Robin Greenfield on the Rich Roll Podcast

What would life be like if it was premised on owning nothing rather than accumulating more?

While everyone’s existence orbits around possessions, one man is conducting a revolutionary experiment in radical simplicity that challenges our most fundamental assumptions about what it means to be human.

My guest today is Robin Greenfield, an environmental activist who has taken minimalism to its transcendental conclusion. A Thoreau-esque character for our digital age, he pushes the boundaries of essentialism to their outer limits in what amounts to performance art with purpose: shedding modern artifice to connect more deeply with himself and the planet. After walking 1,600 miles down the Pacific Coast with just 44 possessions, Robin arrived in Los Angeles, sat naked in Griffith Park, and relinquished everything — no ID, bank account, phone, or clothing — to live in nature, subsisting solely on strangers’ kindness.

“Whenever there’s a convenience, someone else is paying for it. Be it the Earth, other people, or plants and animals.”
– ROBIN GREENFIELD

Today, we discuss:

The 1,600 Mile Pacific Coast Walk
Living in Griffith Park with Zero Possessions
The Surprising Joy of Non-Attachment
Breaking the Spell of Consumer Culture
Earth Code: Living in Harmony with Nature

For those who prefer a visual experience, the conversation is available on YouTube. As always, the audio version streams wild and free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Podcast short description:

Robin Greenfield is a transcendental environmental activist who has taken the concept of simplicity to its existential extreme.

This conversation explores how Robin’s radical approach to consumption challenges our assumptions about possessions, examining his 1,600-mile journey down the Pacific coast, his current experiment living in Griffith Park with absolutely nothing, the nature of contentment, our interdependence with Earth, and the liberation found in surrendering attachment.

At one point, he fashions a toothbrush from a California bay branch right before our eyes.

Robin is minimalism personified. This conversation will recalibrate your material perspective. Enjoy!

A personal note from Robin:

I am so deeply grateful to be in connection with Rich Roll. I have known of Rich for over a decade and have respected his work since I first came across him in ~2014. I was so elated to be invited onto his podcast. I am deeply appreciative of how much effort Rich put into this interview, having clearly researched my life’s work at a level I had never expected. I was thoroughly impressed at the depth that he took this conversation to. This conversation is one of the most thorough explorations of my purpose and my activism, and I am grateful to have this opportunity to share it with you.

Some small corrections from the writing on Rich Roll’s website:

In 2020, I had just 44 possessions; however, on the walk I had more, which are documented here.

Although, part of the experiment of non-ownership is the embrace of my interdependence with humanity, it is not accurate to say “subsisting solely on strangers’ kindness.” This experiment was a balance of this interdependence with humanity and also utilizing my skills and relationships with Earth and the plants and animals we share this home with. Also, I don’t live by the concept of strangers and many of the people who came to Griffith Park were people who have followed me for years and that I had formed meaningful relationships with in my last 15 years of activism.