"You never give me your money..."
 
Heidemarie Schwermer had been through the boom-and-bust cycle of modern Capitalism. Her family members were wealthy coffee roasters, losing it all in WWII. Throughout her life, her fortunes continued to go up and down. When she was in her 50s, she decided to do an experiment and see if she could live for one year without using any physical currency. She gave everything away, including her apartment, and kept only a small suitcase. She has been going for 16 years, doing a little bartering, a little scavenging, and a lot of public speaking. She stars in a documentary called Living Without Money which, interestingly or ironically, is not being given away for free.
 
7. Daniel Suelo Quits Society, Starts a “Tribe”

"Yummy, yummy, yummy, I got love in my tummy..."
 
If Prahiad Jani's claims are true, he has not only defied temptation, but also the entire biological cycle of life. Jani, who is also known as Chunriwala Mataji, says that he stopped eating or drinking at the age of 12. He is now 85, lives as a hermit in a cave, and spends most of his time meditating. There were two studies conducted at a hospital in India, one in 2003 and another in 2010, to verify his assertions. The first experiment lasted for 10 days and the second stretched for 15 days. Both times, he was kept in a sealed room with no toilet and was only allowed to gargle. Doctors say that he passed both tests with flying colors, neither eating nor defecating, but they have yet to submit their findings to a scientific journal for analysis. There was a lot of hoopla on the internet and further studies are planned, but presumably Jani remains in his cave, blissfully unaware of the controversy.
 
9. Family Spends a Year Buying Nothing from China



It wasn't an idea based on protectionism or racial hatred. Instead, Sara Bongiorni just wanted to make people aware of our dependence on the international trading system, specifically with China. In 2005, she vowed to only purchase items for her family that were not manufactured in the world's most populous country, whose cheap exports flood the US marketplace. As you might imagine, it was difficult to find anything, from lamps to shoes. This made everyday trips to the store much more involved than before. "Shopping became meaningful," she was quoted as saying.
(Link | Photo)
 

Many people, it seems, have taken up an “extreme” lifestyle project to raise awareness about issues that are important to them and, hopefully, to learn something about themselves and society in the process. Here are a few honorable mentions:
 
Phoebe Baker Hyde (no makeup for one year), Meg Hourihan (no new material purchases for one year), Colin Beavan (no environmental “impact”), and perhaps the modern grandaddy of experimenters, Morgan Spurlock (eating only junk food for a month, as chronicled in the movie Super Size Me).