Ben Green doesn’t have to worry that Vladimir Putin might cut offEurope’s gas this winter, fret about a seasonal revival of Covid-19, or panic about a looming global food crisis.
Green weaned himself offgas when he purchased the five-hectare grounds of a derelict East German army barracks three years ago: the previous owner had gutted the building of water and gas pipes. Green patched up the roof of the refectory and insulated the windows so temperatures inside don’t drop below 5C at night. He bathes by pouring a bucket of cold water over his head and cooks on a wood-burning stove.
Green, a 49-year-old Englishman , is unaffected by fraying supply chains because he lives almost entirely offthe vegetables and fruit he grows on his land. If, as he hopes, friends give him an oil press for his 50th birthday, he will soon be able to cut out the occasional 6km cycle to the nearest village for cooking oil.
On those trips he does stock up on tea, coffee and chocolate, but they are luxuries he could dispense with in the case of a systemic breakdown of supply chains. The fact his food miles are still measurable at all is due to the bottomless appetite of his three Mangalica pigs.
This story is from the August 19, 2022 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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This story is from the August 19, 2022 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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