I was looking through a pile of green magazines and clippings and came across some things about “simple living.” I have mixed feelings about that whole movement because it’s so much a product of, and dependent on, privileged Western economies. But I started writing in an anticonsumerism vein in my very first book, because there’s no doubt that a lot of the environmental crises we face could be solved by an approach to material goods very much along the lines of the weight loss approach proposed in the bestselling French Women Don’t Get Fat: Appreciate what we have, choose new things for their beauty and utility, find more rewarding and healthy ways to spend free time (rather than shopping), and be creative.

If you’d like to explore this topic, there are endless resources online. They vary a great deal, but they all seem to have the oh-so-worthy-and-more-enlightened-than-thou attitude I find so off-putting. The Simple Living Network amused me by suggesting I start with their “Web of Simplicity” section where, it turns out, all the information has to be added to my shopping cart–nothing is free! ($50 in publications on that page alone.)

One organization worth checking out is the Center for a New American Dream.