It's not easy being green

Thirty-one year-old Mark Boyle gave up using money back in November 2008 and ever since has been living green. Boyle lives in a caravan parked next to the organic farm near Bristol. He's been volunteering there three days a week. Before the challenge began he got himself a solar panel wood-burning stove. Boyle grows his own food and has a cell phone only to receive calls and a solar-powered laptop. Mark has been a vegan for six years. Setting up the free online network, Freeconomy, in 2007 he encourages people to go greener like him. He also published a book called “The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living.” His green lifestyle began at a pub with his friends talking about all the problems in the world and how they were all linked to money. Afterwards, Mark decided to sell his houseboat in Bristol and quit his job at an organic food company. For toothpaste he used a cuttlefish bone and wild fennel seed mixture. Boyle gave up his iPod in exchange for the music the birds around his kitchen produce. In the moneyless world Mark says everything takes more time and effort to do. Hand washing his clothes in a sink of cold water with laundry soap made out of boiled nuts can take more than two hours to do, instead of a quick half hour in the washing machine. His challenge was only meant for a year but Mark enjoyed that lifestyle so much he continued to live green. He is still single, as it is hard to socialize without money.

This relates to biology because everything he used came from nature. Even though it took longer to wash his clothes, he still did it. Now that he has lived a vegan green life, he’s become more happy and healthy. He enjoys the serene peace of nature and even though he’s lacking in a social life, his friends and parents are here to support him. His friends come over to his caravan to have homemade cider around a campfire instead of a round of beer in a pub.

This is an important example of how some people can take living green to the extreme. Some people whine that giving up some things are just impossible. With Mark as an example there is no excuse not to at least give up bottle water for a canteen. Mark gave up his whole way of life to live naturally. With Mark’s life story, I’m sure we’ll think twice about living green. After all, it’s not easy being green.