The Moneyless Man - Meeting Mark Boyle
Recession. Inflation. Rising house prices. Redundancies. Bankers' bonuses. MPs' expenses. Increased taxes.
Unsurprisingly, money hasn't had the best press recently.
Have you ever had the urge just to jump ship, lose the hoofing great mortgage, cut the ties, ditch the job? Be free of the whole wretched lot?
Yes, so have I, but with kids and a mortgage and university fees to find, it's not a realistic option for me, or for most people. However, at the Malvern Spring Gardening Show, I was lucky enough to meet up with Mark Boyle, someone who has put all of these ideas into practice. He has managed to do what most of us can only dream of.
Back in 2007, Mark realised that so many problems in the world - the environment, child slave labour, factory farming - had a common thread running through them. Money. There were too many degrees of separation between the consumer and the consumed. If these degrees of separation were removed, if people actually saw where their food came from, how their clothes were made, and so on, they would appreciate what they had much more. Put simply, if they grew their own food, they wouldn't waste so much of it.
So Mark, taking literally the words of Gandhi that so intrigued him, to ‘be the change you want to see in the world', decided that he would live without money for a year. To practise what he believed in. He found a caravan on Freecycle and took up residence in a corner of a field of the organic farm he was volunteering on.
As Mark says, all he really needed was food, water and shelter. A nearby stream provides water for drinking and washing, a deconstructed gas cylinder has been turned into a woodburner to provide heat, a solar panel provides electricity to charge his mobile and laptop, and candles from Freecycle provide lighting. Finding food is a four pronged attack - foraging, growing his own, bartering and collecting waste food, of which there is a scarily large amount. In his blog Mark links to Tristram Stuart's Waste website, which shows us how the way we live now has created a global food crisis - and what we can do to fix it. Cooking is done outside on a rocket stove.
All of this got me thinking about the day-to-day necessities. What about soap? Mark grows soapwort for washing himself and his clothes. What about toothpaste? Washed-up cuttlefish bones and fennel seeds. What about communicating with the outside world? An old mobile phone that can receive texts and calls (obviously, he can't send messages or phone a friend as this would cost money) and his trusty laptop. OK..nitty gritty.. what about the toilet? A compost toilet and free papers for loo roll. What would happen if you were ill? It's an extremely healthy and outdoor lifestyle and, as a vegan, he gets all his B12 (present in soil) vitamins from not washing his homegrown veg.
I was fascinated and there were so many questions I wanted to ask but it would have been impolite to grill the poor man further!
One fact that really stood out for me, though, is that Mark, in a real sense, no longer ‘exists'. He has no permanent address and lives off grid so has no utility bills and consequently cannot open a bank account or even take out a library card. He received no voting papers as he is no longer in the ‘system'. Part of me is thrilled by this idea, part of me quite unnerved. Do I like the idea of not existing? Sometimes.
On the surface it sounds an idyllic lifestyle and Mark admits that even though he is now working much more than he ever did before, his work is also his play. All his days are filled with doing what makes him happy. He does confess to missing a glass of wine in the pub with his mates, but makes his own cider as compensation.
In his original year-long project, he wanted to be able to push the boundaries, to be able to show people what can be done, to inspire them to do maybe just 20 per cent of what he has achieved and in the process become less reliant on money. Mark, however, has enjoyed his moneyless year so much that he now plans to live this way permanently.
He does admit that if the whole world lived this way tomorrow, it wouldn't work - it would involve a time of transition. On a small scale though, this lifestyle encourages local communities to develop and local-based thinking to flourish. To this end, Mark has written a book, The Moneyless Man (due out on 1 June; pre-order your copy via the link below), talking about his lifestyle. All proceeds will go into his charitable trust, the Freeconomy Charitable Trust, to provide a ‘freeconomy society' where like-minded people can join together to live a life without money.
Not bad for a man who doesn't exist!
Jo
Mark has kindly agreed to write an article for the next issue to explain more about his freeconomy society!
photos (c) Charlotte Strawbridge 2010
Our affiliate merchant AMAZON has Mark's book for sale. The Big Green Idea is paid a commission if you choose to buy via our links.
11 May 10
