Voluntary Simpleton

Buy Nothing Day

2006-11-23T11:28:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, 24 November is International Buy Nothing Day.
It really gets most support in Canada and the U.S. In the latter, today is Thanksgiving and tomorrow one of the biggest shopping days of the year. The juxtaposition of the two is interesting.
I have come to understand that learning to be grateful for what we have - no matter how little - is the secret of true happiness and the ability to show gratitude and give thanks for one's life and the people in it is a great blessing.
It is such a pity that in our culture holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas have been hijacked by commerce and people feel that unless they spend a lot of money they are not showing true love or care for those nearest to them. It is particularly difficult for those who have children and do not wish to deny them the expensive toys that their offspring have been manipulated into wanting by the manufacturers.
I am feeling the pressure too from my family who really do go overboard at this time of year and who seem to think that the bigger the heap of presents under the tree on 25 December the better a Christmas it must be. To show any lack of enthusiasm for this consumerist feeding frenzy is to be likened to Ebenezer Scrooge. I am not a christian but I can only commiserate with those christians who lament that the true message of Christmas is lost.
Still, while it is good to give presents as tokens of our love to our nearest and dearest, it is more important to show that love all the year round in moral as well as financial support. The consumerist orgy that we indulge in pretty much nearly 365 days a year is putting us all in peril - including those to whom we wish to demonstrate our devotion.
Do something really nice and really necessary for someone you love tomorrow and buy them nothing.

Meat and the emotions

2006-11-16T10:42:00.000-08:00

I was involved in a debate the other day with some people on vegetarianism. I was not being, I hope, in anyway judgemental or pushy about my own refusal to eat animal products but I noted there was a distinctly hostile emotional reaction by a couple of the carnivores to my decision to avoid meat and dairy. I was a bit taken aback.

Eating meat has a particular significance for men in many societies. It would appear that meat is associated with virility and not eating meat is considered, in some circles, unmanly.

I think some people also feel they are made to look uncaring or morally inferior for eating meat and so react dismissively to any suggestion that eating meat is not a good thing to do.

To be honest though, I think most of the hostile reaction come from guilt. I think most people know that meat, dairy and egg production causes massive suffering, ill-health and environmental damage. However, they love the taste of meat and cheese etc. so much that they prefer to shut that reality from their minds. The last thing they want is to be reminded that the lovely food they enjoy is bought at a cost to others and, ultimately, to their own health. We all like to tell ourselves that we are not selfish and uncaring but we all know (or should know) that our indulgence in certain foods often has terrible consequences for other beings.

I think, in a way, for some people meat is like a kind of drug. They know that eating it is not good but what the hell, it tastes soooo good - bugger the consequences!

River Cottage again

2006-11-09T13:23:00.000-08:00

Just saw the 2nd episode of the River Cottage Treatment. It is one of the best food shows I've ever seen - even though it contains no recipes or how-tos. This week's bunch of ready-meal addicts get not only to learn to cook but to see how a couple of sheep they have helped look after are slaughtered on a visit to an abattoir.

This is very interesting stuff. Not only has the show identified the problem that people are distanced from their food and need to understand where it comes from, how it lived and died as well as how to prepare it. I especially like the way in which they go into supermarkets and disparage the crap supermarkets sell. The show also points out how the same dishes can be made from organic produce for the same or less money than the additive-ridden slop that appears in microwave ready meals.

In this week's episode those taking part actually and I think genuinely understood that cooking was a joy not a chore and that cheap pre-prepared meals are nasty and harmful for everybody concerned (except perhaps the manufacturers). What was especially good to see was one person - a month after appearing on the show - having resolved to avoid eating meat now that she knew how it was reared and killed.

Interesting TV series

2006-11-08T12:32:00.000-08:00

Channel 4 here in the UK is showing an interesting food series at the moment. I caught last week's episode on YouTube (proabably illegally and so it won't be there for long). It's called The River Cottage Treatment and is hosted by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall. He's a chef and advocate for organic and real food. He invites each week a group of fast/convenience food addicts to his farm and teaches them to cook and appreciate real food. It's on Thursdays at 8pm.

He also takes them to a factory farm and lets them see how the cheap chicken they eat is produced. Of course they had never seen or never even stopped to consider where they meat they eat comes from or why it is so cheap (apparently the factory farmers make only 3p a head on each chicken!). They also kill a (fully-grown, organically reared) chicken, pluck cook and eat all of it. This last is yuk but at least they are aware of the full process of how the food they eat is produced.
Hugh FW is a convinced carnivore but refuses to eat factory farmed meat - which, if you gotta eat meat, is the only way to do it, in my book. It is also interesting that a TV chef is actually going against the big supermarkets - one scene has him wandering around appalled at the cheap and nasty food gunk for sale in his local big store.

Interestingly too, he emphasises the using of every part of a plant or an animal that is edible - it's a great money saving tip and a way to make organic produce more affordable. it's amazing though how resistant some of the people on the show were to eating fresh vegetables - they probably had never actually tasted real food and where addicted to the chemical flavours of junk food. I wonder it'll make anyone watching think or have any effect on sales in the supermarkets?

Quarterly Accounts

2006-11-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

For the last 3 months I have been keeping tabs on what I spend. Today, I am trying to look at what I have spent. From just a brief analysis of what I squandered money on, here's a rough breakdown:

Total Spent: £2062.19
Rent: £1260.00 (c.60% of the total)
Bus Fares: 197.40 (nearly 10% of the total)
Broadband: £74.97
Calls: £51.00
Organic goods: £43.70
Electricity: £40.00
2nd hand goods: £19.78
Fairtrade goods: £17.30

Well, the above suggests a few things that I could help organise my finances. First, might be find somewhere cheaper to live. Second might be to get rid of the phone - I don't use it very often. Third, would be to get off my butt and start cycling more to work. It'll be interesting to see how next quarter's figure tot up - especially since Christmas is coming soon.

No hope for fat kids

2006-10-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

I heard a thing tonight on the local news that depresses me. Following a very public campaign by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, schools in the UK started to make a concerted effort to cut out junk food and actually start spending money on decent grub for school kids. At last, I thought, we are trying to do something to do combat childhood obesity and bad eating habits.
And are the little buggers grateful? Not a chance!
Some schools have lost up to a third of their children who had previously eaten schools dinners and who now go off to fast food outlets to get their saturated fat fixes. There had been reports in England of doting parents passing chips and doughnuts to their health averse offspring through school railings.
Since taking up my current simple living kick I thought seriously about my diet - for reasons of my own health and the effects of what I consume on others and the planet in general. I have become more and more convinced that the most sustainable and ethical diet I can adopt is a vegan one.
I think that it is a viable diet for most people and a general adoption of it would help a range of social and ecological problems. However, with news like that above, I wonder if I am on a road to nowhere. Are people in general, and especially young people, so shortsighted and focussed on personal gratification that they are unable to adopt new habits that will benefit themselves most of all?

The Politics of Voluntary Simplicity

2006-10-22T02:51:00.000-07:00

I have been kicking around the idea for a while of whether living a simple life is enough. I have lived simply in one way or another for several years but, until recently, have not really seriously tried to distil the reasons for what I am doing into a cogent philosophy. Here's what I have come up with so far:

Taking responsibility: I suppose from the the standpoint of moral philosphy I am a consequentialist because I believe it is important to be aware of and take responsibility for the harm one actions may do - whether to people, animals or the environment. A simple life therefore means minimising suffering to others even at the cost of some added inconvenience to oneself.
Promoting health: A concern for staying healthy is important for everyone - but often our desires lead us to do things that although short-term are enjoyable will, if over-indulged, will harm our quality of life. Simple living, for me, involves eating better, perhaps eating less and getting more exercise.
Independence: We are told that we must have or do so many things to live a meaningful life by those who wish to sell us these things. In order to get these unnecessary things we sell our time and energy for money. However if we see through the marketing hype we realise we do not need to buy into other people's ideas of what constitutes a good life. Free from the desire to possess these lifestyle objects we see we need less money and so we can afford to sell less of our time and energy.
A more informed life: Living simply means you have to know more about what impact your life has on everything around you. You need to educate and inform yourself about issues you may never have considered before. You spend less time living a fantasy fuelled by your own desire and media marketing.
Appreciating life: With more time and more emphasis on see the world as it is that comes with living a simpler life one also comes to appreciate what one has. If your life is spent chasing a dream, living for the future instead of in the present, life can slip buy without ever having been truly lived. Living simply is a decision not to put life on hold.

The above is all fine and dandy but my question is - is it enough?
We live at a time where consumption has put the whole planet at risk and I would go as far as to say that simplifying one's life is no longer a just an option for individuals but an imperative for the whole of society if we wish to avoid the collapse our entire civilisation.
On a individual level, a person living the simple has very little impact on the factors which are leading us into the possible social chaos that global warming and other phenomena will bring. Simple living needs to become a popular movement - not just because it is the best way to live but to salvage our future as a society.
Voluntary Simplicity is no longer just a personal issue but a political one. My thinking on my own motivation is clear enough now that I can try to communicate it to others. There is already a a growing understanding that we need to change our consumption patterns and reign in the power of transnational corportations if things are not to get very ugly in the future. I think I should turn my attention to trying to persuade others of the benefit simple living.
The question is how?

Eating Simply II

2006-10-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

So what does eating simply involve in my humble opinion? Well it may well differ for you but here are my ideas:

Inform yourself about what you eat: This might seem obvious but many people just eat what they like (hence the high rates of obesity, heart disease and food-related cancers in the UK ). Find out what is good for you and what is not. Be interested in what you eat.
Avoid processed foods as much as possible: Get your food in its most basic forms. The less processing has gone into it the fewer nasties such as preservatives, artificial colours, hydrogenated fats, added salt, added sugar etc. will be found in it. Generally, processed foods are heavily packaged, avoiding them will cut down on waste too.
Buy organic: Cut out the amount of pesticides and other chemicals that end up in your food because of industrialised farming processes. Sure it costs more, but the food value is higher and the flavour is much better.
Buy local: It will be fresher, support your local economy and be better for the environment. Supermarkets will fly in produce from the other side of the world that can be grown locally in order to sell it more cheaply. This is a false economy. Exotic foods might be a nice treat but make them an occasional one. You might even consider growing your own.
Eat seasonal produce: Learn what food is available when and try to eat with the seasons. Buying out-of-season food is a luxury that our environment cannot sustain much longer. When I lived in Italy many years ago I remember that people would simply not buy vegetables out of season. It was idiomatic that they would be no good.
Learn to cook: This is perhaps the most important step. Ready meals and convenience foods have separated us from the food we eat. Many people rarely see their food in its basic form anymore. And if they did they would be at a loss how to deal with it. We need to reconnect with our food again and take control of how it is prepared. Be creative with food - a producer of fine cuisine rather than a consumer of unhealthy slop.
Eat fairly-traded foodstuffs: Most of the tea, coffee, chocolate, bananas and other tropical fruits are cheap for us because of the exploitation of workers in the third world. Do not let your addiction to coffee or chocolate or whatever be at the expense of someone else's standard of living.
Eat sensibly: It goes without saying that health benefits of a simple diet will be lost if you overeat or do not eat a balanced diet.
Cut out or cut down on meat: It takes 100kg of vegetable protein to produce 9kg of meat protein. The area of ground it takes to feed one carnivore will feed twenty vegans. We could feed the world easily if we gave up less than half of the meat consumption of the developed world. One could also add the terrible conditions for animals endemic to factory farming, the chemicals deleterious to health and the environmental damage. Meat production is a miserable business. Dairy and egg production are no better.
Buy Quality: Don't go for cheap all the time. Cheap food is usually less good for you, the environment and the producer. I think it is important to try to spend less on many things but not on food.

Eating Simply

2006-10-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

One thing I've noticed wth regard to trying to live simply is how much of my thought and practice of simple living revolves around food. For other things I consume, there are few choices. For travel, I can only go on foot, by bike or public transport (I don't know how to drive in any case). For clothes, I generally try to get as much as possible second hand and avoid cheap clothes from chain stores. Books, I try to always buy second hand too. I've gotten my electricity switched over to eco-friendly sources and am working on getting my house better insulated and energy efficient. All of these things are relatively easy and actually cost less than the full-fat alternatives.

Food, however, is a different matter. I reckon I spend more on food than I ever have before. Granted I have been a veggie for many years and so spent less on food than full-blown carnivores but my insistence on trying to eat organic, avoiding supermarkets and processed food is costing more. But that is as it should be. We should spend more on food. Especially in the UK, we care in general less about the quality of our food than in continental Europe. Consequently we have the highest obesity rate in Europe. In some towns in Northern England one third of adults are obese and overall the figure is one quarter. We could be looking in the coming decades at the first decrease in life expentancy in 200 years!

Changing peoples attitude to food I think would go a long way to creating a shift in other areas that we need to make if we are going to survive global warming and alleviate global poverty. The topic of food impacts in so many ways: personal and public health, the environment, animal rights, social justice. Even without adopting a vegan diet as (arguably) an optimum diet for healthy and ethical living people should at least care about the quality of the food they eat. Factory-farmed food is poor-quality food. Convenience ready-meals are also generally made from poor-quality ingredients. Processed food stuffs are generally not made from the best ingredients - or why would you need to process them?

Cookery programmes are common fare on our TVs but it is usually mostly just gastro-porn - like consumers of pornography, people who watch it just like watching it but rarely get to do it for real themselves. Maybe one of these campaigning celebrity cooks like Jamie Oliver or Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall should take up the cause of the horrendous eating habits we indulge in and the terrible consequences for it. Not many supermarket product spin-offs though in that.

Voluntary Simplicity- it's a whole other world

2006-10-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

I've blogged before about the perceived weirdness of trying to live a simple live- especially in an urban environment but as I get deeper into my commitment to try to live as ethically, healthily and consciously as I can, I feel as if I am moving into another world. Mostly it has to do with my motivation, many people can see something in it but nearly nobody I know would care enough to try to do some of the things I do.
Refusing to eat meat, refusing to shop in supermarkets, insisting on paying more for food to ensure it organic or fairly-traded or - worst of all - refusing to watch television. But there is a little subculture out there of cranks and weirdos all trying to break free from the consumerist nightmare. It is still possible, if you are diligent, to live outside of the ambit of corporate influence but it is a life very different from the mainstream.
I can see my life becoming more engrossed in this new way of thinking. Maybe working less and living on even less but living a life rich in ideas and in control of the humble necessities of what I eat, what I wear, where I live and how I make my living. Not many people have control in all or even any of these areas of their lives so that the few who are seem strange and possibly dangerous. Voluntary Simplicity is, surprisingly and shamefully, almost an act of civil disobedience. Our society is so centred on the notion of consuming that to wilfully opt out can be likened to entering the cloister.
As someone who spent a couple of years as a Buddhist monk there is nothing new to me about adopt a lifestyle that seems to run contrary to the mainstream but it is also strange to live such an existence at large in the world. I wonder how many other people trying to live the simple life find this strange sense of detachment?

Taking the red pill

2006-10-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

In the last few months in which I have been stumbling towards a new way to live my life I have been struggling to put into words what sort of life it is I want to live. I've been looking through the posts I've written and a theme I think that comes up again and again is the necessity not just to live simply but consciously. Voluntary simplicity is an integral part of living a conscious life but not all of it.

There are many factors in our society which wish to influence us to do things that are not good for us as individuals and for wider society. Don't get me wrong, I do not believe in a conspiracy just that in a capitalist society there are business, media and political forces who are forever trying to get one to live a life that suits them - to turn one into a passive consumer instead of an autonomous individual. It is the nature of the beast.

The more I have seen of the way we are sedated by television, socially acceptable (and illegally available) drugs, cheap goods with which to amuse ourselves while other human beings are exploited to make our consumer goods, animals forced to live hellish existences and the countryside poisoned to provide us with cheap food, and our entire plant rapidly approaching a point of no return that will see the quality of life of future generations seriously impaired, I am not longer able to distract myself with what the consumer society offers.

We are drugged by the comforts of our lives and do not see the harm our comfortable lives do to others and to ourselves. Somewhere along the way I, like Neo in the Matrix, seem to have swallowed the red pill and cannot go back to sleep. I think most people who are turning to a life of voluntary simplicity these days are no different. We should be awake to what we do. We muddle along in a selfish dream concerned only with fulfilling a fantasy given to us by people who do not have our best interests (or indeed their own) at heart. It is no way to live.

I found myself weeping...

2006-10-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

Maybe I am getting sentimental in my old age but I came across something that made me cry involuntarily during the week. It was to do with the terrible murders of Amish school girls in Lancaster county in the US.

It was not the senseless waste of five innocent lives by a poor, twisted individual, tragic and worthy of tears although that is, it was the story that members of Amish community had opened an account and were requesting donations from within their community for the family of the murderer.

Although the Amish live a form of voluntary simplicity there are probably many aspects of Anabaptist belief which I would not agree with (their rejection of technology, for example) but this act shows that some of them at least have a clear perspective and an admirable understanding of what is really important. Rather than using this tragedy to reject others and justify revenge, they used their own suffering to connect with and reach out to the suffering of others. Whatever religious or secular belief system you hold, if it cannot do this it is not worth following.

I found myself weeping with gratitude that such people exist in the world.

Buying Strategies

2006-10-01T04:28:00.000-07:00

This follows on from the last post. Marketing is a way to get us to buy stuff we usually do not need. I am going to suggest a form of "counter marketing", a series of buying strategies that are designed to encourage conscious consuming and a means of undermining the sales strategies that corporations and big retailers engage in - to the detriment of us all.

Think Small - Try wherever you can to avoid big chains and supermarkets. Use small local retailers. Refuse to use huge retailers on principle - or at least as little as you can. It may cost more sometimes but you are getting more back in value for your community and environment.
Buy Local - Try your best to get what you buy produced as locally to you as possible. Buy seasonal produce. Cut down on exotic products that have to be shipped vast distances. Support producers in your local community.
Buy Second-Hand - There are many, many charity shops in every town in the UK and Ireland. It may take a little more work but you can be sure that buying 2nd-hand books, clothes, furniture, kitchen wares is a winner all-round. It cuts down on waste, the profits are used to benefit society, you know that the producer (the person who donated the goods) is not exploited in its production.
Shop for Value - buy with an eye to longevity and repairability. Don't fall into the trap of being cheap and buying often.
Shop Less Often - Plan and think about your shopping. Buy in bulk if you can. It is usually cheaper. The most important thing is to think about what you need and leave yourself less open to impulse buying. It is also a big time saver.
Buy More Basic Goods - Especially where food is concerned, buy basic ingredients and fewer processed and "convenience" goods. If you can make your own clothes or travel under your own steam - this too provides a means of shopping at a more basic level.
Boycott - Simply do not buy products (or from retailers) who do not do meet your ethical standards. The growth in the market for Fairtrade coffee is due to a growing boycott of unfairly-traded brands.
Buy nothing day - Set aside one day a week or even one day a month when you will not buy anything. And if you can do it for one day, see if you can do it for two. You can plan your purchases so you do not need to consume every day.
Chart your own consumption - Do what the marketers do! Keep tabs on how much and what you spend stuff on. Look at what were impulse buys and what is stuff you actually needed. Know your own consumption patterns and see what you can do buy less and buy more wisely.

In order to live simple, in my opinion, you need to take responsibility for your consumption. You need to consume consciously and not let producers push stuff onto you. You need to dictate what you consume and not let others decide (by whatever means) what you should be buying.

Countering Marketing

2006-10-01T02:31:00.000-07:00

What marketing segment do you belong to? According to the VALS market analysis system invented by the Stanford Research Institute there are 8 social/personality types which are convenient market archetypes. Most simple livers would belong I guess to the market segment called Makers who "unimpressed with material goods" and "buy basic goods". There is also something of the Thinker in the typical simple liver as they looking for "functionality, durability and value", and possibly something of the Survivor who are "cautious consumers".

The premise behind this and other market research systems is that we all have values and needs which can be identified and used as the basis to sell us stuff. I have already talked about another market segment LOHAS (lifestyles of health and sustainability) which marketers have identified as a target. I thought I would like put forward a few ideas about how to foil marketers and make your purchases conscious rather than automatic response to marketing stimuli.

A few basic ideas:

Possessions don't bring happiness - This is the foundation of simple living. An understanding that whatever you acquire can only serve a limited purpose.
Buying is a moral act - All marketing is aimed at the individual - it's about convincing you that your personal satisfaction is the most important thing at this minute and a certain product can provide that. But everything you purchase has consequences and implications for the producer and for the environment and society at large. Bearing this in mind, you will question every penny you spend.
Inform yourself about marketing and sales techniques - if you know how a con trick works you will not be fooled by it. Marketing is a con trick. It attempts to persuade you that a product can do more for you than it actually can. The internet has all the information you need.
Buy less - No matter whether marketers are trying to sell you cheap goods in quantity or make you spend more on higher quality goods, foster the determination to buy less - you actually need less than you think. The first question about any purchase should always be "Do I actually need this?". The aim of marketing is always to get you to buy more even if you don't need it and the best thing you can do to counter it, is simply buy less.
Cut out the propaganda - Advertising comes into our lives in all sorts ways. You can't avoid it. But you can do some things. Ban the TV - even if only from certain rooms in the house or at certain times of the day. It is the main way we receive marketing messages.

We live in a market economy, we need to buy stuff and I suppose we need people to tell us about new products and ideas. What we need though is a shift in the balance where we make conscious decisions about they way we consume and what producers provide.

Are we screwed, then?

2006-09-30T05:04:00.000-07:00

I have just watched a series of interesting documentaries by Adam Curtis called The Century of the Self (4 hour long episodes orginally broadcast on BBC2 now available on Google Video). They look at the rise of Marketing and Public Relations - principally based on the work of Sigmund Freud's nephew Edward Bernays.

The thrust of the programmes is that though the development of psychological techniques for marketing Big Business has radically changed the social outlook of Western society. Rather than selling us what we need, our most basic desires can be explored and products produced to meet them - and, of course, our desires can be aroused too so that we are more open to the marketers' message.

We are reduced from citizens to consumers kept under control by inflaming our desires through advertising and then providing the material means of (temporarily) satisfying them. It is a modern version of the Roman policy of panem et circenses - bread and circuses - bemoaned by the poet Juvenal.

I've been wondering recently, after having seen An Inconvenient Truth, if we will be able to make the paradigm shift, the change of societal mindset, necessary to meet the challenge of combating the effects of global warming. To be honest, I am not optimistic. Bernays and his followers have helped form a society where the vast majority are primarily concerned with convenience, personal comfort and short-term gratification.

Are we screwed, then? I am in my early forties so I don't think that I will live to see the very worst effects of global warming in my part of the world. As its effects become ever more apparent, more, of course, will be down to help slow down the process - but it may well be too late. I have a couple of neices, both toddlers, and I wonder what the world will be like when they are old ladies. Warmer, more fractious and a lot more dangerous, I suspect.

An Inconvenient Truth II

2006-09-26T12:25:00.000-07:00

I finally got to see Gore's movie after work today. It's very good. Al Gore is a first-rate orator and the PowerPoint presentation around which the film is based is pretty impressively put together. For someone who has had an interest in global warming, a lot of what he says is not new but it is perhaps more persuasively put than I have seen it before. A really powerful use of graphics - and even graphs and bar charts which will often kill a presentation.

I found the last quarter of the movie the most inspiring - and that was what it was intended to do. It is a call for action and a mass movement to get politicians to put voters concerns before those of big business. However there were only a dozen or so people in the theater. I suspect, unfortunately, that Gore is doing most of his preaching to the choir - but maybe he can inspire some of the choir to do their own preaching.

One other funny thing happened today - I got a phone call from a TV chat show researcher who has seen the blog and asking if I would come on the show in London on Thursday. I said OK but I would not fly. They seemed to think that making me go overland would be too much and so demured. The show was a afternoon popular (as opposed to highbrow) debate about branding. I don't really think I understand why anyone is stupid enough to spend a fortune on certain brands and probably could not have contributed much more than this in any case. I don't think they would have been really interested in the real reasons for people living the simple life. The show's producer is Endemol who make the ghastly Big Brother here in the UK.

And, in any case, I don't even own a television!

An Inconvenient Truth

2006-09-24T04:27:00.000-07:00

Al Gore's climate change movie, An Inconvenient Truth, finally hits Belfast this weekend. It's much anticipated and the local press and radio has been trotting out local pundits on the pro and con side of the global warming argument. I haven't seen it as yet but intend to go during the coming week.

I am at a loss though to understand the vehemence with which commentators have opposed the climate change arguments put forth by Gore et al. Certainly, there are oil (and other fossil fuel) company goons who are paid to foster doubt on these issues but there are others - perhaps just political conservatives - who disbelieve the evidence just because it comes from the mouth of Al and any other liberal/left-of-centre figures.

The American neo-conservative group Project for a New American Century in an infamous paper Rebuilding America's Defenses have said that a catalysing event, a "new Pearl Harbour", will be needed to build public support behind its (corporatist and colonialist) agenda. Some conspiracy theorists see this event as being the 9/11 attack and an "inside job" by neo-conservative elements. I think that a similar paradigm shift is needed to wake people up to the reality of man-made climate change. In some respects the "new Pearl Harbour" of the left was the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans in 2005. But there will be other disasters that do not need to be organised by shadowy political or religious organisation. Just how many will there be before we can really get the leaders of the right to start worrying for the future of their own children?

I hope that the growing reality of climate change will also bring about a rethink in world politics. I hope people will soon see that it is due to effects policies that play to corporate interests that natural disasters are increasing in intensity and the fragile ecology of the planet (and some say even the human race as a whole) is threatened. Indeed such a paradigm shift has got to happen but just how long it will take and at what price will be paid for delay?

More Philanthropy

2006-09-23T10:15:00.001-07:00

It was announced this week that the British billionaire Richard Branson has decided to donate all of the profits from the travel companies in his Virgin Group to research into sustainable energy and global warming over the next 10 years.

In many ways this is indeed great news - big business is waking up to the fact that oil is running out and trend for dirt cheap flights is destroying the planet. Branson has even gone as far as saying that short haul flights should be phased out where a train service existed. Branson's move will mean something around $3 billion dollars going into research into green airline fuel.

Branson is of course to be commended - I certainly could not see that awful gobshite Michael O'Leary of Ryanair doing anything as farsighted. But will he actually cut the number of short flights? We have got to cut down on these inexpensive short hop journeys. Branson, since he also owns a train company, will not lose out as much as some of the other low-cost airline bosses if the market is curtailed.

Personally, I think the day of low-cost flights is nearing its end - the reason is not of course that people are waking up to the tons of CO2 they pump into the atmosphere, but to the fact that oil will become so expensive over the next few years that flying will once again become an occasional luxury rather than as cheap as taking the bus. Unless, of course Branson comes up with the goods and some kind of "bio-kerosene" will fuel airplanes in the next decade.

A couple of interesting sites

2006-09-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

Listening to the local radio news during the week I was pointed to a couple of interesting websites. despite my recent whinging about the lack of ethical programming around I do think that my local BBC station - Radio Ulster - does do a pretty good job with covering ethical issues.

The first site I came across was travelwiseni.com - a website that promotes carpooling in Northern Ireland. The idea is that people cooperate with neighbours to drive into and from work. The passengers share the fuel costs and it means there are fewer cars on the road and it costs all involved less. The show mentioned that 48% of people who drive to work do not need their car for their job. I know from cycling into work that the vast majority of cars that pass me only contain the driver. I mentioned to a colleague at work who has to pay a lot to park while he is at work that he could carshare or at least take the bus. He agreed that it would be cheaper and probably would take less time to get to work but he just couldn't give up the convenience of his own transport. It gives rise to the question of how expensive is fuel going to get before people can be weaned off their comfy automobiles into more environmentally-friendly modes of transport?

The other site that piqued my interest is entitled Food4thought - a site promoted by the British Heart Foundation. It is aimed at children and early teens. It offers basic information on the content of junk food and even suggests healthy recipes for kids to make themselves. I think this last item is very important - until people begin to care what they eat and to cook for themselves again, health problems in families and obesity in the young will not abate.

Among the interesting statistics that the site puts forward is that anyone who consumes one standard 50g bag of crisps a day will have consumed 4 1/2 litres of cooking oil over a one year period - yeuuuchh! Great promotional image too!!

Political Will

2006-09-17T05:33:00.000-07:00

I was writing yesterday about the poor health of the less well-off here in parts of Belfast and the near impossibility of changing peoples attitudes to what they eat and consume generally. Thinking it over I realise how badly served we are by the political class in Northern Ireland (and I'm not just talking about politicians but political journalists too). Everything is reduced to fighting for tribal territory, community identity and all of that. And what is absurd is that in the end it does not matter a damn - any of it. Yet, parity of esteem, cultural recognition and so and so forth are what elections around here are fought on.

The Green Party is seen as a joke. Maybe it is, I have not lived back in Northern Ireland long enough to really see if that is the case but I am probably going to vote for them in the next election simply because no other party seems to be concerned with things like global warming, community health, erosion of the economic base by multi-nationals and the other issues I think are pressing.

In times gone past, people of a left-wing political persuasion protested that N.I. politics furthered tribal warfare when it should have been involved in class warfare. And indeed, there is truth in it - the poor of both communities were being shat upon in identical fashion. In the last few years the 'Troubles' have thankfully finally petered out and Belfast is a fairly normal place with only the kind of problems you'd find in any other regional large town in the UK or Ireland. Why then have the politicians not moved on? Why is the same sectarian tripe still being trotted out? Is it not time we began to force our politicians to rethink their priorities and look at what really matters? A united Ireland or a strengthened union with the UK will be the last of our worries if we cannot get global warming, growing obesity rates or state-sponsored corporate power under control.

Changing Attitudes

2006-09-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

I came across an interesting tidbit of information on the radio this week. If you live in North or West Belfast you will, on average, die three years younger than if you you live in South or East Belfast. Tribal affiliation has nothing to do with this even though West and North Belfast are predominantly Nationalist and South and East predominantly Unionist. Though even this may be changing - South Belfast returned a Nationalist MP which shows a growing Nationalist population and West and North Belfast contain some significant Unionist enclaves.

No, the reason for this more likely has got something to do with class - East and South Belfast are home to the majority of the cities middle-class population. Notice I did not say that this problem is to do with poverty. Rather, the real cause of this is ignorance.

I've bemoaned before the fact that even the poorest in this city have enough to live a healthy life yet it is among the disadvantaged that smoking, alcoholism and obesity are highest. The St George's Market I wrote about last week is frequented nearly exclusively by the middle-classes from East and South Belfast and those recent immigrants who come from countries where the supermarket culture has not yet taken over and where people still buy their food from local growers. There are few or no members of the working classes of the North and West (or any other) quarters of the city. The immigrants (and perhaps even some of the middle-class shoppers) are not well-off, yet they care what food they eat and what is good for them.

Why does a whole section of our community (perhaps the majority - even the vast majority) no longer care what it eats or the harm that is done by overindulging (in food, alcohol or tobacco)? This is same in the UK and the US (although perhaps not in continental Europe so much). More inportantly, what will it actually take to wake people up to the fact that they are cutting years off their lives?

LOHAS and Voluntary Simplicity

2006-09-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

When surfing recently I came across term I had been heretofore unfamiliar with: LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability). This is a term used by some marketing people to refer to a (supposedly) growing sector of the population of who seek to live said lifestyles and who can therefore be sold stuff to.

In many ways this is positive in that there is a recognition by at least some members of the business community that there is a market for sustainable and healthy products and an understanding too I hope that such a "market sector" will demand business be done in a just and environmentally-conscious manner.

However, I wonder if this is also not a sign too of the way in which capitalism manages to turn even its enemies into a business opportunity. It seems if we are going to combat third world poverty, global warming and factory farming there has to be a viable way for somebody to make money out of the process.

A rejection of consumerism lies at the heart of my conception of voluntary simplicity. I hate the way in which mulitnational corporation and their lapdogs in government are trying to reduce us to automata who work all there hours there are to buy what we are told we should have. I hate too being lumped into a marketing sector - reduced from a citizen to a salesman's mark.

Maybe I am being hopelessly idealistic but I do not think social justice can really become a widespread phenomenon in all our lives while there is this widespread tendency to reduce people to mere consumers. I'd love to be considered as someone who marketing goons viewed as unreachable. Some chance!

St. George's Market

2006-09-09T07:45:00.000-07:00

I was down this morning at the Saturday "City Food and Garden Market" at St. George's Market on May St. in Belfast. It runs from c.9am to 3pm. If you haven't been, and you are in the area, it's really worth a visit. The atmosphere is so good. I bought some organic veg and fruit very cheaply - including some beautiful apples. More cheaply I reckon than the organic veg sold in the supermarkets - and you get to meet the people who grow the food you eat! I am going to do my weekly veg shop there every week.

They sell all sorts of stuff - not just veg but organic meat and locally-caught fish and seafood (if you have to eat meat and fish), Irish cheeses, olives and antipasti, all kinds of wonderful-looking bread and cakes, fair-trade teas and coffees and other fair-trade goods. There is plenty of space and lots of tables. There is even a tight little jazz band playing! Lots of people seem to come down and have breakfast before doing their Saturday shop. It's a real find!

Eco Energy

2006-09-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

I finally got myself converted over to eco energy. No, I have not built a windmill generator in the back garden or lined the roof of my house with solar cells (we don't get enough sun here to run a 40 watt light bulb!). I'd love to do all these things, and more, but the lack of technical know-how and the lack of cash for the substantial capital outlay for systems like these, means it remains a pipe-dream for the moment anyway.

There is an alternative though. Northern Ireland Electricity has an eco energy scheme in which you can choose to have your energy supplied by a wind farm rather than a coal-fired power station. I imagine what they actually do is simply buy more wind power and feed it into the grid to the amount of electricity you use. The great thing is that it costs the same as conventional dirty energy (11.02p per unit)

A common way to buy electricity in NI is via a keypad meter. You can buy a certain amount of electricity in advance from your local corner shop (say £5 or £10) you are given a 20-digit code which you enter into the keypad and it credits you the amount. The keypad is very handy also for telling you how much you electricity you use per day, week or even month (last month I used £13.45). You can even tell the amount of Kw being used at any given time and so work out how much your individual appliances use.

It costs nothing to sign up. If more people sign up to this they power companies will begin to get the message. If you live in NI, see www.nie.co.uk to change your energy use over.

Bike Update

2006-09-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

Well I finally did it. I finally cycled the 5 miles into and 5 miles back from work today - hopefully the start of a regular daily routine.

This may be mildly comical to seasoned simple livers and health enthusiasts but it is an important step for me in trying to live simply and ethically. Most of the things I embrace as an part of voluntarily simple life like vegetarianism, recycling, getting rid of the TV etc.are all things that have cost me little effort and I have done them on and off for years anyway. But, getting regular exercise and putting up with the discomfort of cycling (my backside is still somewhat tender as I write) is new to me. It is the first barrier I have come up against. The first time I've had to grit my teeth and refuse to give in.

Taking to the bike for me is a no-lose situation. I am a couple of stone overweight and chronically unfit. I am hoping the daily bike ride will help with that. I will be able to eliminate even the relatively small carbon debt I incur through taking public transport. Biking is free - no bus fare (which cost me c.£16.00 a week). The bike was a gift and l though I have had to buy some gear (helmet, rainsuit, puncture repare kit, lock etc.) for it, I will be able to recoup the money spent on that in a couple of week on bus fares saved.

Providing I can avoid getting myself run over, I will actually making a real lifestyle change instead of just talking about it.

Health

2006-09-06T11:51:00.000-07:00

My 94-year-old great-aunt is ill in hospital and probably has not long to go. She is very weak but lucid and in no pain. She has lived a long, healthy and independent life - living on her own until she was taken into hospital last week. She is an intelligent and religious woman and no doubt well-prepared for her end. If only we all could get the chance to live as long a healthy and independent life as she has.

My great-aunt has never smoked or drank. As a Presbyterian she no doubt has lived a quiet and ordered life. It really does seem to be the answer to living a long and healthy life.

Voluntary Simplicity, to my mind, presents an opportunity to live a healthier lifestyle. Just because you do not spend much money certainly does not mean you cannot eat well or get slack because you can't spend money on gym membership. Quite the opposite! I eat more healthily probably than most people I I know and now that I try to walk and bike wherever I go I certainly get more exercise than I ever did before.

Luckily too I live in a country where medical treatment is affordable and, indeed , largely free. I never have to worry about health insurance. Let's hope it stays that way.

People spend so much time ignoring and even abusing their health through smoking, overeating and substance abuse. It is a great blessing and a great form of wealth. No amount of material wealth can guarantee you health (although having money can go a long way to help you in extremis). Health is a great treasure - one that will be exhausted eventually. You will get sick and you will die no matter how rich you are. My great-aunt's life and current situation reminds me how precious health is for us all and how looking after it is more important than making money or indulgence in luxury.

Voluntary Simplicity and Charity

2006-09-03T03:13:00.000-07:00

One thing I have noticed and felt initially a little uneasy about in my own attempts to live a simpler life is that cutting down on what I spend and how much I am prepared to work to get more disposable income means that I have very little money to contribute to charity.

The generation of surplus income, it could be argued, could be used to benefit those less well-off or to help fund ecological or social justice programmes. Living a simple life could be interpreted as a bascially selfish endeavour wherein one makes sure one has enough for oneself (if even that is very little) and refuses to involve in a level of economic exchange that can also bring benefit to others.

There is something in this argument if indeed one uses simple living to merely cut one's dependency on society. However, I think that even though a person living a life of voluntary simplicity may indeed have less money to give to charity than they might otherwise if they engaged fully in the "rat race", I believe that choosing voluntary simplicity can been seen as an attempt to turn one's every act into an act of charity and a step in the direction towards reducing the need for charity in the world.

The world's second-richest man, Warren Buffet, has reported given away upwards of $37 billion of his $42 billion fortune to charity in June 2006 - the biggest charitable donation in history. I can only praise such a generous gesture - it will surely do a lot of good. But, I wonder if Mr. Buffet is really just salving his conscience. In accumulating so much wealth (through stockmarket investment) how much harm did he do? Is the charitiable work his donation will fund only undoing the effects of the injustices that the multinational capitalism that his investments fuelled have perpetrated? Without campaigning against the structures that allow injustice to flourish isn't charity only ever able to treat the symptoms and not the disease?

Simple living, for me, means living a life where the happiness of others is paramount. By actively seeking not to engage in the kind of behaviour that causes suffering to other beings I believe that one is doing better than making donations to charity. Why work within a system that causes injustice and suffering and then uses the profits of that system to try to allieviate suffering? Seems crazy to me!

More Ethical Programming

2006-09-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

This time the other sort of ethical programming. Information is the key to living an ethical life. Most of the world is cut off from the sources of information that most of us who live connected to the internet, and who use computers, take for granted.

Even if we could provide cheap new or recondition computers for those unable to afford them, the strangle hold that big software companies like Microsoft, Adobe and others hold on the market mean the poor would not be able to put any software on them.

However there is the growing FOSS (Free Open Source Software) movement providing software free and just as good as the commercially-produced stuff. Here are some links to the best open source or otherwise free software for Micro$oft Windows. Why put any more money in Bill Gates' pocket - apparently if he spent $1,000,000 a day it would still take him 120 years to go through his vast fortune!

Open Office - I use it all the time - really gives Microsoft Office a run for its money why pay hundreds of pounds when this does the same for nothing?
Firefox - Wouldn't surf the web with anything else.
Thunderbird - who needs Outlook Express?
Audacity - Record your own stuff in WAV, MP3 and even Ogg Vorbis quality!
HTMLKit - Best HTML editor on the planet.
The GIMP - a graphics manipulation program rivalling Photoshop.

Have a look at opensourcewindows.org for a long list of open source software for windows, opensourcemac.com for free Apple Mac software. And if you are using Linux then you probably know all about FOSS already.

Supermarket Secrets

2006-08-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

Bemoaning, as I was the other day, the lack of decent programming on ethical matters here in the UK and Ireland, I overlooked some excellent stuff: namely Channel Four's Dispatches programme. In particular, while looking around on Google Video, I came across two programmes on the food sold and produced for supermarkets here. You can find both by doing a search on Google Video for Supermarket Secrets (or follow the link).

I am a vegetarian but am I even more resolutely one after watching the first episode which is mainly given over to an expose of the factory-farmed chicken sold by all the big retailers in the UK. The second programme chronicles the suffering of other animals that make their ways onto supermarket shelves as well as the ludicrous standards that mean that up to 40% of the vegetables grown for sale in supermarkets is rejected by them because it does not look pretty enough. That figure is the same for the organic produce that the big supermarkets sell too.

Both shows are about 50 mins long so you'll need a reasonably good broadband connection to download them but they are excellent examples - backed up by academic studies and commentary - of excellent tv journalism on ethical issues.

Ethical Programming

2006-08-27T02:39:00.003-07:00

I have been despairing of the ethical programming that appears in the media here in the UK and Ireland. The number of programmes is small and often of poor quality.

The BBC Newsnight TV programme has had a series of reports in which one of its reporters tries to live an ethical life for one year. He is a nice guy with a young family but there is something is just a little too twee for my liking. He is almost a caricature of the educated, middle-class reasonably well-off guilt-driven ethical liver. He has a good job and can afford to invest in solar panels and a domestic wind-turbine. The whole tone of the reports is slightly jokey, focussing less on the issues than on the inconveniences that the change of lifestyle is having on the reporter and his family. I can't really see how it would encourage anyone to try and live a simple and more ethical existence.

To be fair though, the BBC is really the only mainstream media organisation that attempts any kind of engagement with ethical issues. Often this is in conjunction with its religious programming. Most of this "ethico-religious" programming however is very shallow - again focussing more on the personalities and "personal struggle" of the people involved rather than taking any deep discussion of the problems. Progammes such asthe BBC's The Heaven and Earth Show and RTE's Would You Believe? are prime examples of this style of personality-driven show. RTE in particular seems very lacking in depth (and breadth) in its reporting of ethical issues - even though its Arts programming and political and investigative reporting are of a very high standard.

Generally - from the little I see of it, no longer possessing a TV - ethical television programming is not a patch on that available on the radio. Indeed, the level of intelligent programming on radio surpasses by a mile that found on terrestial TV (I need not even consider the ethical wasteland that is satellite TV). There is however one gem among all the dross - and it's a local one! BBC Radio Ulster's Sunday morning programme Sunday Sequence. It looks at local and world religious and ethical issues with intelligent debate from local and other experts and academics and covers an amazingly wide range of topics. This is radio at its best and the latest show can be downloaded from its site for a week after broadcast. It's presenter William Crawley also has a very insight blog entitled: Will and Testament.

Abundance

2006-08-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

Rather than "wealth" I think the word I have been looking for to describe what I think we should be after rather than material goods is "abundance". Abundance conveys the notion of sufficiency, of having enough. A simple life is one of abundance, there is enough of everything and no need for anything else in particular. It is a state of mind. On the Frugal Living in the UK website the author makes some suggestion for living a life of abundance with which I pretty much wholehearty agree.

1. Count your blessings - a cliche but so true - be thankful for all the good you have in your life - the most important blessings are not always the big shiny ones :)

2. Expect the best (can be difficult to keep up!!) - haven't you noticed how people who are always pessimistic and moaning keep having bad experiences and lots of bad luck? There's a reason - whatever you focus on most is what you attract to you - let it be good stuff! Let your mind dwell on the things you love.

3. Don't let frugallity make you mean - you can be generous without being wasteful - what goes around comes around.

4. Be nice to yourself - you deserve it - give yourself little treats whether it's a glass of wine, a bath with candles and essential oils or an hour in the sun with a book - it doesn't have to be a mad shopping spree. In fact frequent over-spending is often the result of some deep emotional unhappiness - the spending won't cure it.

5. Practices like meditation, walks in the country and yoga help to keep you centered and calm.

6. Don't beat yourself up if you fall off the wagon - whether it's with positive thinking or being frugal - forgive yourself and move on.

I like the emphasis not taking it all too seriously. Simple Living should not be motivated by any kind of self-righteousness, to my mind. It is about taking more pleasure in life, not less - the only caveat being, of course, that one's own pleasure can never be at the expense of someone else quality of life.

On My Bike

2006-08-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

I have finally taken possession of a bike. It's a present from my sister - this has saved my a few hundred quid! I'll have to buy a few accessories like helmet, pump, mudguard, repair kit etc. but they will be a good investment.

This is a big step forward in my attempt to live the ethical life on the cheap. On the face of it there is no downside to switching to pedal power: about 1/3 to 1/2 of my weekly expenditure has been going on bus fares; I get to cut down my personal carbon-imprint (notionally at least since they will not cut the bus schedule just because I no longer plan to travel by bus); I'll get some much needed exercise.

The only problem is I am terribly unfit and will need to gently get my fitness up to par before I can hope to peddle 5 miles to and from work everyday - so the savings won't be immediate. However if I ever hope to cut my working week sometime in the future I will need to knucle down and get used to riding the bike (I haven't really ridden one in years).

Up to now all my cost-cutting strategies (not eating meat, driving, buying clothes new etc.) are all things I would probably do anyway or have done already. This is the first major change to the way I do things that I have had to make. From the point of view of combatting the middle-age spread and getting a bit more active it can only be of benefit - even if it hurts a little at the beginning.

Enough Already

2006-08-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

I think my approach to the concepts of wealth and poverty can be summed up thus: once you have reached a position where you know longer denied the necessities of survival then wealth and poverty become really only a question of mentality. If you have a poverty mentality you will see yourself as poor and in need no matter how materially well-off you are. Even if you have very little if you appreciate your life and the things and people in it you will consider yourself rich.

The problem is that the whole of consumer society conspires to make us think we are poor. It does this to ensure its own survival. How can you sell stuff to people who think they have enough already? The captains of industry have bought into a poverty mentality - in order to fulfil their own desire for status and material goods they have constructed multinational companies that must convince us that our lives are lacking something - their products! Bizarre as it may seem, but our entire society is trying to tell us that we are unhappy and we could never possibly be happy unless we consume things we don't need and which won't do anything for us except burden us with more stuff.

The more I think about it the more I am convinced the secret to living simply - indeed to living any sort of contented existence - is to cherish what you have. Despite its ethnic strife, its bad weather and other problems, Northern Ireland is a wonderful place to live. Nearly no-one dies of hunger, cold or indeed seriously wants for any of the necessities of life. Why do we not appreciate that we have enough already?

Wealth

2006-08-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

I think we need to rethink the concept of wealth. Ask most people to define a wealthy person they will say that a wealthy person is one with a lot of money. I think this is a very limited definition. Someone who has a lot of money is envied because they have a lot of choice and a lot of status however choice and status are not all that they seem.

While it is better to be materially wealthy than to be starving, the freedom of choice that having money brings is often no more than the freedom to make onesellf a slave to one's desires. Since one can always have something else, one is never satisfied with what one has.

The social status that our society gives to the wealthy completely disregards any moral or human values. One can be feckless or positively immoral but respected simply because one has lots of money. How shallow is that?

My definition of a wealthy man is one who wants for nothing. Even the fabulously rich can be (and very often are) consumed with the desire for more and so be mired in poverty. Someone living in a shack with barely enough to eat and clothe him or herself may see the value of every item they own and cherish the things that bring them joy and so be wealthier than Croesus since their wants are few.

Money does not guarantee happiness, health or wisdom. Why do we waste our lives in the pursuit of false wealth when those of use in the First World at least, and in Northern Ireland in particular, have more than we actually need not just to survive but to thrive also? If each of us could see what we have, we would realise we are wealthy beyond belief. Why struggle for more when you already have everything you'll ever need?

Poverty

2006-08-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

Northern Ireland is famous all over the world for being a dangerous and difficult place. Actually, it's alot better than it used to be as far as the tribal violence goes - although it still has its moments. What many people here don't stop to consider though is how organised and blessed a society we live in in Northern Ireland. This country still has a welfare state that means no-one need go hungry, without a roof or without medical care. True, the system is not perfect by any means but compared to the developing countries or even the welfare systems available in the U.S. or some continental European countries - we have little to complain about.There are many people, including in the area where I live in West Belfast, that are disadvantaged people but there is no true poverty here.

The health of the underprivileged (for want of a better word than "poor") is less good than those better off. There are higher rates of cigarette smoking, obesity, alcholism and other addications. The underprivileged die younger and suffer more ill-health in general. I can see it around me everyday. What gets me is that it is all unnecessary. Even someone living on sick pay or unemployment benefit can eat well, have adequate (if not exactly top-class) clothing, medical care and shelter. Yet many (I'd say most) of my neighbours smoke too much, eat mostly readymade meals, drink to excess at least once a week and spend most of their leisure time in front of the TV.

I am damned if I know why this is the way it is. Is it a combination of lack of education and the effects of the constant bombardment of advertising. If we are going to avoid the waste of the Earth's resources and cut through the exploitation practised by multinational capitalism ordinary people are going to have to start saying no to the constant call to consumption that we hear everyday. It is not enough for a few weirdos with college educations and middle-class values to reject the false idols of consumerism. An ethical, consciously-lived life is the birthright of everyone. Why in a society where no one need really worry about the necessities of life do so many blindly consume their way into early graves? Why do we not appreciate what we have?

Hoarding Stuff

2006-08-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a few sums concerning my plans to cut my working week. I reckon I can bulk buy and store enough food/necessities for 6-9mths for around £200. This would involve a basically vegan diet which is something I've been interested in trying for a while but been to weak-willed to try - I really love cheese, you see. The plan will be to buy and store nearly everything I'll need bar fresh veg which I need only spend maybe £5-a-week on. My monthly expenditure on rent, electricity, broadband (for me a necessity) should be covered by working only 3 days a week. I may also be able to get tax credits for not working full-time.

From the preliminary research I've done, most tinned and dried produce seem to have a 18mth-to-2yr shelf life so I can start buying stuff in a little each week over the next few months and be ready to go part-time by New Year. £200 is not much so why not buy it all now and start next week? Well, taking a a little time will allow me to save some money as a little back-up for emergency expenditure. There will always be unplanned expenditure however much you plan.

Another reason for not doing this immediately involves another aspect of the lifestyle change. Transport costs are a significant part of my weekly expenditure (about a third) so I've decided to bite the bullet and get a bike. The problem with this is that I am seriously unfit at the moment and it will probably take a couple of months before I can use it to go any distance. I live about 5 miles away from where I work at present and on the side of a hill - it'll take a while before I can cycle into and back from work without having a coronary.

The benefits of going part-time will force me into a healthier lifestyle (healthy diet and more exercise), a more ethical one too - shopping less, cruelty-free diet, reducing carbon footprint by using the bike. Over the next couple of months I'll be able to plan exact details with more accuracy but I can't see too many downsides to this.

Voluntary Simplicity and Work

2006-08-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking recently about how to integrate work and the urge to live a simple life. I have had several careers and understand that if you want to play the career game you must give all of your time to it. I have watched colleagues bemoan the fact that their children have grown up without them seeing it or cursing how they let ambition and desire for material wealth ruin their health. Many people hate what they do but but put themselves through it in order to buy the things that society tells them they need. Can you imagine the tragedy of someone who has died from overwork.

I have decided that I really do not want to work full time anymore. Unfortunately, I am not in a financial position - yet - to do so. I am hoping though, over the next number of months, to develop strategy that will allow me to work at least one day less a week - for at least half the year anyway.

Over the next few months I intend to fully chart my spending to see what stuff I actually spend money on and where I can perhaps make savings. I have a few regular outgoings - such as rent and my broadband connection - that I cannot (or in the case of the latter will not) make savings on but I reckon I can manage my expenditure so that my outgoings above and beyond these will be minimal.

Despite being on a low wage I think I can economise enough now to put a regular sum away to use as income for the period when I will go part-time. I am also planning to start buying in and storing stuff that I can store such as tinned and dry goods. If I buy a little extra stuff every week I am sure I can build a reasonable store of stuff that will mean I only need to buy fresh food every week. It'll be an interesting experiment but as yet I have no definite date for starting - perhaps early in 2007.

Head in the Sand

2006-08-12T03:55:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting experience yesterday. KFC came up in a conversation at work - one chap who had worked as a kid for KFC and liked his chicken stuck his fingers in his ears when I mentioned the cruelty that goes into making the greasy slop that passes for food at KFC. He only removed them when he was assured the we had changed topic.

I was fascinated at how this guy obviously realised the horror of what goes into fast food but rather than take responsibility and change or even examine his eating habits he simply preferred to pretend it wasn't happening. It is really indicative of how our whole society sticks its fingers in its ears where ethical concerns conflict with personal comfort or pleasure. How can this be ever changed?

PETA have produced a video about the appalling conditions on the farms where the birds used by KFC are reared. The chickens are selectively bred to produce specimens whose breasts are so overdeveloped that they can barely stand up. Below is a video presented by Pamela Anderson. I don't know if they consciously chose her given the subject matter but you have got to admit there is a certain comic irony in it. Whatever else she may do you can't fault Pammy for her animal rights position.

Growing your own

2006-08-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

If you really are concerned about the quality of the food you eat, the distance it travels, the chemicals used on it, the possible exploitation of the people who grew or harvested it etc. then you have no better option than to grow your own. You can be sure it's free from packaging, pesticide free, the labour unexploited, and travelled a minimal distance from soil to plate.

The down side of this of course is you need space, time and expertise to feed yourself to even a small degree by your own efforts. I must admit this not something I do at present but something I am hoping to get organised in the near future. My backgarden is tiny - not helped by the fact that the previous occupant concreted over half of its already limited space - although this may be overcomable through the addition of a few large tubs. I will never be able to do much more than provide the odd small addition to my pantry but it might be fun and, who knows, give me some skills which I might be able to use to more advantage if I get a bigger space one day.

It is so difficult to buy local produce in Belfast. Even things like apples, potatoes and scallions - which are no problem to grow in this climate can often be found coming from places like New Zealand, Cyprus and Mexico. When you do, often the imported stuff is half the price of the local (as I discovered last week with local tomatoes).

Even growing a few herbs, will save you money and they will be much better than anything you can buy in the shops.

Children and Voluntary Simplicity

2006-08-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

This I will admit contains elements which are wholly personal and sometimes conjectural. Choosing to live the simple life is difficult enough for a single person but perhaps is even more so for families. Firstly, not everyone will necessarily agree on the simple living project or to what degree it should go. Children, particularly teenagers, are dreadfully conservative and subject to peer pressure and the thought of not being able to wear the latest fashions or get the latest gadget no doubt causes massive and vocal "differences of opinion".

I am not a parent. It is a conscious choice. I think, in a world already overpopulated, that it is more ethical not to produce more little consumers but to try to contribute to society in other ways. I know this stand is frowned upon by some who see the reproduction as a right, if not a duty. I, however, really think that it is encumbent on us all to think long and hard before having kids and to seriously consider other options, such as fostering or adoption of children already born, who need support than adding to the growing number of human beings on this Earth.

Alas, it is not that simple. Where I live from what I hear anecdotally from my friends, most pregnancies are unplanned. It happens. But parents are often made to consume way more because of guilt trips laid on them by children through advertising. Saying no to your kids and trying to teach them the importance of an ethical above the consumerist lifestyle "enjoyed" by all their friends is a nearly impossible task. Yet I am sure, when it works, the rewards must be wonderful. To cut through all the expectations of materialist living and spend real time with one's spouse and kids is something that money really cannot buy.

I must admit have little or nothing to say on the subject of families and in this blog will only tough on it occasionally. The Bare Naked Family is a site of a couple with 3 small kids who packed in a conventional middle-class lifestyle to travel around the U.S. together in an camper van to spend more time with what matters - and they seem, from their site, to be having a pretty good time. I imagine there are lots more people who love to do what they have done.

Learn to cook

2006-08-06T11:45:00.000-07:00

This may not seem the most proactive or especially ethical way to improve your life but these days it can make a real difference. Many people nowadays do not know how to cook more than a few basic dishes. Most have never baked bread or a cake in their lives. Home Economics is taught less in schools and nearly not at all to boys. A lot of people these days prefer to buy frozen ready meals from Iceland or M&S to pop in the microwave when they come home from work so they can spend the evening in front of the idiot tube. Cooking is seen as in imposition in this country.

The situation is not the same everywhere. Most Southern Europeans who visit Northern Ireland and the British Isles in general are appalled at what we eat and the lack of interest we take in food. In countries like Italy, Spain, Greece and elsewhere food is a central part of life; its origins, freshness and quality are paramount. Here, we pretty much stuff anything down our gullets provided it does not take too much trouble to prepare.

Why will learning to cook do to make life simpler (and better)?

Junking ready meals - learning to cook for ourselves we cut out the evil of ready-prepared meals. Why are ready meals evil?

They are more expensive than home-cooked meals.
They usually contain higher levels of salt and sugar than food you prepare yourself as well as other nasties such as preservatives and other additives.
They may (and most likely do) contain such unpleasant items as genetically-modified ingredients, battery eggs or intensively-farmed meat.
They are usually encased in unnecessary amounts of packaging.
The industrial preparation of the item and the consequent cooking by the consumer is highly energy inefficient compared to cooking fresh ingredients oneself.

Cooking for oneself ensures you know what goes into what you eat.

You can choose where the ingredients come from and buy local.
You get the pleasure of creating something with your own hands.
Cooking fresh food is healthier since it lacks artificial additives.
The amount of packaging you use is less (if you choose wisely).
It gives you control over what you put in your stomach.
It can be very cheap!

Cooking should not be chore. It is a wonderfully creative and relax way to spend time. I enjoy it nearly as much as eating the finished product!

Ethical Money

2006-08-06T05:19:00.000-07:00

What you spend your money on has impact throught the world and society - where you save your money also has an impact. All of the world's big banks use the money you deposit with them to make money and lending to whoever will pay the interest they charge. Political, social and environmental considerations play little or no part in the decision of what to invest in.

What is the point of saving money by not consuming and that money being used by your bank to fund big business? So what an you do - here are a couple of ideas for people here in N.Ireland.

Join a credit union - A credit union is a kind of not-for-profit community bank that encourages regular saving and usually offers low interest rate on loans. It is owned by its members and staffed by volunteers. The website of Irish League of Credit Unions offers more information and locations of local credit unions.

Choose an ethical bank - There do exist a few ethical banks in the UK - they are small but they do exist and they do offer a comparable (and in many cases better) level of service than the big multinational financial houses. Here are a few:

The Co-operative Bank is a part of the greater Co-operative Group. It has had an detailed ethical policy since 1992 - full details on the website. It has a branch in Donegall Square in Belfast.

Smile.co.uk is an internet-only bank owned by Co-operative Bank and follows the same ethical policy as its parent.

Triodos Bank - This bank has branches in several European countries as well as in the UK. It specialises in investing in ethically-sound businesses, environamental organisations, charities etc.

But Voluntary Simplicity is, like, weird...

2006-08-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

To be frank once you really try to live a life of voluntary simplicity - even in a modest way - people are going to think you are weird. The fact that you already think about things like voluntary simplicity probably means that this will not be a new experience to you.

It is amazing how few people really step outside the crap that is fed to them by the TV and other media and really form a worldview of their own. I'd say most of the people I work for instance really cannot see beyond celebrity magazines, football and getting pissed at the weekend.

The thought of refusing to buy a Coca-Cola or any one of the numerous chocolate bars made by Nestle because of some injustice done 3000 miles away seems crazy. The thought of paying hundreds of pounds for shoes made for next-to-nothing by sweatshop labour again seems fine with them. And the very thought of not buying something you like if you have the money (or at least the credit) to buy it just does not add up for a lot of people.

The "but people will think I'm weird" argument is probably even more important in deterring most would-be ethical livers than the "I'm too poor to live ethically" argument which is also frequently put forward. All is not lost though - there are people like you - it just takes a little bit of time to find them. And even if 50% of the people you know just can't get their head around your seemingly bizarre obsessions of where everything comes from and who made it, well, that's something you are going to have to put up with.

Don't let those who are too afraid to step outside the consensus view inhibit your desire for justice in the world - to say nothing of your desire to live as you please and not as your told. Dare to be weird!

All Consuming Questions

2006-08-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

To buy ethically and cheaply there are several all important questions that you should consider before spending anything. I have listed them in the order of the importance I attribute to them - you may disagree.

Do I really need this? Is this an impluse buy? Could you get away without this in your life? The best way to save money and resources is not to buy anything unless you really need it. What constitutes necessity is a matter of individual decision, of course.

Can I get this second-hand? The best way to ensure that something is cheap, saves and resources and your money is not supporting unfair trade is to buy second hand. Often buying used items is not possible but many things such as clothes, tools, furniture or crockery can all be bought used and nearly as good as new.

Could I make it myself? Again, like getting something second-hand, if I can make it myself - even if it is something simple like a cooked or baked good - I can be sure that it is locally produced and most likely cheaper and healthier.

Did the actual producers get a fair price, working and living conditions? Am I consuming at the expense of someone else's livelihood? Personally, I try to ensure everything I buy, especially if it comes from a third world country, did not involve exploitation of the workers or farmers who produced it. If it is a farmed product, is it a mere "cash crop" to pay off foreign debt at the expense of local food production.

Is it organically or sustainably produced? Has this been grown or made with regard to the impact of farming/manufacturing process on the environment.

Is this locally produced? If not, can I get locally, preferably from a small producer. The more local a product is the fewer resources will have gone in to preserving and transporting it. Plus, by buying local produce I am adding more to the local economy.

How easily maintained or repaired will it be? Is this a long-lasting quality product or something that eventually will just have to be thrown away. Is there a manufacturer's warranty and is it any good?

Is this good for me? Is this item going to add to or detract from my health and fitness.

Can I get it cheaper? All other things being equal - what I've got is local, ethically and sustainably produced - is there somewhere else I can get this for less without compromising my beliefs.

Get Organised!

2006-08-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

Whether you are attempting to live the simple life mainly out of choice or mainly out of necessity you must be organised. No matter how well informed you are on the harm that blind consuming does or how enthusiastic you are to save the world, unless you get organised you will neither save any money nor make any positive contribution.

Chart Your Spending - for a month make a note of everything you buy. Work out how much you actually spend and on what. Work out your regular expenses (rent/mortgage, phone, electricity etc.) as well as how much you spend on clothes, food, travel, entertainment, gifts, charity. Use this information to work out what you spend too much on, what you can cut out or cut back on. Look too at what brands you buy and where you shop - could you make more ethical choices?

Reduce your Stuff - over time (up to you but maybe over a couple of months) look at the stuff you already own but now rarely use - clothes, books and tools are good areas to look at. Cut out the the stuff that is really only taking up storage space. Maybe you could sell it on Ebay or at a carboot sale. Or perhaps you could give it to a charity shop.

How can you simplify? - After detailing how you spend your money, look at areas you can realistically do something about. Don't try to do everything at once. Don't throw away the car and get a bike if your workplace is ten miles away for instance. Don't go converting your front lawn into vegtable patches just yet if you have never grown anything before. Try to set realisable goals and don't take on too much too soon. Your vision of living simply may take several years of gradual restructuring of your life to realise.

Prioritise your spending: Look at what you spend stuff on. You may spend a lot on clothes but relatively little on food (actually the cost of food has dropped by 4% in real terms since 1999). But which is more important - nutrition or style? Organic food may cost more but it's better for you and the planet. Spending less on designer labels may give you the money to spend on better food. This is just a for instance but it is crucial to decide what is worth spending your money on and what you can do without. In the end your purchases will have more value.

See the BBC Newsnight Ethical Man website for several discussion on how and what an individual must organise in order to take a simple life. This follows one reporter who tries living as ethically as possible (by his definition, maybe not everyone's) for a year. Several interesting articles and videos.

Inform yourself

2006-07-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

Of all the positive, active things you can do to lead a simple and ethical life, this is the most important. Inform yourself of what is good for you, the planet and the people who live on it. Find out which companies, governments and media are ethical and trustworthy. Find out low-cost and cruelty-free ways to go do whatever you do. How? The internet, dummy!

Some simple livers refer to themselves as "neo-luddites" eschewing all or much modern technology. To me this is crazy. Much modern technology is destructive to the Earth and to society but some also can be used as valid tools. The internet offers, for the moment at least (and I can't see it changing), a completely new way of interacting and sending and receiving information. It is too big and heterogenous for even big business or governments to control with any success. Sure, it contains a lot of nonsense and half-truth but if you are conscientious enough you will be able to verify everything you learn annd learn more than you will ever hear on tv or newspapers.

As well as educating yourself on ethical issues the internet is a vast repository of knowledge and techniques about simple living and the thoughts and experience of thousands of people who choose this way of life. It provides support and community when treading the sometimes lonely road of voluntary simplicity. Whatever you skimp on, do not cut yourself out of the world wide web. Even if you cannot afford a computer or an internet connection the public libraries thoughout Northern Ireland offer highspeed internet access for free to all their members (membership is also free). See www.ni-libraries.net for details.

To live a ethical life, one must be informed or be at the mercy of whatever multinationals and their lackeys in government feed us. The internet is the single most important tool the modern social activist has - learn to use it.

Does it all actually achieve anything?

2006-07-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

One can live the ethical life to the max - go vegan, grow all one's own food, buy only local, fairly traded and cruelty-free goods, bike everywhere etc. But does it actually contribute in a more ethical society and a better world?

Most of the destruction of the planet is carried out by corporations and in the third world. My carbon footprint may be miniscule but doesn't that just make up for somebody who overconsumes? How can one person make a difference when the media and our whole culture encourages us to consume as much as possible?

To be honest all of these objections are true to one degree or another. Will all of the restrictions you put on your spending and your lifestyle actually persuade multinationals and evil governments to mend their ways? Well, I reckon that on their own, probably not. So why bother?

Firstly, a life focussed on things just does not bring happiness. A consumerist lifestyle is a pointless one. To back it up here are some reports on academic studies that refute the equality of possessions and happiness from CNNMoney and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Personal integrity is another important reason - you gotta be able to "walk the talk". There's no point complaining about sweatshop labour if you are not prepared to make sure that none of your own clothes are made in sweatshops, for example.

Enough droplets of water will eventually fill a bucket. Actually we have come a long way in the last 20 or years or so - many big chainstores do sell organic and fairtrade goods, many local councils encourage recycling etc.. They wouldn't do so if people did not want it. In order for the progress to increase people must continue voting with their wallets.

Reducing, reusing and recycling on their own are not enough to bring about any sort of significant change. I believe that if one is trying to live an ethical, it is incumbent to live that life actively - as Burke famously put it "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing".

The next few posts are going to look at the positive things one can and should do, in my opinion, in the pursuit of a simpler and more ethical existence.

Recycling

2006-07-30T07:09:00.000-07:00

Recycling does not really save you lots of money - unless you manage to sell stuff on e-bay, or to companies that buy up recovered materials etc or your composted food waste saves you buying commercial compost. For most of us though, recycling is not going to make or save us vast amounts. Why do it then? The main reason is to save natural resources through reusing component materials.

What can you recycle - Local authorities in Northern Ireland - to varying degrees - offer recycling facilities and home collection of waste paper, glass, plastics and garden waste. They also facilitate home composting through provision of composting bins.

Belfast City Council website gives information on recycling in the city.

Buy your clothes in charity shops - There are lots of these in every town in Northern Ireland. There is some amazing quality stuff at a fraction of the price of new. You may need to shop around more and grab stuff when you see it but there is plenty of good stuff to be got. And not only clothes but furniture, books, crockery and bric-a-brac. Plus the money you spend goes to helping people rather than lining the pockets of rich investors.

Renew

2006-07-30T04:02:00.001-07:00

There isn't that much to say for "renew" - it kinda speaks for itself. Renew your clothes by learning to mend them - living a simple life style often means learning new skills.

Try to buy stuff that can be repaired rather than just disposed off and replaced when they wear out. Get your shoes resoled instead of forking out for a new pair. Reuse shopping bags again or use them for bin liners. There are thousands of uses for everything things that prolongs their lives or allows for added utility.

Further Reductions

2006-07-29T02:51:00.000-07:00

Here are a few suggestions of the things that could be reduced/cut out altogether.

Cosmetics: These are things that really nobody needs.

Dishwashers: This is a household convenience tool that again nobody really needs. Dishwashers pollute and use unnecessary amounts of energy.

Packaging: Buy as few packaged goods as you can. Bring plastic bags to the shops - we use individually in excess of 300 plastic bags per person per year.

Disposable nappies: Millions are thrown away every day in the UK. Consider good old-fashioned fabric nappies.

Feminine Sanitary Products: Like nappies, millions are thrown away every day. Check out the numerous re-usable products available.

Junk Mail: Cut down the amount of junk mail you receive (and unwanted sales calls/faxes) by registering with a free service like tpsonline which is a database for those who do not wish to receive advertising that companies legally must check against before mailing/calling.

These are only a few ideas off the top of my head - there are many more things you could do without - think about it!

Reduce: Flying

2006-07-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

This never used to be an issue but since the late nineties with the emergence of low-cost airlines it has become cheaper than ever to fly - sometimes much cheaper than to go overland or by sea the traditional low-cost options. Consequently the number of flights has increased and so the damage to environment. A single long-haul flight can cause as much environmental damage as a single car does in one year.

Think about holidaying at home. If you want to travel, consider travelling overland - make the journey part of the adventure of the holiday.

Reduce: Driving

2006-07-28T11:26:00.000-07:00

Another difficult one, especially if you have got kids, live in the country or need to use your car for work. But, as you'll no doubt have gathered by now, living the simple life often means a little more personal inconvenience - and sometimes not just a little!

The financial benefits of giving up the car are obvious - it is often the most costly item most people use on a regular basis. No car means not paying insurance, tax, repairs, fuel, parking costs - all of which would make a substantial saving. Even if you can't give up the car are there ways to use it less - do you need to drive everywhere? Do you need to change your car as frequently as you do? Could you go for a used car or a smaller, more fuel efficient car?

Cars pollute the air we breathe and destroy our health and our living spaces for the sake of convenience. Do you really, really need it? Could you not walk or use a bike (a new bike + accessories would only set you back £250-£300 - a lot less if you get a good 2nd hand machine)?

Doing without the car would force you to get more exercise. If you are an urban dweller there is likely to be plenty of public transport options that will often get you to where you want to go faster than private transport. Ever considered carpooling? Givingg up the car is a big step and most people try to hold on as long as possible but think of the savings in terms of money, health and environment.

Reduce: Tobacco

2006-07-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

I wondered at including this since it is so bloody obvious. There is nothing about smoking that it good - nothing at all.

Tobacco is expensive - yet many people with very little money spend a generous portion of their income on it.

Smoking poisons the smoker and those around him/her.

Tobacco production uses up good arable land and is heavy in the use of pesticides (when did you ever hear of an organic cigarette?).

Cigarettes are produced by some of the most duplicitous and evil multinational corporations around. Contraband cigarettes (which are very common in Northern Ireland) are produced and distributed by organised crime, made by sweatshop labour and include even more harmful additives than regular brands.

Still many people who support ethical living still can't seem to kick the habit. No excuses - there is no benefit to be found in smoking tobacco (or indeed anything else!).

Reduce: Meat

2006-07-27T04:38:00.000-07:00

This is another item that many people will find difficult to cut out or reduce but there are many good reasons for doing. Most people in Northern Ireland have not gone without meat for a single day of their adult lives.

Meat is expensive - it costs much more pound for pound than do most of the fruit, veg, grains or pulses that we eat.

Modern intensive farming methods mean that many animals lead miserable, unnatural lives. Learn more from VIVA, Compassion in World Farming and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Animal production is much more wasteful of land and resources than arable farming. Globalisation means too that the meat you eat often started life on the other side of the world. For example much of the lamb and mutton consumed in the UK comes from New Zealand - even though our climate is fine for sheep rearing. Think of how much waste is involved in bringing meat half-way across the world when the same product can be got right on our doorstop.

We don't need to eat meat to live. Something does not have to be killed to keep us alive. Admittedly no food production is completely free of causing harm to other beings, it is much easier than it has ever been to experience a rich, varied, tasty and healthy vegetarian diet.

You don't have to adopt a full-on vegan lifestyle overnight, try not eating meat every day (easier when you're broke) to begin with, make an effort to understand how those sausages, rashers or chicken nuggets are made, the lives (and deaths) of the animals from which they come. Also a little education into the delights of meat slurry and mechanically recovered meat used in many processed meat products may help you to reconsider you attachment to animal flesh.

Reduce: Television

2006-07-27T02:11:00.001-07:00

In fact, cut it out altogether! Get rid of the box! This may seem an unusual money-saving tip since it would probably only save you around £2.50 a week on the license fee ( or c.90p if you you are still using a b/w set) and the saving on the relatively small amount of electricity a tv uses will not make you rich or do much to counteract the greenhouse effect, but television is the main portal through which the warped values of consumer society enters our lives. How can you begin to change your lifestyle if you spend 25 hours a week (and that's the average) absorbing the propaganda of consumerism?

I realise that few people who read this will actually go the whole hog and bin the telly since it is so central to our culture and so addictive (it has been even likened to "electronic heroin") but I really believe to live an ethical and truly independent and informed life one must wean oneself off the box.

Television encourages passivity and a need to be constantly entertained rather than activity and independent thought. In the words of Neil Postman, via television we are "amusing ourselves to death".

The choice to live a more simple lifestyle means, contrariwise, that you will probably have less time to sit on your butt. Ethical shopping takes more time than just buying what you see. Reusing and repairing the stuff you have takes time. Sorting out all the crap you want to recycle takes time. Informing yourself about the idiocies and injustices perpetrated in the name of commerce takes time. Who has time to watch television anyway?

Instead of passively imbibing nonsense you could be engaging more with your loved ones, educating yourself, getting some exercise, discovering the wonders of radio (the pictures are much better on the radio), using the internet for information and entertainment - there is so much more on offer than you could ever imagine.

Getting rid of the telly will free up your time and free up your mind. Can you afford not to?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

2006-07-27T00:53:00.000-07:00

The now well-worn mantra of the environmentalist movement is central to being an ethical consumer on the cheap. These three actions allow one to participate in a non-harmful way in society and either help save money or cost nothing to implement.

Reduce: means cutting down on or cutting out things. Obviously if you buy less of something its going to save you money. From a ecological point of view you are consuming fewer resources.

Renew: means mending and repairing the stuff you have rather than just chucking it out and getting new stuff. Extending the lifespan of your possessions means that you get more value for money out of them and so, over time, you spend less. And, again, from a ecological point of view you are consuming fewer resources.

Recycle: means instead of just chucking waste in the bin you allow the materials from which it is made to be used again. Paper, glass, some metals and plastics, clothes can all be recycled. This costs you nothing but helps save precious natural resources.

Over the next however many posts I want to throw out a few ideas I have for implementing the principles of reduce, renew, recycle. My ideas may not be useful to everybody but hopefully they might provide some food for thought.

A Happy Medium

2006-07-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

If you're stoney broke and up to your eyes in debt then how to go about the simple life is decided for you - ethics are secondary to getting by and all your consuming is dictated more or less exclusive by the imperative to get the cheapest price you can.

If you are comfortably off with a good salary, pension or whatever then again you have little to worry about. You can afford to pay a higher premium for organic and fairly traded products or good quality, long lasting tools, clothes etc.

What do you do if you are in the middle like me? I don't get paid lots but I don't have any debt. I have to watch the pennies but I am not forced to get the cheapest thing every time - sometimes I can afford to spend a little more if it's in a good cause. I imagine there are many people caught in the middle like me - not skint and forced to consume what the big supermarkets and unethical cut-price chains put before them but not so well-heeled that they are able pay over-the-odds for best ethically produced stuff.

How then does someone like me maximise the ethical component in their lifestyle? How do you save the world on a budget? That really is the nub of what I wish to explore in this blog.

Simpleness

2006-07-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

In the last post I referred to the two poles that those who engage in simple living engage in gravitate towards: frugalism and simpleness. I suggested that frugalism is more generally lacking in any kind of altruistic motive and therefore implied that those drawn to simpleness are of a more ethical and considerate bent. This is not necessarily true. Many who choose to live a simple life do so for wholly "selfish" reasons but what they are after is not more wealth for themselves but more time for themselves.

At the farthest end of the simpleness end of the frugal/simple spectrum are those eschew material goods altogether and choose to live in communes, monastic communities, kibbutzim etc where all property is shared. There are also those who reject modern urban living and the pressures of a nine-to-five job in favour of a more self-sufficient existence. Known as homesteaders or downshifters these people go the whole hog - growing their own food, often making their clothes, implementing renewable enenrgy solutions etc. Environmental concerns often form a big part of the reason why people choose this lifestyle.

There are also "urban homesteaders" - people not willing or able to give it all up and move to the country and who try to grow their own stuff in a small gardens or allotments. The 1970's BBC sitcom "The Good Life" portrayed one middle-class suburban couple's attempt at this type of lifestyle.

Many who choose the simple life do not or cannot engage in a full-time simple lifestyle. However they do attempt to be ethical consumers, reducing what they buy, recycling where they can, buying organic and fairly-traded products etc. These to my mind are the most important group of simple livers for the reason that the lifestyle, although not perfect, is a more sustainable simple lifestyle than that of those who go the full-on route. It can actually work for milions rather than thousands of people.

Frugalism

2006-07-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

I've been looking around the web over the last while in an attempt to get an overview of the type of people who are attracted to simple living and and it appears that there are lots - and for lots of different reasons. There are appears, however, to be two main ideological poles to which people seem to be attracted: ideas of frugality (what I'll call "frugalism") and ideas of simplicity ("simpleness").

It would appear (and most of my evidence for this comes from american websites) that the notion of frugality is embraced by the political right while simplicity seems to attract a more left leaning following.

At the far end of the frugalist spectrum are survivalists those who advocate a complete self-sufficiency from the State either as a precaution against an impending Armageddon or a complete distrust in institutional government. In some ways these survivalists share a lot in common with those on the far left who reject institutions and are inspired to live as self-sufficently as possbile. However, while most left-leaning adherents of the simple life, do so out of ecological or other ethical concerns, the frugalists tend to be more concerned with looking after number one.

Slightly less hardcore than the survivalists - and a substantial presence, it would appear, on the web - are the "tightwads". Essentially sites that glorify parsimony and thriftiness to a quite amazing degree. Here the emphasis is on frugality as an economic strategy - you'll become a millionaire more quickly if you stop spending. In its most blatant manifestation this is just plain miserliness. Again the emphasis is on maximising personal material wealth.

There also appear to be several frugalist sites which extoll the religious virtue of thrift. The purpose of thrift is seen as an essential part of an orderly, disciplined life. It's something I can sympathise with - up to a point, anyway.

Towards the centre of the frugal side of the frugal/simple spectrum lie those site who are aimed at people in debt and which give tips and advice on implementing a frugal lifestyle as a means of overcoming debt or living within a limited budget. These seem to have little in the way of an organised political or philosphical agenda.

Frugalism most defining characteristic, for me, is it's lack of altruistic motivation. That is not to say that all those who aim to live a frugal life for the personal financial benefits it brings are selfish - how much can you really think of others when you haven't enough to feed yourself? Living a life with less, however, has so many more benefits than the financial!

Why Simplify V

2006-07-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

My last reason for opting for voluntary simplicity may make me sound like a conspiracy theorist who has been over-influenced by the Matrix films but there is a great pressure in modern multinational capitalist societies not to question the world around us but simply to fork over our cash and consume what we are told will benefit us. Hypnotised by advertising and vapid television entertainments we are living a semi-conscious existence.

Simple Living promotes independence of thought - A simple life demands one investigate one's commercial and social interaction minutely and take control of what and how one consumes.

There are many ideas, theories and variations on the notion of voluntary simplicity. Below are links to some articles all with slightly differing but ultimately consonant notions of the term.

The Value of Voluntary Simplicity by Richard Gregg. Gregg first coined the term "voluntary simplicity" and laid out the main ideas behind it in 1936.

Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin. Elgin is a leading modern theorist on voluntary simplicity. Some of his ideas are a bit "hippy" for my taste but this and the following article by him contain useful information.

Choosing a New Lifeway: Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin. This is a chapter from Elgin's book, Promise Ahead: A Vision Of Hope & Action For Humanity's Future.

Exploring the Simple Life by Clay and Judy Woods. This is a site made a couple who've lived the simple life for years. Look around it has lots of sound advice.

Why Simplify IV

2006-07-23T07:04:00.000-07:00

A simple life is a healthier life - It may seem a bit of a rash statement but from my own experience I can testify to the truth of it. Simplifying one's life invariably means paying more attention to one's diet - avoiding junk food, cigarettes, overindulgence in alcohol can only benefit one's health. Most people who embrace simple living cook for themselves and eschew pre-prepared foods on price grounds and so have to put thought and energy into what they eat. Many who choose the simple lifestyle do not own a car but prefer to walk or bike it to get around. Actually, I've found that living the simple life makes me a lot busier since I have to shop around a lot more - I get more exercise than I ever got before!

Why Simplify III

2006-07-23T04:39:00.000-07:00

As well as concern for social justice living a simple life allows for a better use of the world's resources and those who live simply do a whole lot less damage to the world than those who simply consume without thinking.

Concern for environmental impact is another major ethical factor that leads me to attempt to live the simple life. As with concerns for social justice leading one to sometimes pay more for things, so concern for environmental impact of one's may lead to you paying more at times. For example, I try to buy organic veg if I can - it does cost more (often a lot more). However, this is rare. Being environmentally friendly in purchases and lifestyle more often saves you money than not. Many who choose the simple life grow some of their own food, try to buy second-hand clothes were practicable, learn to repair their possessions rather than simply buying new stuff etc. All of these strategies are cheap and all good for the world around us.

Why Simplify II

2006-07-23T03:23:00.000-07:00

Choosing to live simply is not just about consuming less but about consuming ethically - being informed about what your buying and its impact on society. Due to the globalization our shops are full of goods from all over the world. Multinational companies source their goods and services from wherever labour is cheapest - often in places where labour law is ignored or non-existent and at the expense of jobs in our own region.

Concern for Social Justice in the way you interact economically is a central part of simple living for me. On the internet one can find many sites to do with living as cheaply as you can (just google "frugal living" to see what I mean) but voluntary simplicity is not just about getting the cheapest. I can buy a cheap shirt in Dunnes Stores or Primark but that shirt was probably made in third world country by someone who was paid a lot less than someone working in an Irish or UK shirt factory (if indeed there are any left). I am not saying that big supermarkets like the ones mentioned necessarily engage in practices that are socially unjust but that as a consumer one should find out as much as one reasonably can about the social impact of one's purchases. Living simply may, paradoxically, mean that you are prepared to pay more for an item sometimes to ensure that those who made it were not exploited.

Why Simplify?

2006-07-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

The most obvious reason for choosing a simplified life - having little money - is not the real reason why one should embrace the simple life. By being frugal and smart many people manage to turn their financial problems around and eventually find themselves with greater cashflow. Being careful with money will pay those kind of dividends - especially if you ally them with working overtime, or getting an second job, selling off stuff you don't need etc. But living frugally just to get out of debt or get over a period of cash shortage is to miss the point of what simple living is all about. Over this and the next few posts I'm going to list some of the reasons why I think living simply makes sense and why one should adopt this voluntarily

Things cannot make you happy! Well, of course that's true - even a moron knows that! We all know this intellectually but yet the whole of Western Capitalist society is built on the fantasy the more, newer and shinier things we have, the happier we will be. The entire Advertising industry channels its energies not into selling products but into selling dreams - buy this product and you will be more attractive, successful, have a happier family life etc and not just the owner of a lipstick, a computer or a car. The constant search for more stuff is futile and we waste our lives doing jobs we don't like to buy stuff we hope will fulfill our fantasies but never can. If wealth and possessions were what it took to make you happy then Michael Jackson, Bill Gates, Donald Trump and any other members of the ludicrously wealthy super-rich would live lives of untroubled peace and fulfillment. If you've ever seen them on the TV you'll know that they are no happier than the rest of us and, frequently, a lot more discontented.

The pursuit of wealth or even financial stability is a waste of time. Once you got stuff, you gotta protect it from thieves, from accidents, from decay - even then you eventually lose interest and have to get something newer and more interesting or more fashionable. Nothing lasts and you can't take any of it with you when you die - why waste your time amassing stuff that will only be a burden or you will only take no notice of after a while?

Nothing outside of yourself can be relied upon to bring you stable happiness (that goes for people as well as things). Everything and everyone changes. Happiness lies in appreciating what you have now - however little that is - not in something that will be attained at some undesignated point in the future. If you want to be happy - stop searching for happiness and realise how blessed your life is already. Believe me - it is the only way! Take time to enjoy and develop those aspects of your present existence which delight you and cut out those aspects which get in the way of your enjoyment.

So What Is Voluntary Simplicity?

2006-07-22T07:22:00.000-07:00

Voluntary Simplicity, simply put, is the decision to live a simpler, more frugal life, to consume less and to be conscious of what we buy.

Now, to be honest, I'd say that many, if not the vast majority, of people who embrace simple living do so initially out of necessity. This is involuntary simplicity a.k.a. poverty. Many who live the simple life are unemployed, Senior Citizens, students and people with low-paying jobs.

There are also others who, having lived this way out of necessity at one time in their lives, return to it out of choice because of political or religious conviction or simply because they are disllusioned with the false promises of consumerist culture and remember being happier when they had very little.

What I'd like to do in this blog is offer some resources for those who are trying to the simple life whether out of necessity or out of choice. These will include not just money-saving ideas and tips but a look at the reasons why a simplified life is perhaps the best kind of life. I am not well-off myself - I'm in a low-paid job - but I could spend more than I do and could do lots of other things to maximise my income but I don't - preferring to spend my time doing things like this rather than working my ass off to buy stuff I don't really need. I also think it is important to inform myself about the consumer choices I make and to consume in a way that causes as little harm to other people and the world in general as possible.

Voluntary Simplicity

2006-07-22T06:12:00.000-07:00

This blog is really just a test for a simple living website that I hope to create soon on its own domain. The idea is to provide a resource for anyone who is interested in the voluntary simplicity lifestyle living in Belfast, Northern Ireland (and anywhere else I suppose). It will also be an online diary for my own attempts to get to grips with living simply.