I bring a message of hope. There are signs of change on the horizon. I noticed these signs about six months ago, as I'm sure many of you did, but thought they held little promise. However, it looks like things are different this time, this seems to be more deeply embedded in mainstream culture, and now I believe change is on the way. And the change is the belief of ordinary men and women that they can modify their materialist lifestyle to that of a more prudent and accountable one.
I remember back a couple of years ago when I heard a report about climate change and peak oil on the 6pm news. Well, that nearly flattened me. I was so surprised that the report was on, I called Hanno to see it. He probably thought I was a bit mad but there it was, what we'd been talking about for so long but in all that time I'd never heard one word of it on the mainstream media. Ha!, I thought, fancy that, never dreaming those reports would become commonplace in just a few short months.
And now on Oprah, I find that back in January an article called: Back to Basics, Living with Voluntary Simplicity. was featured in the O magazine. Far out! That is about as close to middle America as you can get. And in February she did a TV program on What can you live without?, in March, she did another on Simplify your Life. I mean no disrespect but America was the last major player to arrive at this change; European countries and some of the Commonwealth countries - Canada, NZ, Australia had been working towards cutting back, simplifying, gardening etc, well before the US, en masse, saw the need. However, I have always believed that without America, any change it would be short lived. The amount of wealth in America, coupled with the potential to spend it, as well as the amount of energy consumed there, made it imperative that the US saw the need for change as well. And it took the economic crisis to bring that change to the people.
Those of us who have lived this way for a few years would know that five years ago, the only literary references to living a simple life were in books and blogs. Now there are magazines and TV programs and all sorts of references in popular culture. I know mainstream media don't lead, they are followers, so it's very heartening to know they now providing what their audiences are asking for - more information about living more simply.
I'd be interested to know what you've seen in the popular media about cutting back, living within your means and being at home. I'm sure there's a lot more out there that I'm aware of. I don't buy magazines any more so things do pass me by. So tell me please, who is writing about what? I think we all have our favourite simple living blogs, so I'm not interested in blogs at the moment, what have you seen on TV, in newspapers and magazines? Please give us some links if you can so we can build up a point of reference that we can all read through as time allows.
Do you think, like I do, that the times they are a'chanin'? I have no doubt that when the economy improves, many of the new frugalistas will go back to spending but I think there are millions of people now who have seen that the grass can be greener on the other side of the fence and when they have more money to spend, they may not be tempted back. I think a genuine change has happened, do you?
I remember back a couple of years ago when I heard a report about climate change and peak oil on the 6pm news. Well, that nearly flattened me. I was so surprised that the report was on, I called Hanno to see it. He probably thought I was a bit mad but there it was, what we'd been talking about for so long but in all that time I'd never heard one word of it on the mainstream media. Ha!, I thought, fancy that, never dreaming those reports would become commonplace in just a few short months.
And now on Oprah, I find that back in January an article called: Back to Basics, Living with Voluntary Simplicity. was featured in the O magazine. Far out! That is about as close to middle America as you can get. And in February she did a TV program on What can you live without?, in March, she did another on Simplify your Life. I mean no disrespect but America was the last major player to arrive at this change; European countries and some of the Commonwealth countries - Canada, NZ, Australia had been working towards cutting back, simplifying, gardening etc, well before the US, en masse, saw the need. However, I have always believed that without America, any change it would be short lived. The amount of wealth in America, coupled with the potential to spend it, as well as the amount of energy consumed there, made it imperative that the US saw the need for change as well. And it took the economic crisis to bring that change to the people.
Those of us who have lived this way for a few years would know that five years ago, the only literary references to living a simple life were in books and blogs. Now there are magazines and TV programs and all sorts of references in popular culture. I know mainstream media don't lead, they are followers, so it's very heartening to know they now providing what their audiences are asking for - more information about living more simply.
I'd be interested to know what you've seen in the popular media about cutting back, living within your means and being at home. I'm sure there's a lot more out there that I'm aware of. I don't buy magazines any more so things do pass me by. So tell me please, who is writing about what? I think we all have our favourite simple living blogs, so I'm not interested in blogs at the moment, what have you seen on TV, in newspapers and magazines? Please give us some links if you can so we can build up a point of reference that we can all read through as time allows.
Do you think, like I do, that the times they are a'chanin'? I have no doubt that when the economy improves, many of the new frugalistas will go back to spending but I think there are millions of people now who have seen that the grass can be greener on the other side of the fence and when they have more money to spend, they may not be tempted back. I think a genuine change has happened, do you?
