- Introduction: Celebrating Our 13th Anniversary
- New Resources: The Latest Additions To Our On-Line Resource Directory
- Living Simply & Dressing Well: Avoiding The Frump Factor
- New Financial Integrity Website Launched: The New Road Map Foundation
- 10 Things Science Says Will Make You Happy: Sustainable Happiness
- Your Money Or Your Life, 3rd Edition!
- Gems Of The Discussion Forums: Braving Winter & Beginning A New Year
- Sail Transport Network: Are The Days Of Tall Ships Really Over?
- Falling Gas Prices: The Dollar Stretcher
Happy 2009!
Welcome to the 13th Anniversary edition of our user supported, on-line Newsletter! We are sure many of you will agree that 2008 was quite a challenge and 2009 is shaping up to be similar, if not more difficult.
Nonetheless, we are quite proud of the fact that The Simple Living Network is still here and continues to bloom and grow. Not to toot our own horn too much, but we want to share a few of our accomplishments with you. . . .
Our goals are simple and we have remained true to them since we first launched this web site in 1996:
- We have worked hard to craft relationships with a wide variety of authors, organizations and businesses in the "simple living" field to create one central location on the internet where you can find out just about anything you want to know about living the simple life.
- We have always operated our business in the financial black, never taking on debt or attempting to grow faster than resources will allow. We don't charge subscription or membership fees. We have never had industry, foundation or government support. We leave it up to you to decide what this web site is worth and how fast it will grow.
- We don't have a fancy office or a lot of unnecessary equipment. Although, on December 1, 2008, after almost 13 years operating out of the spare bedroom and living room and storage shed and kitchen counter of Founder Dave Wampler's home, we made the big move about 1/2 mile down the road to a small but adequate office that has allowed us to open a sustainable living resource center and finally, truly demonstrate the act locally part of "Think Globally, Act Locally."
- We handle all of our day-to-day operations in-house — from web design and programming to 100% of our order fulfillment — and hire local folks at a living wage.
- We do not rely on advertising revenue for support. In fact, you will not find any paid advertising on our web site. We never send junk e-mail or snail mail, do not use telemarketing and never, ever share our customers' names, e-mail addresses, physical addresses or phone numbers with anyone. We rely on word of mouth as our main advertising vehicle. (Thank you for sharing this web site with your friends and family!)
- We are virtually paperless — no printed catalogs, newsletters or promotional materials — the exception is the receipt we include with all resource orders we ship.
- We aren't trying to get rich. We're just doing what we believe should be done. As long as there is food on the table and the bills are paid, we are happy with "enough." To tell the truth, we don't make enough money selling books, CDs, DVDs etc., to pay all of the bills. Rather, we trust that good folks like you appreciate what we are doing and enjoy our services enough to make small CyberAngel contributions.
Which brings us to the most important part of our 13th Anniversary celebration....
Thank You CyberAngels
We set our sights pretty high in 2008. Our goal was to raise $20,000 to help defray the costs of publishing this Newsletter, maintain the Discussion Forums, SimpleRadio, the Study Group Database and meet the hefty bandwidth expenses of operating our server, keeping equipment and computer programs up to date, etc.
We did not reach our 2008 goal, which is understandable in these difficult times. However, all of the wonderful CyberAngels among you managed to contribute a total of $13,822 — $5, $10, $20, (often much more), here and there from those of you who value this web site added up to quite a bit!
Thank you and keep up the good work in 2009. Your continued CyberAngel contributions will help us meet this year's goal. (We anticipate that expenses this year will be the same or higher than last. As such, we are again aiming high and setting a goal of $20,000.)
Thank You Volunteers
We also must say "Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!" to all of the volunteers who put in countless hours each year to produce this Newsletter and keep the Discussion Forums running smoothly.
Thanks to Fred Ecks and Ann Haebig who have volunteered their time, talent and wisdom to put together this exceptional Newsletter.
Thanks to Crystal, Jonathan, 24prins, Aspen, Bronxboy, Ellen Thomas, find_flo, fredx, gregg1961, Karen in Bisbee, lhamo, loosechickens, and Stanny (please forgive me if I missed someone), for serving tirelessly as moderators in the Discussion Forums.
Where Do We Go From Here?
We don't believe we have all the answers. However, given the current world wide crisis — increasing personal debt, negative savings rates, lack of job security, the home mortgage crisis, failing health care, recession, war, peak oil, global warming and the like — we do believe that one solution is to learn how to use less stuff, use less energy and learn how to live a more simple lifestyle.
We are not talking about depriving ourselves of a few creature comforts or prized possessions that we already enjoy. We are talking about learning to live with "enough" while enjoying life as much or more than we already do!
The lifestyle choice of living simply, voluntary simplicity, living lightly on the earth, doing more with less, (whatever you choose to call it), is one of never-ending learning, self-discovery, joy and fulfillment. Though the path isn't always easy to follow, it is truly rewarding. When you choose to live simply you can honestly wake up each morning refreshed in the knowledge that you are doing your part to help make the world a better place.
Here at The Simple Living Network we will continue to work hard in 2009 and beyond to assist our web site visitors in crafting lifestyles that are unique, joyful, rewarding, simple and restorative. We believe that unchecked consumption in the 21st century is no longer cool. In fact, it is unsustainable and downright irresponsible. If this planet is to survive the rough times ahead, we believe the new cool and sexy thing we must all embrace is living more simply and learning to do more with less!
Please join us. Together we are creating a central location on the internet where likeminded individuals are coming together to reinvent the world.
For the earth and future generations,
Dave Wampler
Founder
The Simple Living Network
Copyright © The Simple Living Network. All Rights Reserved.
- To Buy Or Not To Buy: Why We Overshop & How To Stop
- Common Sense On Mutual Funds: New Imperatives For The Intelligent Investor
- Money & Faith: The Search For Enough — Includes Study Guides For Groups & Individuals
- The Only Guide To A Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need: The Way Smart Money Invests Today
- Unplugged: How To Disconnect From The Rat Race, Have An Existential Crisis, & Find Meaning & Fulfillment
- What Wall Street Doesn't Want You To Know: You Can Build Real Wealth Investing In Index Funds
- Work Less, Live More: The Way To Semi-Retirement — Highly Recommended!
- The Work Less, Live More Workbook: Get Ready For Semi-Retirement
- The Concise Guide To Self-Sufficiency
- Confessions Of An Eco-Sinner: Tracking Down The Source Of My Stuff
- Forgotten Household Crafts
- From Vines To Wines: The Complete Guide To Growing Grapes & Making Your Own Wine
- Green House: Eco-Friendly Disposal & Recycling At Home
- Greening Your Business: A Hands-On Guide To Creating A Successful & Sustainable Business
- Handmade For Profit: Hundreds Of Secrets To Success In Selling Arts & Crafts
- Hot, Flat, & Crowded: Why We Need A Green Revolution — And How It Can Renew America
- The Human Powered Home: Chossing Muscle Over Motors — Highly Recommended!
- The New Agritourism: Hosting Community & Tourists On Your Farm
- The New Self-Sufficient Gardner: The Complete Illustrated Guide To Planning, growing, Storing & Preserving Your Own Garden Produce — Highly Recommended!
- The Organic Gardening Bible: Successful Gardening The Natural Way
- The Self-Reliant Homestead: A Book Of Country Skills
- The Best Slow Cooker Cookbook Ever: Versatility & Inspiration For New Generation Machines
- The Busy Person's Guide To Preserving Food: Easy Step-by-Step Instructions For Freezing, Drying & Canning
- Chef MD's Big Book Of Culinary Medicine: A Food Lover's Road Map To Losing Weight, Preventing Disease & Getting Really Healthy
40% Off While Supplies Last! All of our Holiday Cards are printed on Recycled Paper. Cards contain at least 10% Postconsumer Waste. Envelopes contain 100% Postconsumer Waste. Click here to view all Holiday Cards...
- Earth Song — 40% Discount!
Peace to all Beings. Happy Holidays! - Every Choice We Make — 40% Discount!
Celebrate our commitment to building a better world! / ˇCelebre nuestro compromiso de construir un mundo mejor! - Menorah — 40% Discount!
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40% Off While Supplies Last! Many of our 2009 Calendars are printed on 100% Recycled Paper containing 54% Postconsumer Waste. Click here to view all 2009 Calendars...
- 2009 Poster Calendar — 40% Discount!
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- Art Wolfe Travels To The Edge 2009 Calendar — 40% Discount!
- The Spirit Of Place 2009 Calendar — 40% Discount!
Copyright © 2009
Growing up, I didn't have the extra money to spend on nice clothes. While my friends walked around in the latest fashions, I was "stuck" in thrift store finds and hand-me-downs. It was always a source of embarrassment for me, something I was perpetually ashamed of. When I finally left home for New York City to attend college, the first thing I did was find myself a job and shop, shop, shop, working outrageous hours on top of being a full-time student just to afford my lifestyle. I was completely swept up in consumer culture. Wandering around Soho, I drifted from boutique to boutique, swiping the credit card for any dress or pair of heels that caught my fancy. Living abroad in Paris, it was even worse. I told myself, "Hey, I'm on vacation!" (Even though I wasn't... I was actually there to study.) I gave myself no limits and bought all the designer duds whose labels screamed my name. Then I went to the Parisian cafes and ate croissants to quell my shopping guilt...
My lifestyle changed when I moved to Brooklyn. Though just a famed bridge away from the island of Manhattan, Brooklyn is very different. Before, it had been so easy to get caught up in the consumer lifestyle of Manhattan. Everywhere I looked, there were advertisements, shops with blaring music pulling me through the doors, and other people swiping their cards for purchases. I had always considered myself an artistic and independent-minded person, and was shocked to realize that I had become just another lost soul in the mindless shopping mob. Moving to Brooklyn, a place that is a bit more residential, youthful, and creative, allowed me to shake this consumerism out of my head and look at it with open, honest eyes for the first time. And I was disgusted by it.
I read Thoreau's Walden and Helen and Scott Nearing's The Good Life, dreaming of a simpler, more focused lifestyle. I joined a food coop and began wandering around farmers' markets for hours, talking to the farmers, shaking the dirt off of freshly picked tomatoes, and sampling the pickled beets made in a Brooklyn kitchen right up the street. That was the life I wanted, one full of simple pleasures and not designer pocketbooks.
But, as a 22 year-old NYC girl, I also don't want to look like an old woman in a muumuu, socks, and clogs every time I leave my apartment. I find it quite easy to merge my old love for fashion with my burgeoning desire for a simpler lifestyle, realizing early on that I don't have to give up nice clothing altogether. Nowadays, when I do get the occasional itch to shop, I buy only products from local, up-and-coming designers, which are fairly easy to come by in any urban area.
DIY culture is still going strong. I love walking into my local coffee shop and seeing swarms of knitting needles furiously creating a colorful scarf using hand-dyed yarn that will be sold at a boutique or market someplace in the 'hood. I am an artist myself, and strongly believe in supporting my peers who are trying to make a little money doing what they love. It was never a question of completely stopping my clothes buying or resorting only to cheap clothing. It is no "simpler" to spend 20 bucks at a cheap chain store on a purse that was created by child labor somewhere in China than to spend 60 bucks on a locally-made, one-of-a-kind bag that will support a neighborhood designer. Sure, it's more money, but at least I'm helping a fellow Brooklynite pay her rent rather than assisting in keeping the circle of child labor going round.
Vintage and reworked clothing is also an option for that girl or guy who wants a simpler, less consumptive, and more environmentally-friendly lifestyle, but also wants to get a date every now and then. There are thrift stores in every town that are hiding some great finds at $5 or less. The trick is pawing through the bin of old sweatshirts and pantyhose to find the good stuff! Some of these thrift stores even pay you on the spot for old clothing that you want to get out of your closet. When I made the decision to be less object-oriented and consumptive, I packed up at least six enormous trash bags full of clothing and carried them to my local thrift store, which buys both modern and vintage goods. I left with 300 dollars, which paid for all of my food at the coop for an entire month.
I was out last week on a warm, beautiful night, walking home from a friend's party. I paused at a stoplight and three girls that could only be described as fashionistas (designer bags, black patent stilettos, tight dresses... you get the picture) walked up beside me. One of them grabbed my arm and asked, "Where did you get that amazing dress?" I turned to her and replied, "I found it at the bottom of the underwear bin at Goodwill!" (Which was the truth... the "dress" she loved so much was actually a vintage slip that I wore layered with a couple other things). The horrified look on the girl's face and hearing her friends say "ewww" in unison really made my night, and I laughed all the way home. If I hadn't told them the truth about my bargain-hunting, they would have assumed I had spent hundreds on that outfit.
Living simply doesn't mean you have to be unfashionable or frumpy. Give yourself a strict budget, support local designers, and dig relentlessly through all those unappetizing bins at your local thrift store for the gems that might be hiding at the bottom.
About The Author
Rachel Jayne is a wanderer, muffin-baker, and aspiring farmer. She hails from the South but currently resides in Brooklyn, where she spends her days knitting hats (always with pompoms), cooking, and dreaming of her rooftop garden / urban homestead. She is a passionate local eater, vintage clothing hound, and bicycle fiend. Oh yeah, and she likes to write too. She can be contacted at rachelfilippetti18@yahoo.com.
Related Resources
- Respect
- 33 Things Every Girl Should Know
- 100 Things Guys Need To Know
- The Good Life
- Loving & Leaving The Good Life
- Living Cheaply With Style
- Radical Simplicity
Hot on the heels of the release of the new edition of Your Money or Your Life, the New Road Map Foundation (NRM) released its new Financial Integrity wiki. What's a wiki? A wiki is a collection of web pages that can be updated by the public, allowing for collaboration and sharing of information. This wiki is the new online home of the Financial Integrity community.
If you're new to the Financial Integrity program, get ready for a fundamentally different approach to personal finance. This program is about helping you use money as a tool to get on with the life you want to live — whether your goal is to get out of debt, become financially independent or more closely align your financial decisions with your personal values. The program consists of nine hands-on steps that integrate timeless financial principles into real life actions, all clearly explained in practical terms, all downloadable. And all free.
The Financial Integrity (FI) Program is the same groundbreaking work found in Your Money Or Your Life. It works like this: there is one FI Program, which always consists of the same nine steps. And now, there are three vehicles for learning the Program. The classic book: Your Money or Your Life; the audio-workbook course: Transforming Your Relationship with Money; and the Program Guide, downloadable for free at www.financialintegrity.org.
Who is the New Road Map Foundation? This organization was created in 1984 to promote the ideas in Your Money or Your Life as well as other social service projects. The New Road Map Foundation is committed to making the core material of the Financial Integrity Program available free of charge to anyone who can benefit from it. NRM is now finishing a long process of adapting the program created by Joe Dominguez for modern tools and audiences. These ideas are now presented in a wiki website as the Financial Integrity (FI) Program: www.financialintegrity.org.
The wiki also contains:
- Downloadable guides suitable for individual, group, or classroom use
- Stories and examples from people who have successfully used the program
- Resources and tools to help readers carry out each step of the program
- Lists of discussion groups and speakers to provide local support to those doing the program
- Questions posted by new users, answered by experienced program users
There is a thriving network of committed "FIers" with expertise, advice and stories to share. If you're one of them, here's your place to do it. Contribute what you've learned to the "go-to" place for people looking to more fully integrate the Program into their lives. Tell others about how you've overcome struggles or achieved success with the program. Post that new spreadsheet format you developed to more easily track spending. Invite people to your study group. Lead by example.
Questions and comments may be contributed to the wiki at www.financialintegrity.org or emailed to info@financialintegrity.org.
Related Resources
- Your Money Or Your Life - 2nd Edition
- Your Money Or Your Life - 3rd Edition
- Transforming Your Relationship With Money
- Your Money Or Your Life Study Guides
- Getting A Life
Copyright © 2009. Reprinted from YES! Magazine with permission.
Scientists can tell us how to be happy. Really. Here are 10 ways, with the research to prove it.
In the last few years, psychologists and researchers have been digging up hard data on a question previously left to philosophers: What makes us happy? Researchers like the father-son team Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener, Stanford psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky, and ethicist Stephen Post have studied people all over the world to find out how things like money, attitude, culture, memory, health, altruism, and our day-to-day habits affect our well-being. The emerging field of positive psychology is bursting with new findings that suggest your actions can have a significant effect on your happiness and satisfaction with life. Here are 10 scientifically proven strategies for getting happy.
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Savor Everyday Moments
Pause now and then to smell a rose or watch children at play. Study participants who took time to "savor" ordinary events that they normally hurried through, or to think back on pleasant moments from their day, "showed significant increases in happiness and reductions in depression," says psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky. |
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Avoid Comparisons
While keeping up with the Joneses is part of American culture, comparing ourselves with others can be damaging to happiness and self-esteem. Instead of comparing ourselves to others, focusing on our own personal achievement leads to greater satisfaction, according to Lyubomirsky. |
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Put Money Low on the List
People who put money high on their priority list are more at risk for depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem, according to researchers Tim Kasser and Richard Ryan. Their findings hold true across nations and cultures. "The more we seek satisfactions in material goods, the less we find them there," Ryan says. "The satisfaction has a short half-life — it's very fleeting." Money-seekers also score lower on tests of vitality and self-actualization. |
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Have Meaningful Goals
"People who strive for something significant, whether it's learning a new craft or raising moral children, are far happier than those who don't have strong dreams or aspirations," say Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener. "As humans, we actually require a sense of meaning to thrive." Harvard's resident happiness professor, Tal Ben-Shahar, agrees, "Happiness lies at the intersection between pleasure and meaning. Whether at work or at home, the goal is to engage in activities that are both personally significant and enjoyable." |
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Take Initiative at Work
How happy you are at work depends in part on how much initiative you take. Researcher Amy Wrzesniewski says that when we express creativity, help others, suggest improvements, or do additional tasks on the job, we make our work more rewarding and feel more in control. |
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Make Friends, Treasure Family
Happier people tend to have good families, friends, and supportive relationships, say Diener and Biswas-Diener. But it's not enough to be the life of the party if you're surrounded by shallow acquaintances. "We don't just need relationships, we need close ones" that involve understanding and caring. |
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Smile Even When You Don't Feel Like It
It sounds simple, but it works. "Happy people ... see possibilities, opportunities, and success. When they think of the future they are optimistic, and when they review the past they tend to savor the high points," say Diener and Biswas-Diener. Even if you weren't born looking at the glass as half-full, with practice a positive outlook can become a habit. |
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Say Thank You Like You Mean It
People who keep gratitude journals on a weekly basis are healthier, more optimistic, and more likely to make progress toward achieving personal goals, according to author Robert Emmons. Research by Martin Seligman, founder of positive psychology, revealed that people who write "gratitude letters" to someone who made a difference in their lives score higher on happiness, and lower on depression — and the effect lasts for weeks. |
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Get Out and Exercise
A Duke University study shows that exercise may be just as effective as drugs in treating depression, without all the side effects and expense. Other research shows that in addition to health benefits, regular exercise offers a sense of accomplishment and opportunity for social interaction, releases feel-good endorphins, and boosts self-esteem. |
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Give It Away, Give It Away Now!
Make altruism and giving part of your life, and be purposeful about it. Researcher Stephen Post says helping a neighbor, volunteering, or donating goods and services results in a "helper's high," and you get more health benefits than you would from exercise or quitting smoking. Listening to a friend, passing on your skills, celebrating others' successes, and offering forgiveness also contribute to happiness, he says. Researcher Elizabeth Dunn found that those who spend money on others reported much greater happiness than those who spend it on themselves. |
Related Resources
- Get Satisfied!
- Work Less, Live More
- Simpler Living, Compassionate Life
- Getting Unstuck
- Community
- The Power Of Community DVD
- Keeping Fitness Simple
When Penguin Books first published Your Money or Your Life in 1992, the book struck a chord with readers who appreciated its message of how to live well for less. Oprah Winfrey raved, "This is a wonderful book. It can really change your life." Penguin printed 600,000 copies of the book. A New York Times bestseller, Your Money Or Your Life spent five years on the Business Week bestseller list and was translated into 10 languages. This new edition of Your Money Or Your Life — featuring updated resources, an easy-to-use index, and anecdotes and examples particularly relevant today — arrives at a time of economic crisis, when many of us are struggling to pay mortgages and make car payments and pay off credit cards while simultaneously weathering layoffs and watching financial portfolios shrink.
Your Money Or Your Life recognizes that many of us spend more than we earn. That sometimes making a living feels more like making a dying. That it may be easy to dislike your job, but hard to leave it. That money can fragment time as well as relationships with family and friends. Your Money Or Your Life presents a road map to free ourselves from this money trap.
Vicki Robin and co-author Monique Tilford introduce the concept of "FI (financially independent) thinking" — Financial Intelligence, Financial Integrity and Financial Independence — and explore the nine steps to becoming a "FIer." FIers have found that:
On average, people at all income levels lower their expenses by 25 percent — and most feel happier. They find that their relationships with their partners and children improve.
Money ceases to be an issue in their lives, and they finally have the intellectual and emotional space to take on issues of greater importance.
They retire their debts, increase their savings and are able to live happily within their means.
They increase the amount of their "free time" by reducing expenses and the amount of time on the job.
Many books about money assume your financial life functions separately from the rest of your life. Your Money Or Your Life is about putting it all back together. The book accounts not just for earning, spending, debts and savings, but also the time these functions take in your life. It also recognizes that your relationship with money is reflected in the sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that you get from your connection to your family, your community and the planet. Regardless of whether you are in debt $50,000 (or more) or whether you have substantial savings, you too can embark on the road to financial independence and finally begin to make a life, rather than just make a living.
About The Authors
Vicki Robin has lectured widely and appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows, including "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "Good Morning America" and National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition" and "Morning Edition." She has also been featured in People Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Woman's Day, Newsweek, Utne Magazine and the New York Times. Vicki has helped launch many sustainability initiatives including: The New Road Map Foundation, The Simplicity Forum, The Turning Tide Coalition, Sustainable Seattle, The Center for a New American Dream, Transition Whidbey and more. In the 1990s she served on the President's Council on Sustainable Development's Task Force on Population and Consumption. Born in Oklahoma in 1945, Vicki grew up on Long Island and graduated cum laude from Brown University in 1967.
Monique Tilford has worked for nearly 20 years on sustainable consumption and environmental issues. For ten years, she worked with the Center for a New American Dream, a national non-profit that helps Americans change the way they consume, serving most recently as the organization's deputy director. Prior to joining New Dream, Monique was Executive Director for Wild Earth and for the Carrying Capacity Network. Monique has been promoting the principles outlined in Your Money or Your Life for over 17 years, as a public speaker, study guide group leader, and member of the New Road Map Foundation's board of directors. She lives outside Washington, DC with her husband and two young daughters.
Joe Dominguez (1938-1997) was a successful financial analyst before retiring at the age of 31. He and Vicki co-founded the New Road Map Foundation.
Related Resources
- Your Money Or Your Life - 3rd Edition
- Your Money Or Your Life - 2nd Edition
- Transforming Your Relationship With Money
- Getting A Life
- Your Money Or Your Life Study Guides
Related Websites
- www.YourMoneyOrYourLife.org — The Simple Living Network's website about this book and all related resources
- www.YourMoneyOrYourLife.info — The authors' website
- www.FinancialIntegrity.org — The New Road Map Foundation's website about the 9-step program on which the book is based
- OnLine Study Groups based on the 9-step Financial Integrity program presented in the book
- Study Groups & Circles
- Discussion Forums
Copyright © 2009
Much of the United States is in the grips of a cold snap as I write this, and the current Forum topics reflect the weather. People are discussing lowering the thermostat and keeping warm. They're also figuring out how to get exercise in winter, and what one might need to comfortably ride a bike in this kind of cold.
Other participants are concentrating on their indoor environments — stuff is very much on their minds. Two conversations discuss the problem of hoarding and offer some solutions. The psychological aspects of getting rid of things can be tricky and the community has addressed them in their usual caring style.
To try to get rid of some of the surplus goods, participants share what they're going to stop buying — everything from shampoo to spaghetti — until they've used up their current stash. The end goal is a home that one's comfortable in, and being a diverse community, some have achieved satisfaction with a clean, ordered, house, but others are just as satisfied with a messy house. Vive la difference!
Folks in the Gardening Forum seem obsessed with livestock. They're discussing goats, chickens, and rabbits. I'm not sure why the sudden interest, but these threads are great fun to read even if you could never consider housing milk goats in your walkup studio apartment.
The economy is still rough, and folks are sharing their questions about dealing with layoffs and what to do about retirement saving. Forum members always have copious advice on financial matters.
Finally, one participant invites us all to share our plans — not resolutions to feel guilty about, but just plans — for the new year. Come share yours.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE INTRODUCTION to our on-line community. Then join the fun!
Please Note: Registration Activation may take 24-48 hours.
About The Author
Ann Haebig is a part-time geek, part-time bicycle advocate, and dedicated follower and promoter of the Your Money Or Your Life program. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her partner, cat and recently adopted guitar. Ann can be reached at ahaebig@pobox.com.
Related Resources
- The New Self-Sufficient Gardener
- Cold Climate Gardening
- Biking To Work
- Raising Dairy Goats
- Raising Chickens
- Raising Rabbits
- The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map To True Riches
- Confessions Of An Eco-Sinner
Copyright © 2009. Reprinted from Culture Change / Sail Transport Network with permission.
From prehistory until about 1865 ships were hand built, usually of wood, and sailed by brave folk. They plied the waters of the globe and were responsible for the discovery of (or contact with) foreign lands, a fact that we take for granted today. Trade agreements were reached between nations on the quarterdecks of grand "tall ships" of more than two masts, and wars were fought from their decks to protect or destroy those trade agreements.
Fishing on a major scale was first done by sail, and passenger transport was by sail as it was for shipping food, building materials, precious metals and stone, commodities, and mail... all done with the power of the wind. Crews operated in relative harmony with each other and the elements out of necessity.
By 1865, steam power was taking its toll on the sailing industry, and by 1920, the internal combustion engine had all but replaced the great sailing ships. The last cargo delivered by sail was on 29 August 1957, aboard the three-masted schooner Elian out of Wales. Her cargo was coal. There were very few transoceanic schooner cargo shipments between 1938 and 1957; twelve, to be exact. The last three schooners delivering cargo on the high seas were the Elian, Edna Hoyt (also a Welsh ship), and the Grace Bailey from the United States. There were no sail-freight shipping firms after 1938; all ships were privateers. Steam and internal combustion rang the death knell for the first golden age of sail.
This low note in history, this loss of an unmatched, good, efficient form of transport, surpasses perhaps the momentous passing of the brief reign of the marvelous but more technological bicycle. When we consider the loss of sailing capacity, it has not received the attention that the electric rail trolley system's demise in the U.S. has received. The latter was caused by a criminal conspiracy between General Motors, Standard Oil of California, and other corporations to buy up several dozen urban rail companies. The plan carried out was to rip out the tracks and install oil-burning buses. The several dozen U.S. cities that lost their rail systems never quite recovered. Similarly, the U.S. has lost a lot by giving up on sailing ships that relied on what was the renewable but non-limitless resource of tall trees.
Schooner Elian is shown here in Cardiff, Wales, lading her last load of cargo. She was dismasted the next year and continued service as a motor freighter until the early 1960s.
The second golden age of sail began in about 1940 with the advent of the great wooden racing yachts, mostly of a masthead sloop design, captained by their wealthy owners. They were a status symbol for the very rich until about 1960, when powerboat manufacturers began building the first of the huge mega yachts for the very very rich, and the sailboat became available to the middle class. In the mid-1990s even powerboats were easily available for the middle class, and interest in sailing fell off with the American public.
Civilization has extracted vast resources of tall trees, such that only 5% remain in many forests like those in the American Pacific Northwest. The Amazon rainforest is under assault from development and the climate going awry. The number of people who are still skilled in tallship building and sailing techniques are few and dwindling every day. Yet all is not lost. There are numerous historical preservation programs and tallship museums, and the American Sail Training Association is turning out handfuls of enthusiasts every year with the skills necessary to run these great ships today. Information about construction and design techniques survive to the modern era, and can be reemployed in shipbuilding tomorrow. Through the cultivation of reeds, hemp and other materials and conservation of trees, sustainable transport and trade will take us well into the new millennium as oil is running out.
Renewable Energy = Sustainable Trade!
Sail Transport Network is a movement. For thousands of years, wind energy moved people and goods all over the world without pollution. Today, dwindling geopolitically-sensitive oil is used for every form of transportation and commerce. Even e-commerce with computers is dependent on forms of petroleum; trucks and cars clog roads to a deathly degree.
The Sail Transport Network is dedicated to finding answers to the problems of tomorrow by looking back to the way it worked before. Trade, exchange, and travel are the basic triad of intercultural connection. If we can reduce the dependence on oil in these three areas, we will have reduced the majority of oil dependence in the world while establishing through STN a model for sustainability in the new post-oil, greenhouse-ravaged world.
There once was a time when you could walk down to the local harbor and see nothing but great sailing ships. These ships stirred something in the soul of humans then, and it is that same stirring that can bring us into a cleaner, more sustainable future. The great age of sail didn't end, it just took a break. Now is the time to take up the sheets again, as it were, and sail into a future of sustainable trade that doesn't cause wars for non-renewable resources.
The History Behind STN
The organization launching STN was founded in 1988 by Jan Lundberg, who sailed to Europe from California as a teenager on a 50-foot ketch with his family. The name of that organization was Fossil Fuels Policy Action, renamed Sustainable Energy Institute, which was the nonprofit group that became Culture Change in 2001.
Culture Change (then SEI) launched the Sail Transport Network in 1999, after the organization had for almost one decade led the road-fighting movement it started. Other projects were Pedal Power Produce, the Auto-Free Times magazine, and The Depavers eco-rock band. But the main project from 1990 to 2001 was the Alliance for a Paving Moratorium. Our mission was, and still is, to reduce dependence on petroleum and to promote safer and more sustainable — including non-motorized — modes of transport. The intention was to stop urban sprawl and thereby save farmland, wildlife habitat, and community cohesion. Public funds wasted on oil-intensive new road construction would then be saved to go toward alternative transportation and repairing existing roads. STN complemented this movement as a globally replicable model for sustainable transport networks in all coastal areas and islands.
About The Author
STN founder Jan Lundberg, publisher of Culture Change, has been called "a visionary" by Associated Press, and "The Oracle" by Chevron. Upon going greener Jan has contributed non-petroleum solutions for transportation, agriculture and community economics. Jan can be reached at info@culturechange.org.
Related Resources
- The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide & Cookbook
- Low Carbon Diet
- Peak Oil Survival
- The Carbon-Free Home
- An Inconvenient Truth - DVD
- The 11th Hour - DVD
Copyright © 2008
Editor's Note: This article is an entry from The Dollar Stretcher Blog, reprinted with permission.
I guess everyone has noticed how much gas prices have fallen in the last few months. It seems only yesterday that every media outlet was screaming about $4 a gallon gas. Now that gas is back in the $2 a gallon range you don't hear much about it. That's a shame, because lower gas prices create an opportunity for consumers.
Back when prices were high, we all made adjustments to our lifestyle to handle the extra money that was going to the oil companies. We drove fewer miles and paid more attention to auto maintenance. We cut back on other expenses. In short, we did whatever we needed to do to solve the problem.
But now the problem is gone, so we have a choice: we can go back to our old ways of doing things, or we can take the money that's not going into our gas tank and put it to better use.
If you go back to your old ways, there's a good chance that you'll waste the money. It'll disappear, leaving hardly a trace.
On the other hand, you could continue with the changes that you made when gas prices were higher. If you're the average driver (about 11,000 miles per year) and your car gets 25 mpg, that means you'll be buying 440 gallons of gas a year. At today's prices, you'll be saving about $880 per year.
What to do with that extra $70 a month? Here are some options:
You could apply it to your credit card debt. Not only would you reduce your balance by $70, but you'd also reduce the amount of interest that you owed for this month (and every month thereafter). In effect, adding that $70 to your minimum will save you way more than $70!
Or you could add it to your mortgage payment. No one knows how tough the economy could get, but the less you owe on your home, the better off you'll be no matter what the future holds. If things bounce back quickly, more of every future mortgage payment will go to reducing principal, so you'll have more equity (and more options available to you). If things get really tough and house prices continue to slide you'll be in better shape if you don't owe so much.
You could take that extra money and invest it in your future. Take some classes that will make you more valuable in the job market. If unemployment increases you'll be happy to have more skills to offer potential employers. If you don't have a college or trade school nearby, consider online courses.
How about accumulating an emergency fund? We all know that we're going to have 'unexpected' expenses; we just don't know when they'll occur. Without an emergency fund, they end up on your credit card. Wouldn't it be nice to have hundreds of dollars sitting in a bank waiting for the next 'expected' expense?
Or you could put it in your retirement account (IRA or 401k). Yes, I know that your account hasn't been performing very well lately. In fact, maybe you're thinking of trading your broker for a dartboard. But if you have any faith in the economy, then you'd have to expect that some companies will do well in the future. So now could be a good time to buy in while prices are low.
Or perhaps you have an even better way to use the money that's been freed up when gas prices fell. If so, we'd love to hear your ideas. After all the pain that higher gas prices caused, it only seems fitting that we turn lower prices into something good!
Keep on Stretching those Dollars!
Gary
About The Author
Gary Foreman is the editor of The Dollar Stretcher.com website and newsletters. Not only does the site host thousands of articles on various ways to save money, but you'll also find a vibrant forum where people share their dollar stretching ideas. Comment on this entry at http://community.stretcher.com/blogs/stretcher/archive/2008/11/24/falling-gas-prices.aspx.
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