Celebrating Resourcefullness
Simple Living With Wanda Urbanska
By Wanda Urbanska
Copyright © 2004. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted here by permission.

In a culture that values continual acquisition of the latest fashion, the newest style, and the most advanced technology, those who value utility, endurance, and conservation can seem behind the curve.

Bill Casstevens doesn't care.

A barber in Mount Airy, North Carolina, Casstevens rings up haircuts at the Palace Barber Shop on a mechanical cash register dating to the 1920s. Although he's been offered "a new one" for it more times than he can remember, Casstevens figures that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." His machine does all he needs it to do, producing a thin receipt and a pleasant jingle to mark each sale, and, best of all, it never breaks down. Not only do his customers enjoy the old-fashioned machine, but Casstevens is taking a crucial step toward breaking down the all-too-easy mental habit of accepting disposability as a fact of life.

Click Here To View select video clips from the Simple Living TV series. Click Here To View a PDF file containing the table of contents for all eight episodes of Simple Living TV.

From the throw-away take-out containers at a restaurant to high-tech gadgets like cell phones and laptops that become obsolete in a matter of years -- if not months -- American consumers have been trained to accept a culture of "planned obsolescence." By using his cash register long past when many people would have upgraded to a more modern unit, Casstevens conserves the resources involved in building a new cash register, keeps his older machine from taking up space in a landfill, and utilizes an energy-free mechanical technology every bit as effective as newer, more energy-intensive models.

Not coincidentally, haircuts at the Palace Barber Shop come "one-price-cuts-all" at $7 a head, and Casstevens readily dispenses pennies to his pee-wee patrons to purchase gumballs from the store dispenser. His gumball business is not a "profit center" but makes his stop an inviting community center, where all feel welcome.

My upcoming public television series, Simple Living, celebrates just such a spirit of community involvement coupled with thoughtful consuming. I tell Casstevens' story in a segment of the series entitled "The Thing That Refused to Die." Each of us throws away an average of 4.5 pounds of solid waste per day, and this segment celebrates those individuals who consciously choose to minimize their waste stream by using their material possessions until they absolutely wear out.

For example, in one episode, I talk to Pat Woltz, a lively and inspiring woman in her 70s who still proudly wears (and fits in!) a blue wool skirt-and-sweater set that she purchased in 1960, along with a set of pumps from 1951. By purchasing timeless, classic styles, Pat explains, and by taking good care of your possessions, you don't have to throw them away.

Other examples of similarly conscious consumers include the owner of a mid-60s Elextrolux vacuum cleaner that's never needed repair, and the driver of a 1925 Model T owned by the same man since 1948. In a consumer culture where even cars have virtually become "disposable," such a commitment to simplicity breaks with mainstream patterns of consumption and has net positive effects on society.

Each of the owners of a "thing that refused to die" has made a decision to reduce his-her input to the waste stream, shifting purchasing patterns and serving as an example to others that newer isn't always better. Here's to all the thoughtful consumers out there who carefully weigh all purchasing decisions, vowing that whatever non-perishable items they buy become "things that refuse to die."

Wanda Urbanska is host of the upcoming series, Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska. The series, produced by Urbanska and Frank Levering, is offered to all 349 PBS stations by EPS and will begin airing in July 2004. Shot in ten states, including its home base of Mount Airy, NC, (as well as urban areas like New York; Los Angeles; Washington, DC; and Minneapolis), the series advocates environmental stewardship, thoughtful consumption, community involvement, and financial responsibility. Please contact the programming department of your local PBS station to request that they carry Simple Living and give it a desirable time slot. Urbanska and Levering are co-authors of the forthcoming book, Nothing's Too Small to Make a Difference, which will be published in August by John F. Blair, Publisher. Visit www.simplelivingtv.net for more information. If you have a great "thing that refused to die" story for the series, email info@simplelivingtv.net.

About The Author

Wanda Urbanska is a nationally known author and expert on simplicity. Co-author with Frank Levering of Simple Living: One Couple's Search for a Better Life, originally published by Viking in 1992 and now in its ninth edition in paperback from John F. Blair, Publisher. Urbanska and Levering have co-authored a new book, Nothing's Too Small to Make a Difference, due out in August from John F. Blair, Publisher. Urbanska has helped to identify and define one of the top trends of our time -- the quest for simplicity in our overbooked, environmentally challenged, high-tech era. Wanda Urbanska is a graduate of Harvard University and author or co-author of six books. She has extensive media experience and hosted the PBS primetime special Escape from Affluenza: Living Better on Less. Wanda is also the host for the upcoming series Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska.

Web Site: Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska