How Far Would You Be Willing to Go?

How Far Would You Be Willing to Go?

I read a story the other day about a man who gave up all of his commercial trappings to live homeless and outside the modern monetary system.  While I have to admire his chutzpah, I am fairly certain I could never do something similar.  Our society does not allow for someone to live so far outside its bounds, at least not without a major struggle.

Daniel Suelo has been living this way for more than 10 years, and has done a remarkable job of it, setting up camp in a national park, moving to new sites as needed to avoid trouble.  He did receive a ticket one time for violating the 14-day camping limit, but was able to negotiate with an understanding judge to do community service instead.

While his story is impressive, it is also impractical and frankly, that lifestyle is not something that would appeal to many people.  We all want to do our part to conserve energy and reduce our carbon footprints, but this is a little over the top.  It is also not sustainable. What happens when he is in his 80s and still trying to live off the land?  At some point, some money will be needed and he is setting himself or the government up for a major expense down the road.

The question is, how far should we go in our efforts to slow the progression of damage we are causing.  How far would anyone want to go?  I think our family does a pretty good job at consuming less than the average American household, but that isn’t enough.  Living homeless and penniless, no matter how romanticized it is, is still homeless and penniless.