Could you survive without money?

[Guest guest]

" *HE WASN'T ALWAYS THIS WAY. SUELO* graduated from the University of

Colorado with a degree in anthropology, he thought about becoming a doctor,

he held jobs, he had cash and a bank account. In 1987, after several years

as an assistant lab technician in Colorado hospitals, he joined the Peace

Corps and was posted to an Ecuadoran village high in the Andes. He was

charged with monitoring the health of tribespeople in the area, teaching

first aid and nutrition, and handing out medicine where needed; his proudest

achievement was delivering three babies. The tribe had been getting richer

for a decade, and during the two years he was there he watched as the

villagers began to adopt the economics of modernity. They sold the food from

their fields—quinoa, potatoes, corn, lentils—for cash, which they used to

purchase things they didn't need, as Suelo describes it. They bought soda

and white flour and refined sugar and noodles and big bags of MSG to flavor

the starchy meals. They bought TVs. The more they spent, says Suelo, the

more their health declined. He could measure the deterioration on his

charts. " It looked, " he says, " like money was impoverishing them. " "

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