Summary: This week’s guest is adventurer and environmental activist Rob Greenfield, whose societal-boundary-pushing projects have ranged from biking across the United States on a bamboo bicycle for sustainability (three times); to dumpster diving in thousands of grocery store dumpsters to raise awareness about food waste and hunger; to wearing 30 days’ of trash to create a visual of how much trash one American creates. Here, we focus on Rob’s latest extreme endeavor: Growing and foraging 100 percent of his food for One. Entire. Year. From his 100-square-foot tiny home in Orlando, Florida (hand-built from 99 percent salvaged materials, natch), Rob shares the eating hows and whats of his aptly named Food Freedom project (think harvested salt and golf-course-foraged giant yams; oh, he also grows his own toilet paper). But with no shortage of self-reflection, Rob also digs deeper: into his own impoverished upbringing, the unintended consequences of living with no car or bank account or bills, and finding his true purpose in a life both inside and outside industrial capitalist society. Some of what we talk about: -What’s behind all the 1s: The launch of Food Freedom on 11/11 and Rob’s 111 possessions -The plan to grow and forage 100 percent of his food for one year; building his 100-square-foot tiny house in Orlando (and why Orlando?) -Staple crops, salt from scratch and the 160-pound yam -How to make coconut oil; North America’s yerba mate -The 11 months of prep that went into the project -Rob’s philosophy on foraging and pesticides -A sampling of the 300-500 foods Rob will be eating for the next 12 months -Taking inspiration from subsistence cultures -The paradox of Rob’s impoverished childhood: “We were consumers. My mom was a consumer; I was a consumer.” -His awakening to “not living a delusional life” -What it’s like to live with no credit cards, no bank account, no driver’s license, no car, no bills and no taxes -Consumerism and mortality -Rob’s vision for the future
