I read somewhere that if everyone on the planet were to live as we do in the United States, consuming and disposing as we do, that it would take the resources of five planets to support us.  The last time I checked, we only have one.  This suggests to me that we in the U.S. need to learn to live differently.  We must take the warnings more seriously.  It does not serve us globally and it certainly isn’t working for us personally to continue living as we do.  Our lives now are not better and we have to be willing to admit that and begin to change.   An alternative to our current materialism is the voluntary simplicity movement.  It isn’t just about living with less or taking better care of the environment (although, it is about those things as well), but rather about living consciously, deliberately and thoughtfully.  It is about being satisfied, rather than merely pacified, and wanting what you have.  It is about living the good life.  

© Salahub 2003