Moneyless man connects to the natural world. Photograph: Charlotte Sexauer

It appears that Homo sapiens – the self-proclaimed wise man – is not so wise after all. In fact, it is the most deluded species on the planet. Almost all of its members belief that you require money to create things and so, on hearing I live without lucre, often ask me how we could build houses, make tables and chairs, or create clothing without cash. My response: the same way a bird builds a nest.

Money does not create things. We create money, and almost all of it as debt. It is simply a means of exchange, a way of apportioning reward to people for their labours, nothing more. But whilst it is fantastic – too fantastic – at facilitating exchange, it has become a tool that has allowed us to strip the earth bare, at an extraordinary rate, of almost every resource we've been gifted. It has made things too easy for this generation, and too difficult for the next.

There are many ways you can get all the things you need to survive – and thrive – without money, and they're usually much more fun (though less convenient) than going shopping. The ultimate in terms of sustainability and satisfaction is to build a relationship with your local natural environment. Make ink and paper from mushrooms, pillows out of wild reedmace and spoons out of local green wood. Go camping, light your fire with a bow drill and eat and sleep alfresco. Unless we reconnect with nature, runaway climate change is inevitable, as we'll have no deeper understanding of the consequences of consumerism, and without that understanding, the level of change we require will remain a holy grail.

If making your own cabin out of local wood seems out of your range, fear not, as the gift economy has a fantastic department: the Ministry for Free Stuff. This was originally monopolised by one organisation, Freecycle, which has over seven million members worldwide. But because of issues with the administrators in the US past year, a new emerging UK network,Freegle, was born and already has over one million members. Both work like this: if you have something you no longer want and are about to chuck it into landfill, you log on and post it as an offer to whoever wants to come and pick it up (by foot or bike preferably). If there is something you particularly need, send a message out to your local group, and usually someone has one gathering dust in their attic. Better still, go offline and organise a monthly Freeshop in your local area, where people can bring the things they don't need and take the things they do – no checkout or CCTV cameras required.

If you have stuff you want to share, but not give away, there are organisations that look after that also. Freelender.org allows you to post whatever items you own (and willing to share) – such as DVDs, sewing machines or a beach hut – and then borrow whatever items you need temporarily. And just like the capitalist economy, there is choice, withLetsallshare.com and Ecomodo.com taking a slightly different slant on the same concept. Resources and money are saved, neighbours brought together, and friendships made.

Both of these are just online versions of a more traditional method of re-using perfectly good stuff. I once lived in a rather friendly suburb of Bristol where people would simply put the stuff they no longer needed outside their house with a sign saying "Take for free". You could easily furnish an entire house by walking around its streets for a day, saving yourself thousands and the planet something much more important than cash. If this culture doesn't exist where you live yet, start it today by putting outside that old foot massager you got for Christmas. Between now and when it inevitably catches on with the neighbours, there is always the tip and skips.

The economy was meant to be a means to happier living, not an end in itself. So stop producing and start sharing what we've already got. Less crap, more leisure time.

• Mark Boyle is the founder of the Freeconomy Community and has lived moneyless for the last 18 months. His book, The Moneyless Man, is out now, published by Oneworld – sales from the book will go to a charitable trust for the Freeconomy Community.

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