The first day, he fed 150 people with a three-course meal with garbage and stuffed foods. However, for himself, he eats his own crops and garbage represents only about 5% of his diet. “I cooked outside, rain or shine, on a rocket stove.”
The next concern was a refuge. He found a Freecycle caravan, parked it on an organic farm with which he volunteered and renewed it to disconnect it from the electricity grid. I would use cut or clean wood to heat my humble home on a wood stove made from an old gas bottle and I had a compost room to make “humor” for my vegetables. Boyle clearly understood from the beginning that it was necessary to use all available resources to make it as sustainable as possible.
“I bathed in a river and, like toothpaste, I used cuttlefish bones washed with seeds of wild fennel, which is strange for a vegan. For the toilets, I downloaded the local newspaper from their newspapers (I deleted a story about myself ), it did not double but it soon returned to normal. For transportation, Mark used his bicycle and trailer, using the 55km return trip to the city as an alternative to the gym, and the beeswax candles served as light.
Inspiring with humor for some, illusory and anti-capitalist for others, Mark said the following about his radical lifestyle: “Many people call me anti-capitalist, although I believe that capitalism is fundamentally flawed and requires infinite growth on a finite planet, not I am against anything, more than anything, Boyle is pro-nature, pro-community and pro-happiness, how common is the life philosophy of a city dweller?
And that’s what I do not understand: if all this consumerism and the destruction of the environment brought happiness, it would make sense. But all the key indicators of unhappiness – depression, crime, mental illness, obesity, suicide, etc. – Are increasing. More money, apparently, is not synonymous with more happiness.
Another positive effect of Mark’s unique lifestyle is the joy he has created for himself. “Ironically, I found this year the happiest of my life, I have more friends in my community than ever, I have not been sick since I started and I have never been in better shape, I found that this friendship, not money, is a real security This more western poverty is spiritual and this independence is really interdependent. “
Mark’s example is certainly a source of inspiration for those who seek to free themselves from unbridled modernity; most alternative media would agree that the more you reconnect with nature, the better your mental, physical and spiritual health. However, could everyone live like this? According to Mark, no.
“It would be a disaster, we are hooked with both this energy and cheap energy, and we have managed to build a global infrastructure around the abundance of both.”
However, the possibility of a gradual transition to small relocated communities is a possibility. With the creation of greener energy sources and healthier communities at a faster pace, natural life is already a reality, but it can become much more common in the coming years.
“For more than 90% of our time on the planet, a time when we live much more ecologically, we live without money, now we are the only species that use it, probably because we are less in touch with nature.”
When asked what was missing in his old world of profits and business, Mark responded: “Stress, traffic jams, bank statements, utility bills, oh yeah, and the pint of organic beer with my friends in the store “.
Prove that if you are passionate about something, you can achieve the change you would like to see in the world.
