Living By Earth Code

This article shares Robin’s perspective on living by Earth Code through a selection of written excerpts and transcriptions from his talks and videos.

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From Life Design and Mission Statement – 11/25/2023

“Living by Earth Code and Equal Rights for All – In a society disconnected from Earth, many acts of living simply and sustainably can rub against laws and codes. First and foremost, I have chosen to live by Earth Code before government laws – with the central belief that clean air, pure water, healthy food, safe housing and living in harmony are basic rights of humans, Earth and our plant and animal relatives.”

 

From On this Inauguration Day, I Inaugurate Myself … as the Leader of My Own Life – 1/20/2025

“I declare that it not the US government that governs me. Rather than a government of any nationality, I am governed by Earth Code and a Code of Humanity.

I commit to taking full responsibility for myself and I vow to be of service to my community.

To the best of my ability I will come from a place of love and peace, not a place of hate or fear.

I will come from a place of working for what I want, not against what I don’t want.

Operating from a place of loving everyone, whether we have the same political, or whatever, beliefs.

The Earth Code I follow supersedes all national, state and local codes.

Earth Code takes into account the lives of all beings, and gives rights of life to the plants and animals we share this home with, and to the living Earth, just as we have rights as human beings.

Earth Code governs life in a manner that breaks down the illusion of separateness from each other, seeing all humans as our family.

Earth Code is not of direct written law for me, but rather of a daily critical and conscious thinking and connective way of being. It requires considerable time and effort to follow Earth Code and it requires us to see each individual and each society as unique and diverse beings and groups.”

 

From The Experiment in Non-Ownership – My “Why” and In-Depth Explanation – 1/25/2025

“On Living by Earth Code

I have chosen to follow Earth Code and through the practice of complete non-ownership, I have an opportunity to immerse myself deeply in the practice of Earth Code. I will not follow any government laws inherently because they are written out by a governing body. Rather, this is a radical experiment in embracing my connection with Earth, my fellow humans and the plants and animals we share this home with.

Earth Code supersedes all national, state and local codes. Earth Codes are guiding values in which life is lived in a manner which minimizes destruction upon this Earth and the plants, animals and humans that we share this home with.

Earth Code takes into account the lives of all species, all beings. Earth Code gives rights of all life, all beings and the interconnected ecosystems of Earth, just as we have rights as human beings.

Earth Code is not one of direct written law for me, but rather of a daily critical thinking, conscious thinking and connective way of being. It requires considerable time, energy and effort to follow Earth Code and it requires us to see each individual and each society as unique and diverse beings and groups.

In this manner, I will aim to respect all humans in the community, while respecting all life. This is a difficult balance and much of society will not agree with me or understand my philosophy. We are a very human-centric, Earth-dominating society and I am seeking to live outside of this realm, while bringing the most peace and the least harmful disturbance to the people I share space with.

Through living by Earth Code, I take full responsibility for any way in which I may be causing harm. I will however not take responsibility for the stories that people create in their minds, which are not the reality of my experience. If someone is to become agitated by my mere presence, that is not my responsibility.”

 

From Truth and Transparency: All of Me – 12/23/2024

“My whole way of existing is to contribute far more than I take to humanity, far more than I take to the Earth. I’ve dedicated my life to this and I don’t operate in fully linear transactions. I don’t always follow the rules. I live by Earth Code and my Earth Code respects people, but first and foremost comes respect to the Earth, to the land, to the plants, to the animals and to humanity. So, I don’t live strictly by rules and laws and so that plays a role in the way that I choose to interact.”

 

From the Rich Roll Podcast – February 2025

Earth Code: Living in Harmony with Nature

 

From Robin Greenfield at United Plant Savers. Earth Provides Us with Everything We Need! – 10/26/2025

(Transcript of talk)

“I’d like to mention the concept of Earth Code. So, there are laws that are set up to prevent us from foraging. In those scenarios, what I do is, I follow Earth Code. Rather than blindly following a government code, most of which are designed to keep us separate, I will first follow Earth Code. Which is: Is this action harmful to the Earth, to the plants, to the animals, to humans? And if the answer is “no,” then I am going to follow through with that action. Better yet: Is this action beneficial to the Earth, to my community and to myself? So Earth Code is about critical thinking.”

 

From Questioning Societal Norms in Our Troubled Times … And a New Way Forward – 5/13/2025

(Transcript of talk)

“So, the other thing that I would like to talk about is the concept of Earth Code. How many of you have heard of Earth Code before? Peter? Okay, in the back. So, I’m grateful to be here sharing these concepts that are, that are new. This was a new concept to me just some years ago. So, we have a lot of laws in this country — I don’t know how many, probably hundreds of thousands of them. And what is the purpose of laws? Would anyone like to share? What’s the general purpose of laws?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: “To control everybody?”

Okay, yes, that’s the behind-the-scenes aspect. What’s the supposed purpose of our laws?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: “To make us safe, to protect us. Right?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: “Justice, to bring justice.”

Yes, that’s another element of what laws are, at least supposedly for. When we actually analyze a lot of our laws, what we see is they bring justice to a certain group of people, often at the expense of a much larger group of people. And so, what I have started to follow is Earth Code. Earth Code doesn’t say that I’m against, or anybody who practices Earth Code is not saying that we’re against any government code, any federal law, state law, or city law. But what Earth Code says is that anytime a law does not truly protect the people, and the truth is that law actually is full of injustice and inequity and destruction of the Earth, then we’re going to follow a different code. And that is a code of critical thought. Unlike, you know, most of these structured codes that are sort of blanket statements laid across entire biomes, regions, and diverse cultures of people, Earth Code looks at every scenario with a critical mind and a critical eye and says, how do I exist in a way that observes basic human rights? That observes the basic rights of the plants and animals, the fungi, and the bacteria, and observes the basic rights of Earth. So, for example, the Anishinaabe people have created the Rights of Manoomin, which is the wild rice — that’s the land where I grew up; in Bolivia. Yes, Bolivia. They’ve created the Rights of Mother Earth, which are actually a part of their Constitution. These, we actually see Earth Code being built into some constitutional level, but also very grassroots level. So again, it’s not against the idea of laws. It’s for creating laws that follow a more universal, natural law that truly serves the people. So, if that resonates with you, I highly encourage you to learn more about the concept of living in Earth Code. Civil disobedience, to me, is very aligned with that — the unwillingness to obey any unjust law, and instead obey a just law of the Earth and our fellow humans, and the plants and animals.”

 

From The Non-Ownership Experiment: The Final Talk in Griffith Park – 4/26/2025

(Transcript of talk)

“I want to introduce just a couple of things. I want to introduce the concept of Earth Code. How many of you have heard of the concept of Earth Code? A couple. Okay. So right now, we live a life where there’s a lot of laws. There’s a lot of codes; government codes, city codes, federal codes, laws. They’re designed to protect us, right? That’s technically what laws are supposedly to do: to protect us. We have a lot of laws that maybe protect a small group of people while doing the exact opposite; and so the concept of following Earth Code, which is what I’ve been practicing largely here in Griffith Park, is to critically question any of these laws that exist and ask, “Do they really serve us as humanity?” “Do they really serve us?” “Do they really serve the plants and animals we share this home with?” “Do they serve the Earth that we are on?” And if the answer is “no,” if the codes don’t, then instead, following Earth Code. It’s not about saying, “I want anarchy and I’m not going to follow any codes.” It’s about saying, “Does the code actually do the justice that it says, and if not, what code can I follow?” And Earth Code is one where the objective is to live in harmony with the Earth, with humanity and with our plant and animal relatives. I love the concept of Earth Code; it is a radically different way of exploring the world. It is in alignment with the concept of civil disobedience, disobeying unjust laws, and I would say encourage much more following of Earth Code. Those of you who are interested, I’m here to follow Earth Code with you.”

 

From The Non-Ownership Experiment: Frequently Asked Questions and Critiques – 4/19/2025

“Many of our laws—well, they’re supposedly designed to protect us—but so many of them actually are harming us, not protecting us. So many of our laws are claimed to be of justice, but are actually of great inequality, and to the people, to the plants and animals, and to the Earth, so I follow Earth Code. What Earth Code is, is a deep level of critical questioning of analyzing and taking actions that, to the best of my ability, help me to live in harmony with the Earth, with the plants and animals, and with humanity, both here locally and globally. That includes breaking laws, government codes, city codes, federal codes—Earth Code.”

 

From The Experiment of Non-Ownership – Week 9 Update (Talk in Griffith Park) – 3/30/2025

(Transcript of talk)

“What Earth Code is, I meant to mention that at the beginning … Earth Code is living in a way where my actions are in alignment with the Earth. Where it’s not doing harm to Earth, to people, to plants and animals. The flush toilet is not up to Earth Code. It’s completely a system of destruction. My earth toilet, although humanity, well, a lot of people would be, you know … it’s a little timid for me to talk about this because it’s, like, talking about how I’m pooping in a hole in a public park. I’m sure some people would be really angry. However, I am in a spot where it’s a totally … I’m talking about this way more than I was planning to, but here we are. What I’ll say about it is, it does no harm to any human, it’s totally up to Earth Code. It would not cause any issue to people or animals or plants whatsoever, and, in fact, it actually enriches the soil. Now, if every human being was doing this, that would be a problem. But they’re not. I don’t operate based on if every human being is doing it. I operate on the reality of the situation. Also, if every human being did want to do that, it would mean we were thinking very differently about our relationship with Earth, and we’d have compost toilets all over the place to be able to do this. I have officially talked about this far more than I planned, and we’ll see who’s seen this and what happens in that regard. I have three more weeks and I was planning on not talking about this until the day before I was leaving Griffith Park. But here we are.”

 

From Foraging: A How-To Guide to Get Started – 5/1/2025

“As far as legality goes, in my complete transparency, I do not concern myself much with the legality. I follow Earth Code first and foremost, which includes respect to Earth, the plants and animals in the space and the humans who use and steward the space. I follow laws that holistically serve humanity and our fellow Earth inhabitants and I disregard the ones that are destructive to our potential to live in harmony. Thus, I forage where it may not be legal, as long as my foraging is doing no harm. I do not forage in areas where foraging is prohibited, if the prohibition is of true benefit to the plants and the people. That said, in most spaces foraging is completely legal. It is the exception where it is not legal. For those who do not want to deal with the law, it would be in their best interest to inform themselves of any codes in their area and to follow them as desired — which can mean learning the best times and ways to forage within them, or not foraging in these locations — depending on your desire.”

 

From My Relationship with Plant Medicines, “Drugs” and Drugs – 4/11/2023

“I follow Earth Code. In Earth Code there is no such thing as an illegal plant. There is no government that controls the plants. Life can not be owned or patented. One plant can’t be demonized while another is praised. All life has a place and a purpose and is a gift. We humans are one species among millions and we are no more important, no more superior to any plant, fungi, bacteria, and any life force.

These plant medicines follow Earth Code and I stand with them.”

 

From Tiny House FAQ – 2/21/2019

“I’m following my ethics and morals, harming no one, and living in the service of many. I look to Earth Codes and Codes of Humanity before I look to codes most likely created by a group of privileged white men. I think it is a human right to build a little nest and I will stand by this strongly through my actions.”

 

From A Message to Whoever Reported my Tiny House to Code Enforcement – 10/30/2019

“I always knew this could happen, because it’s not technically legal to live in a shed. I didn’t exactly hide though. I had almost every major Orlando media outlet over at my house this year. My life doesn’t fall into all the city codes. I follow Earth Code first and foremost, making sure to live in a manner that improves the world around me and doesn’t harm others. But that doesn’t always work perfectly in my favor.”