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Desire, questioning, difficulty. Is the gift economy good for your health? Born in Besançon, in Franche-Comté, Benjamin Lesage left for the Netherlands at the age of 21 to study and open up to the world. Three years later, in the company of two friends, he began an ecological journey without a penny, by hitchhiking and by boat that took him from the Netherlands to Mexico. During this trip, he discovered a completely different economy based on mutual aid, sharing and devoid of monetary exchanges. With this experience, he continued his initiatory journey in Mexico, the United States and then in Europe by promoting what he calls the gift economy wherever he went. Since his return to France, after the publication of a book (Sans un sou en poche, ed. ARTHAUD), he has joined forces with others to create a vegan eco-place project based on the gift economy: Eotopia This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx