Last Saturday, on Buy Nothing Day 2009, my year without money officially came to an end. Ten months ago, in the midst of the January snows that blanketed the hills where I live, I envisaged myself sitting back, celebrating in front of a warm fire, having a pint of my favourite organic ale with my mates down the local. No such luck. Instead I decided to organize what eventually grew into a mini one day free feast and festival.

I guess somewhere along the way I decided that to go spending money to celebrate a year without it would be like an alcoholic celebrating a year of sobriety by ordering a few swift whiskies. Wouldn't really have felt right, would it?

So what started out as an ambitious plan to feed 250 plus people a three course meal out of completely foraged and waste food turned into a day where 50 fantastically passionate and tireless volunteers – including folk such as world famous forager Fergus Drennan, Brigit Strawbridge (star of the BBC series 'It's not easy Being Green') and Andy Hamilton, author of 'The Self-Sufficientish Bible' - fed and hosted thousands of people an as-many-courses-as-you-want-meal in the evening, and drinks and snacks all day.

On top of that, the Freastival included a day long Clothes Swap, a Bookswap and a Freeshop (no CCTV or tills in this one!); a free cinema showing movies such as Earthlings, The Age of Stupid, The Transition Movie, and Money as Debt; free hour long sessions of acupuncture and massage; a creative and clothes mending corner where even wallets were made from tetra-paks. On top of all this we ran 8 talks from some of the UK's top thinkers on issues ranging from local food & economy to wild food & sweatshop labour in Honduras.

So my unique form of celebrating involved working an intense 15hr shift that, on top of organising the days activities, ended up including 14 interviews and a ninety minute talk about my years experience. Hardly a pint of ale by the fire then. Maybe those who say I have masochistic tendencies are right after all!

It sounds worse than a date with Maggie Thatcher, but in fact it was one of the most fulfilling days I could possibly imagine. The atmosphere all day – both in the kitchen and in the crowd – was incredibly positive and uplifting, and the thousands who came really could not understand how it was all for free, with no donations or funding being accepted. Not only did it allow people from all different socio-economic backgrounds – I saw both 'business people' and 'homeless folk' there, talking just as 'people' and not 'labels' – to enjoy a rare day where everything they could imagine was 100% free, it also provided a great opportunity for the volunteers to learn new skills.

In the run up to the event, teams lead by hugely experienced foragers and skip-divers went out gathering the food, showing people how to do it in the process; people learned how to construct and destruct a once-off kitchen (from off-grid energy supplies to the details of cutlery and tables and chairs) without money; some people who had barely even cooked for themselves learned how to cook on a insanely large scale, and we all learned how to make fantastic things happen with people we had only met once before. I am a big believer in education-through-doing, and this was a really fun way of doing it.

(the wonderfully inspiring Brigit Strawbridge)

The music – which involved some of Bristol's finest musicians including The Undercover Hippy (check out song money money money), Tom Bellamy & the House Band and Tolo Ko Tolo – was even powered by a bicycle, and fruit smoothies were made all day by the infamous smoothie bike. The food was fantastically delicious and completely vegan, and Fergus' wild mushroom soup was probably the tastiest thing I've had in years. That could just as easily be a reflection of my rocket stove cooking though.

We even had free beer and cider in the evening for everyone, with Andy Hamilton and his team of merry home brewers concocting many different types of beer from locally grown and foraged ingredients!

(a fraction of the dried food!)

To be honest though, it was also quite an emotional day for me at times. Just seeing everyone giving whatever they could to the day, with no thought of anything in return, was immensely inspiring, and to me was the most beautiful example of how things could be, if we just chose to live life thinking about 'how much can I give?' as opposed to 'how much can I get?'. Some of the volunteers worked 12hrs with barely a break (how many paid staff would do that?), musicians that would normally get paid a good fee asked us if they could play for free. The pedal powered stage usually costs £150 a day but was offered for free, same with the smoothie bike. The speakers talked for free, movies were donated for free, all kitchen equipment, utensils, plates and so on lent for free; even the venue, Hamilton House, one of the top locations in Bristol now, was donated for free, just because the fantastic guys at Coexist loved what we wanted to do.

What I had reinforced in me last Saturday was the fact that once you do something in the spirit and intention of giving to others, looking for nothing in return for yourself, people queue up to do the same. If I had said I wanted to charge an entrance fee, so that I could get a small bit of pay for my time, everyone else would have too (and rightly so), and so instead of being a free day for people from all backgrounds, it would have cost at least £20 a ticket. But not only that, no one gave with gritted teeth - they all enjoyed it immensely!

As much as it was hard work, I am really sorry that its over. I met so many inspiring people and loads of new friends, and the whole experience was a fantastic bonding experience for many of us.

It was so inspiring that the morning after I made a pretty important decision. Instead of going out to the shops to treat myself, I've decided that I am going to continue living without money. For how long, I don't know, I am going day by day now as I haven't had a moment to even think about it all. I just hate the thought of going back. So when I say my year has officially ended, I really mean that I just want a break from the media and from my life being public, and to get back to doing it just because its the way I want to live.

(some of the wonderful volunteers who made the day happen)

For those of you who celebrated Buy Nothing Day wherever you were in the world, please remember that not destroying the planet isn't just for Buy Nothing Day, it's for life. So try not to get too wrapped up in the 'tradition' of Christmas (if one can call modern rampant consumerism 'traditional'). If you're a Christian, ask yourself if Christ really meant for you to buy loads of planet destroying crap at a time when half the world starves – or eat a bird that was caged and tortured its whole life before making it to your plate. I think Christ is being badly misrepresented - if he were a man into money he would be suing for libel; thing is, he wasn't. He preached simplicity.

If you are a parent, ask yourself if you are really doing the best for your kid by buying them more mind numbing crap at a time when we're little more than an endangered species unless we drastically cut our consumption.

And if you are neither, ask yourself if you have your own mind, or if you going to let the marketers and adverts tell you who you are and what you need to be happy.

And for those of you who enjoyed an entire day for free at the Freeconomy Freastival, pay-the-favour-forward if you get a chance. Even if it is 3 months down the line. If we all gave freely at every moment we could, take a second to imagine the world we would live in. Think about it. With so much care and respect and love for each other and all that dwells on the planet, the bigger issues in the world would, in time, start looking after themselves.

People say that being greedy and selfish is 'human nature' and that we can't change it. There is no such thing as human nature. What is called human nature has changed over time (aboriginals and native American Indians are much different to Wall St. executives), so there is no constant on it. There is, however, 'Human Culture', and culture can be changed. Lets make greed and selfishness as socially unacceptable as not recycling and driving a hummer. And lets make sharing and giving the new climate change - again, if we focused on what we can do as opposed to something to fear, we'd probably avert some of the worst effects of the latter. Or at least have resilient enough communities to deal with it.

So yes, please give this Christmas, but not by taking from the earth and others. Their pleasure doesn't need to come from the pain of others or the destruction of the planet. The kids who make the toys for your kids are just as special as your little ones.

Source: The Freeconomy Blog

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