Here's more thoughtful, if often familiar, advice from the authors of Simple Living.
A companion to the PBS series Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska,
scheduled for this summer and fall, the volume shares lessons culled from the authors' move from fast-paced Los Angeles to running a Virginia cherry orchard, and the experiences of friends and experts. They believe "lifestyle simplification invariably cycles back to stewardship of your time, your money, and the environment." Eight chapters include plenty of "nothing's-too-small" choices to challenge the "assumption that one person—and one action—can't make a difference." For example, a simple switch to cloth napkins or using a travel mug instead of a Styrofoam cup daily cuts down on waste. While the chapter on environmental impact offers new ideas, chapters on managing money, work situations and reaching out to the community are filled with the tried-and-true. Most valuable is the chapter on cultivating the values of simplicity in children. In a lovely section, the authors explain how they teach their son the value of a few carefully selected gifts over holiday excess. Urbanska and Levering certainly feel the small changes they recommend are crucial, for "if our personal choices make no sense for the one planet we all share, then that planet will no longer be a good home." (Aug.)
