Simplicity Institute: Living Simply

[♥RÉĎRËÅMÊR♥]

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Description: Hard to describe this resource one has to read it.

http://simplicityinstitute.org/our-mission

The Simplicity Institute’s current multi-national research project is to provide the most extensive sociological examination of those individuals and communities around the world who are voluntarily embracing ‘post-consumerist’ lifestyles of reduced or restrained income and consumption.

Directed toward the affluent societies of the developed world, it is our governing hypothesis that such post-consumerist lifestyles will be a necessary part of any transition to a sustainable, just, and flourishing human society. Accordingly, gaining some insight into who these individuals and communities are, how they are living, and what prospects they have for bringing about significant cultural and structural change, is a matter of the utmost importance.

“It is our governing hypothesis that such post-consumerist lifestyles will be a necessary part of any transition to a sustainable, just, and flourishing human society”

Furthermore, by developing an understanding of the challenges people face when embracing post-consumerist lifestyles, we will be better able to develop policy proposals for the purpose of facilitating the transition to a world of sustainable consumption.

I am not sure i agree with a lot of the 'language' in this... *sustainable consumption* being quite the oxymoron but it is a worth while read nonetheless.

To check it out, rate it or add comments, visit Simplicity Institute: Living Simply
The comments you make there will appear in the posts below.

[Synergy]

Sustainable consumption, well any way you look at it we are going to consume , there are vast differences in the impacts of how people consume though. As low end consumers some of the African countries are compared to here , they have still desertified their land and I was astounded that they had an ample aquifer under desertified regions . You find the odd example of a consumer who may even be a moderately high level consumer , for example Sepp Holzer , who actually creates far more than they consume or at least a few of the permaculture specialists seem to me to be capable of that . Certainly how we consume here can be undertaken at more sustainable levels . While that is all common sense , I have not quite figured out why three people would create their own nonprofit organization . In theory their research looks like it stems from common sense hypothesizing ( I never came across any new revelation so far on that site ) , all of which we do here and we share it , there is no need for a nonprofit organization, unless you engage in profitable work producing reports and studies for the government say that you don't want taxed?

Does the existance of their organization encourage simplicity or is it another cog in the wheel ?

[Ludi]

I haven't managed to get to the simple part of living simply.....growing food, just one aspect of a "simple" life, is challenging and can be complex. Reading about folks raising dairy animals and making cheese seems anything but "simple" to me! Forget about the challenges of making one's own clothing from, say, some flax plants or wool sheep...... I think I know what people want to mean when they use the phrase "the simple life" but...

"Simple" is driving to the store and buying a microwave dinner....or even simpler, ordering pizza delivery......

[Emeline]

Interesting site.

[♥RÉĎRËÅMÊR♥]

I mean sustainable people might be better than sustainable 'consumers' somehow the whole corporate language married to 'sustainable' seems wrong.

I am MORE than a consumer... that puts the whole thing from the pov of 'corporations' .... see what i mean?

[Loki]

I haven't managed to get to the simple part of living simply.....growing food, just one aspect of a "simple" life, is challenging and can be complex. Reading about folks raising dairy animals and making cheese seems anything but "simple" to me! Forget about the challenges of making one's own clothing from, say, some flax plants or wool sheep...... I think I know what people want to mean when they use the phrase "the simple life" but...

"Simple" is driving to the store and buying a microwave dinner....or even simpler, ordering pizza delivery......

I agree "simple" is a poor choice of words for self-sufficiency, which is ridiculously complicated and time consuming.

It's really just a euphemism for poor. "Voluntary poverty" is another term that we don't see much these days. Not so much marketing mojo, I suppose, but I think it encompasses the reality of living a relatively self-sufficient life better than "voluntary simplicity."

[Synergy]

Everyone is more than a consumer , the descriptives are countless , regardless we are still consumers . We can make more or less thoughtful choices how we consume though.

Good grief you nailed that one Ludi, simple is maybe not the right word : )

[spacecase0]

I see sustainable living as less or no outsourcing, but that is not simple,
simple is living in an insane asylum where everything is done for you (everything outsourced).