Raphael Fellmer (born 1983) lived from 2010 until 2015 in a money strike, which started with a moneyless journey from The Netherlands to Mexico. He is an activist, who lived without money to raise awareness and makes use of surplus of the

consumer society Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the su ...

. To fight

food waste Food loss and waste is food that is not eaten. The causes of food waste or loss are numerous and occur throughout the food system, during production, processing, distribution, retail and food service sales, and consumption. Overall, about o ...

, he created a foodsaving movement, a network which collected and shared more than 3 million kilogram of food. He is co-founder of ''

foodsharing.de foodsharing.de is an online platform that saves and distributes surplus food in Germany and Austria. It is managed by the Foodsharing association (foodsharing e.V.) and was founded on December 12, 2012. On foodsharing.de individuals, retailers and ...

'', where people can share their leftover food instead of throwing them away. In 2015 together with friends he founde
yunity
a multi-sharing and saving platform. He was born in 1983 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

and went to school there. In 2011 he returned with his wife and lived there with their two children until 2015 when he moved close to Stuttgart.

Biography

Fellmer studied at

The Hague University of Applied Sciences The Hague University of Applied Sciences ( nl, De Haagse Hogeschool), abbreviated THUAS, is a university of applied sciences with its campuses located in and around The Hague in the Randstad metropolitan region in the west of the Netherlands. Th ...

. In 2010, a journey from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

became a turning point in his life. A backpack for the journey was the last thing he has bought. He and his friends crossed the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

for free, as they "payed" for it by taking care of the boat on which they travelled. They hitchhiked in Mexico, worked for food and accommodation. When he came back to Berlin, he was first looking for food in the garbage. Later he started to get food that was approaching or past best-before date and that the shops were not able to sell. He then founded the website '' Foodsharing'' to support the exchange of things people has no use for. Fellmer himself lives with no money, his wife uses the equivalent of around $280 per month (2013) from savings and a government child subsidy when she needs to pay for health care or food for their children. ''"Originally I wanted to become a millionaire to be able to help people,"'' says Fellmer. In 2017, the translation of his book into Portuguese was published on his homepage.

Bibliography

* Fellmer, Raphael: ''Glücklich ohne Geld!'' (Happy without money)

External links

Raphael Fellmer's website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fellmer, Raphael German activists Living people 1983 births The Hague University of Applied Sciences alumni