Re: Could you survive without money?

[Guest guest]

A painful repetition of the same old story... modern western consumer

society glitters and shines and lures people from other cultures to

abandon their ways, not being able to distinguish which new things are

worth adopting, which worth rejecting, and which old things are worth

working hard to preserve. I just hope we don't ruin the whole world

before they figure out we are not a good role model (speaking as an

American; yes, I know I'm painting with a very broad brush).

Jeanmarie

On Jul 24, 2009, at 5:10 PM, Lana Gibbons wrote:

> " *HE WASN'T ALWAYS THIS WAY. SUELO* graduated from the University of

> Colorado with a degree in anthropology, he thought about becoming a

> doctor,

> he held jobs, he had cash and a bank account. In 1987, after several

> years

> as an assistant lab technician in Colorado hospitals, he joined the

> Peace

> Corps and was posted to an Ecuadoran village high in the Andes. He was

> charged with monitoring the health of tribespeople in the area,

> teaching

> first aid and nutrition, and handing out medicine where needed; his

> proudest

> achievement was delivering three babies. The tribe had been getting

> richer

> for a decade, and during the two years he was there he watched as the

> villagers began to adopt the economics of modernity. They sold the

> food from

> their fields—quinoa, potatoes, corn, lentils—for cash, which they

> used to

> purchase things they didn't need, as Suelo describes it. They bought

> soda

> and white flour and refined sugar and noodles and big bags of MSG to

> flavor

> the starchy meals. They bought TVs. The more they spent, says Suelo,

> the

> more their health declined. He could measure the deterioration on his

> charts. " It looked, " he says, " like money was impoverishing them. " "

>

> http://men.style.com/details/features/full?id=content_9817

[Guest guest]

--- Lana Gibbons <lana.m.gibbons@...> wrote:

> " It looked, " he says, " like money was impoverishing them. " "

You know what they say ... money can't buy happiness. So true.

Seems like I remember reading that Price tried to convince many of the people he

visited not to give up their traditional foods.

[Guest guest]

--- In , Lana Gibbons <lana.m.gibbons@...>

wrote:

>

> " *HE WASN'T ALWAYS THIS WAY. SUELO* graduated from the University of

> Colorado with a degree in anthropology, he thought about becoming a doctor,

snip

>

> http://men.style.com/details/features/full?id=content_9817

>

I read the whole article, I was disappointed that Suelo was not living a

self-sufficient life, supporting himself - he scavenged on the streets,

sometimes got free meals and other than that seemed to be barely surviving - I

had hoped to see that he was hunting etc and living a comfortable life.

I feel that my country (New Zealand) is much like the tribal village mentioned.

We export good food and import plastic junk......

In our modern world I think it is near impossible to live without money (yours

or someone elses) - even when we are mortgage free, we will still have to pay

rates (until maybe total economic collapse).

Jewel