had appeared in their episodes (a Christian fundamentalist, a porn star, and a

ufologist Ufology, sometimes written UFOlogy ( or ), is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary claims, extraordinary origins (most frequently of extraterrestrial hypothesis, extrate ...

) met up with Theroux in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and engaged in various activities. The episode saw Oehler being taken by Theroux to a recording studio, where he recorded a song under the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

of Mountain Mike.

Death

On February 2, 2016, at the age of 78, Oehler died of natural causes at his home near Bonners Ferry in

Boundary County, Idaho Boundary County is the northernmost county of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,056. The county seat and largest city is Bonners Ferry. Boundary County was created by the Idaho Legislature on January 23, ...

Bibliography

* 1981: ''One Mexican Sunday'' () * 1982: ''The $50 Dollars and Up Underground House Book'' () * 1999: ''The Hippy Survival Guide to Y2K'' () * 2007: ''The Earth-sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book: How to Build an Energy Free Year-round Greenhouse'' ()

References

External links