The Life Poets’ Simplicity Collective

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An Invitation / Incitation to the Simple Life

By samuel On April 28, 2009 No Comments

 

 

WELCOME LIFE POETS!

 

NEWS IN BRIEF:

 

• Voluntary Simplicity Documentary (Wednesday) – The showing of the voluntary simplicity documentary was delayed one week and is now showing this Wednesday 29 April 2009, 9.30pm, Channel 31’s Plug In TV Show. The documentary will also be posted online in due course. Location, to be advised. A 30-second trailer is currently available for viewing at www.vimeo.com/4259291. I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest thanks to Amir Dervic and Tanja Capic, the inspired team at No Way Productions, for their vision and enthusiasm in making this progressive documentary, and for so creatively helping to advance the voluntary simplicity movement. The world needs more oppositional artists like Amir and Tanja! Congratulations to them.
• Life Poets’ Promote Voluntary Simplicity at the Melbourne Social Forum – Our Collective provided a workshop/seminar at the Melbourne Social Forum which ran from Friday 17-19 April 2009. It was a great success, drawing much attention and many new members interested in exploring simplicity signed up. Special thanks to De Chantal Hillis for organizing and running the event in my absence. For more information on the Melbourne Social Forum see: www.melbournesocialforum.org.
• Voluntary Simplicity Radio Discussion (Upcoming) – Monday 4 May, 3WBC, 94.1FM, Wonderful World Media Network, ‘Sustainable Lifestyles Show,’ 6.05pm-6.45pm. The interview will eventually be posted online at www.wonderfulworldmedia.net.
• Affluenza (The Song) – The new song ‘Affluenza’ by Senses of Walden has been receiving some radio play. It is also the soundtrack to the documentary (see above). ‘Affluenza,’ which expresses themes relevant to voluntary simplicity, is attached to this email. Have a listen! (Will sound best through headphones.)
• The Politics of Voluntary Simplicity promoted at Auckland Law School  at the ‘Conference on Property Rights and Sustainability,’ Organized by the New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law – For those interested, the presentation is attached.

 

 

THE EARTH CHARTER

 

In this Invitation / Incitation I wanted to bring your attention to the Earth Charter Initiative. This is a diverse, global network of people, organizations, and institutions that participate in promoting and implementing the values and principles of the Earth Charter. The Earth Charter itself, a beautiful and inspiring document, can be read online at www.earthcharterinaction.org/content. The mission of the Earth Charter Initiative is to promote the transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded upon a shared ethical framework that includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. Of particular relevance to the Life Poets’ Simplicity Collective is clause 7(f) which calls upon all to ‘Adopt lifestyles that emphasize the quality of life and material sufficiency in a finite world.’ We can only hope that the Earth Charter is one day recognized by international law and the United Nations.

 

 

LEARN DIDEROT’S LESSON!

 

In the 18^th century, the French philosopher Denis Diderot wrote an essay entitled Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing Gown. Simplicity theorist, Juliet Schor, has neatly summarized the point of that important essay below. Have a read and then try to apply Diderot’s lesson to your own life. (See Juliet Schor, ‘Learning Diderot’s Lesson: Stopping the Upward Creep of Desire,’ in Tim Jackson (ed.), The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Consumption (2005) p178.)

Diderot’s regrets were prompted by a gift of a beautiful scarlet dressing gown. Delighted with his new acquisition, Diderot quickly discarded his old gown. But in a short time, his pleasure turned sour as he began to sense that the surroundings within which the gown was worn did not properly reflect the garment’s elegance. He grew dissatisfied with his study, with its threadbare tapestry, the desk, his chairs and even room’s bookshelves. One by one, the familiar but well-worn furnishings of the study were replaced. In the end, Diderot found himself seated uncomfortably in the stylish formality of his new surroundings, regretting the work of this ‘impervious scarlet robe [that] forced everything else to conform with its own elegant tone.’

Today consumer researchers call such striving for conformity the ‘Diderot effect.’ And, while Diderot effects can be constraining (some people foresee the problem and refuse the initial upgrading), in a world of growing income the pressure to enter and follow the cycle are overwhelming. The purchase of a new home is the impetus for replacing old furniture; a new jacket makes little sense without the right skirt to match; an upgrade in china can’t really be enjoyed without a corresponding upgrade in glassware. This need for unity and conformity in our lifestyle choices is part of what keeps the consumer escalator moving ever upward. And ‘escalator’ is the operative metaphor: when the acquisition of each item on a wish list adds another item, and more, to our ‘must-have’ list, the pressure to upgrade our stock of stuff is relentlessly unidirectional, always ascending.

 

 

PRACTICAL EXERCISE: A MONTH OF EXACT ACCOUNTING

 

Although living simply is much more than just living cheaply and consuming less – it is also a state of mind – spending wisely plays an important role. The following exercise can be enlightening and might surprise you: Over a one month period, record every purchase you make, and then categorize your expenses (rent, food, alcohol, movies, coffee, books, clothes, etc.). Multiply each category by twelve to get a rough estimate of the annual cost. Then consider how much of your time and energy you spent obtaining the money to buy everything you consumed that month. Question not only the amount of money you spent on each category, but also the categories on which you spent your money. You might find that seemingly little purchases add up to an inordinate amount over a whole year, suggesting that the money might be better spent elsewhere, not at all, or exchanged for more time by working less. One does not have to be a tightwad, as such. Only thoughtful. After all, as Thoreau would say, ‘The cost of a thing is the amount of life which is required to be exchanged for it.’ You may find that some small changes to your spending habits, rather than inducing any sense of deprivation, will instead be life-affirming. And when it comes to spending our money we should always bear in mind Vicki Robin’s profound democratic insight: That how we spend our money is how we vote on what exists in the world. If this is true then the global middleclass has the potential to become a non-violent revolutionary class and change the world, simply by changing its spending habits.

 

Hope is the difference between probability and possibility. – Isabelle Stengers 

  

WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET INVOLVED?

  

As well as forwarding this email (including the song) onto to friends, family, work colleagues, etc., perhaps you would also like to help take simplicity to the streets? As noted previously, I have some Life Poets’ Simplicity Collective ‘business cards’ left over from the Sustainable Living Festival. If you would like to spend an morning/evening dropping some around your neighbourhood, workplace, campus, etc. then please let me know. They could be picked up from my place in Parkville, or, if necessary, I could send them to you. I would love to hear from you and your involvement would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks to those who have already lent a hand promoting voluntary simplicity.

 

Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life. – The Earth Charter

 

One final reminder, don’t forget about the documentary this Wednesday 29 April, 9.30pm, Channel 31, Plug In TV Show, ‘Voluntary Simplicity: The Poetic Alternative to Consumer Culture.’

 

Let us be pioneers once more,

Samuel Alexander,

L.P.S.C.

 

Contact: simplicitycollective@gmail.com

Website: www.simplicitycollective.com

 

 

Voluntary Simplicity is an Expression of Freedom

By samuel On April 11, 2009 1 Comment

MARCH 2009

THE LIFE POETS’ SIMPLICITY COLLECTIVE

Invitation / Incitation

www.simplicitycollective.com

WELCOME LIFE POETS!

NEWS IN BRIEF:

• Voluntary Simplicity Presentation and Discussion – This Wednesday 1^st April, 5-6.30 pm, Gryphon Gallery, Graduate Centre, 1888 Building (near the corner of Swanston St and Gratten Streets, Carlton, Melbourne.). All welcome! For more information on this and other events (including ‘State of the Environment Report: A Debate’ which is on tonight, 5.30-7pm, see:

www.environment.unimelb.edu.au/news_and_events/environment_week

• Life Poets’ to Promote Voluntary Simplicity at the Melbourne Social Forum – Our Collective has been invited to provide a workshop/seminar at the Melbourne Social Forum. The Forum runs from Friday 17-19 April 2009. All welcome! For more information see: www.melbournesocialforum.org
• Voluntary Simplicity Documentary – 22 April 2009, 9.30pm, Channel 31’s Plug In TV Show, produced by the inspired team at No Way Productions. (The documentary will also be posted online in due course. Location, to be advised.)
• Voluntary Simplicity Library Established (Melbourne) – See below
• Membership Expanding – Since the Sustainable Living Festival many more people interested in simple living have joined our Collective, from all around the world, including the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. It seems more people than we might have first thought are interested in exploring simplicity and living more with less. If you would like to be a part of spreading this important message, then please forward this email onto others. It can’t hurt, and could do the world of good.

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers – William Wordsworth

DEFINING VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY?

One of the paradoxes of voluntary simplicity is that the idea is rich and complex. It may be helpful, therefore, to spend a moment thinking about how we might define voluntary simplicity. Here are six definitions provided by leading writers in the voluntary simplicity movement. Which aspects speak loudest to you?

• Voluntary simplicity is a manner of living that is outwardly simple and inwardly rich, a deliberate choice to live with less in the belief that more of life will be returned to us in the process. (Duane Elgin)
• Voluntary simplicity refers to the decision to limit expenditures on con­sumer goods and services and to cultivate nonmaterialistic sources of satis­faction and meaning. (Amatai Etzioni)
• Voluntary simplicity involves directing progressively more time and energy toward pursuing non-material aspirations while providing for material needs as simply, directly, and efficiently as possible. It measures personal and social progress by increases in the qualitative richness of daily living, the cultivation of relationships, and the development of personal and spiritual potentials. Simple living does not denigrate the material aspects of life but rather, by attending to quality, it values material things more highly than a society that merely consumes them. … Simplicity is about knowing how much consumption is enough. (Mark A. Burch)
• Voluntary simplicity involves the quest for calm, balanced, integrated lives; less clutter, less artificiality, and lessened impact on nature; and the elevation of quality over quantity, time over money, and community over competition. (Eric T. Freyfogle)
• Voluntary simplicity involves both inner and outer condition. It means singleness of purpose, sincerity and honesty within, as well as avoidance of exterior clutter, of many possessions irrelevant to the chief purpose of life. It means an ordering and guiding of our energy and our desires, a partial restraint in some directions in order to secure greater abundance of life in other directions. It involves a deliberate organization of life for a purpose. (Richard Gregg)
• Voluntary simplicity often involves making a conscious decision to accept a lower income and a lower level of consumption to pursue other life goals. (Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss)

A GLANCE AT HISTORY: INTRODUCING HENRY DAIVD THOREAU

In 1845, at age 28, Henry David Thoreau left his town of Concord, New England, and went to live alone in the woods, on the shores of Walden Pond, a mile from any neighbor. He there built himself a modest hut, and for two years and two months earned a simple living by the labor of his own hands. ‘I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,’ wrote Thoreau, ‘to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what they had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.’ What he discovered was that by building his own shelter, wearing old clothes, and cultivating rows of beans and potatoes, he was able to provide for all his basic needs by laboring a total of just six weeks per year. By living simply, in a material sense, and rejecting the consumerist values which had begun to infect his society, he found himself radically free to ‘march to the beat of his own drummer.’

Thoreau’s point was not that everyone should live exactly as he was living, alone, by a pond, eating only beans and potatoes. We must each ‘find our own way,’ he wrote in Walden, and ‘there are as many ways as there are radii from one center.’ His point, rather, was to show that surprisingly little is needed to live well and to be free, if only life is approached with the right attitude. ‘Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only,’ he asserted. ‘Money is not required to buy one necessary of the soul.’

Thoreau thought that these insights might be of therapeutic value to his contemporaries, because everywhere, in shops, offices, and fields, the inhabitants seemed to him to be doing penance in a thousand remarkable ways. ‘The twelve labors of Hercules were trifling in comparison with those which my neighbors have undertaken; for they were only twelve, and had an end; but I could never see that these men slew or captured any monster or finished any labor.’ It was the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu who said, ‘Those who know they have enough are rich.’ Thoreau was telling his contemporaries that they had enough, but that they did not know it – perhaps a lesson more relevant today than ever before?

THE VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY COMMUNITY LIBRARY

I have established a small library consisting of about 30 of the very best books on voluntary simplicity. I would like to make them freely available to anyone who is interested in exploring the literature. I will ask for a small bond of twenty dollars which will be returned when the book is returned. The books can be picked up from Parkville. (If I am not home, I will leave the book in my letterbox). The books will be issued for one month.

There is no wealth but life. – John Ruskin

WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET INVOLVED?

As well as forwarding this email onto to friends, family, work colleagues, etc., perhaps you would also like to help take simplicity to the streets? I have some Life Poets’ Simplicity Collective ‘business cards’ left over from the Sustainable Living Festival. If you would like to spend an autumn evening dropping some around your neighbourhood, workplace, campus, etc. then please let me know. They could be picked up from my place in Parkville, or, if necessary, I could send them to you. I would love to hear from you and your involvement would be greatly appreciated. (Also, I have attached to this email a short leaflet which could be printed out and distributed as well.)

Let us be pioneers once more,

Samuel Alexander,

L.P.S.C.

Contact: simplicitycollective@gmail.com

Website: www.simplicitycollective.com

Light dawns gradually over the whole. – Ludwig Wittgenstein

Welcome!

By samuel On January 28, 2009 Comments Off

Invitation / Incitation

Dear Reader,

The Life Poets’ Simplicity Collective is a grass-roots environmental organization dedicated to promoting and celebrating sustainable culture. We are a diverse and ever-growing network of individuals, from all walks of life, who are trying to make a difference in our own creative way - and we need your help. Our planet needs us to explore alternative ways to live, and one promising way to lessen our impact on nature is to simplify our lives by consuming less and living more. This approach to life has come to be known as ‘voluntary simplicity,’ and it is the idea upon which our Collective is founded.

This website (currently under reconstruction) provides a brief overview of ‘voluntary simplicity’ and invites/incites sympathetic readers to join the Life Poets’ Simplicity Collective and participate in this quiet revolution.

Only your imagination is needed.

Yours sincerely,
Samuel Alexander
Founder of the Life Poets’ Simplicity Collective

CONTACT: simplicitycollective@gmail.com (To join, just send us an email!)

Overview

Since there may be some who are unfamiliar with the term ‘voluntary simplicity,’ I thought I should begin this introduction to the subject by saying a few words on what this term might mean and, just as importantly, what it does not mean; I also wish to say a few words on what potential or significance voluntary simplicity has as a quietly emerging social movement, and what its limitations might be. After addressing some of these foundational issues, I will then consider the question of why someone might want to adopt voluntary simplicity as a way of life, and, I will also spend a short time looking into how one might begin practicing simplicity, that is, how one might begin living more simply, if one were convinced that this way of life was desirable. But first, as I have said, I would like to clarify the subject of this website and try to define this idea of voluntary simplicity.

Voluntary Simplicity: The Poetic Alternative to Consumer Culture

Allow me to spend a moment laying some groundwork and trying to put this discussion in some context.

The economic problem of how to provide for ourselves and our families, of how to secure the necessaries of life, has been solved for the vast majority of ordinary people in western society, who are fabulously wealthy when considered in the context of all known history or when compared to the three billion human beings who today live on one or two dollars per day. As one leading sociologist has noted, ‘Most westerners today are prosperous beyond the dreams of their grandparents.’ The houses of typical families are bigger than ever and they are filled with untold numbers of consumer products, like multiple TVs, racks of unused clothes, washing machines, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, kitchen gadgets, garages full of sitting junk, etc. Houses are often centrally heated and have air-conditioning, with spare rooms, and two cars parked outside. It is nothing for an average parent to spend a hundred dollars on a present for a child or to buy them a personal mobile phone. Most of us have spare income to spend on take-out food, alcohol, going to the movies, books, taking holidays, etc. We generally have access to sophisticated health care and free primary and secondary education. On top of all this, we live in a democracy, our water is clean, and almost nobody goes hungry.

All this is indicative of a society that has attained unprecedented wealth, which I am not about to suggest is a bad thing, necessarily. But it is a prosperity which has proven extremely easy to take for granted, leaving many in the global middleclass still complaining about the hardness of their lot, and feeling deprived despite their plenty.

What I am suggesting is that western society is, at last, rich enough to be truly free, free from material want, although, as I have implied, not many people seem willing to accept that this is so. Is it because the prospect of freedom is terrifying? Perhaps it is terrifying because, once we recognize the sufficiency of our material situations, and quench the upward creep of material desire, we are forced to give an answer that great question of what to do with the radical freedom that material sufficiency brings – a freedom which I believe is on offer to us today. But rather than accept this ultimate human responsibility, many people today seem to have climbed or fallen upon a consumerist treadmill, and become enslaved, consciously or unconsciously, to a lifestyle in which too much consumption is never enough. There is no end to consumer cravings, for as soon as one is satisfied, two pop up. The goal in life does not seem to be material sufficiency, but material excess, and then some. In such cases, it seems to me, the question of freedom does not often arise.

What, then, of consumer culture? Have we attained the ultimate fulfillment of human destiny? Or are we entitled to hope for something more?

Our current use of language, it must be said, does not bode well for those of us who live in hope, for consider what today is proudly called ‘the developed world’: In the face of extreme poverty we see gross overconsumption; in the face or environmental degradation we see a fetishistic obsession with economic growth; in the face of social alienation and spiritual malaise we see a vast corporate wasteland eating away at the future of humanity. Our collective imagination lies dormant. What is to be done? How now shall we live?

Despite the fact that western society is three to four times richer than it was in the 50s, at the beginning of the 21^st century we are confronted by what Clive Hamilton has called an ‘awful fact.’ Despite unprecedented levels of material wealth, there is a growing body of social science which indicates that people today are no more satisfied with their lives than people were in the 50s and 60s. In other words, increases in personal and social wealth long ago seem to have stopped increasing wellbeing in the West. It is troubling, therefore, to see that our whole society is geared towards maximizing wealth. As Henry David Thoreau would say, ‘We labor under a mistake.’

Is it possible that we have reached a stage in our economic development where the process of getting ever-richer is now causing the very problems that we seem to think getting ever-richer will solve? As one of Thoreau’s disciples, I wish to suggest that we have. I wish to suggest that, however suitable the pursuit of more wealth and higher standards of living were in the past, today that pursuit has become not just wasteful but dangerously counter-productive – fetishistic, even. Consumer culture, which everyday is being globalized further, has failed and is still failing to fulfill its promise of a better life, and has even begun taking away many of things upon which our wellbeing depends, such as community life, leisure, and a healthy natural environment. We can no longer just fall in line, then, and continue the march, ‘business as usual.’ We must explore alternative ways to live. We must experiment creatively, like the artist. We must be the poets of our own lives, and of a new generation.

That is the invitation/incitation that I will try to impart in this brief discussion of voluntary simplicity.

A preliminary definition

Voluntary simplicity is an anti-consumerist living strategy that rejects the materialistic lifestyle of consumer culture and affirms what is often just called ‘the simple life,’ or ‘downshifting.’ The rejection of consumerism arises from the recognition that ordinary western consumption habits are destroying the planet; that lives of high consumption are unethical in a world of great human need; and that the meaning of life does not and cannot consist in the consumption or accumulation of material things. Extravagance and acquisitiveness are thus considered a despairing waste of life, not so much sad as foolish, and certainly not deserving of the social status and admiration they seem to attract today. The affirmation of simplicity arises from the recognition that very little is needed to live well – that abundance is a state of mind, not a quantity of consumer products.

Sometimes called ‘the quiet revolution,’ this approach to life involves providing for material needs as simply and directly as possible, minimizing expenditure on consumer goods and services, and directing progressively more time and energy towards pursuing non-materialistic sources of satisfaction and meaning. This generally means accepting a lower income and a lower level of consumption, in exchange for more time and freedom to pursue other life goals, such as community or social engagements, artistic or intellectual projects, more fulfilling employment, political participation, sustainable living, spiritual exploration, reading, conversation, contemplation, relaxation, pleasure-seeking, love, and so on – none of which rely on money. The grounding assumption of voluntary simplicity is that human beings are inherently capable of living meaningful, free, happy, and infinitely diverse lives, while consuming no more than an equitable share of nature. Ancient but ever-new, the message is that those who know they have enough are rich.

According to this view, personal and social progress is measured not by the conspicuous display of wealth or status, but by increases in the qualitative richness of daily living, the cultivation of relationships, and the development of social, intellectual, aesthetic, and spiritual potentials. As Duane Elgin has famously defined it, voluntary simplicity is ‘a manner of living that is outwardly simple and inwardly rich, a deliberate choice to live with less in the belief that more life will be returned to us in the process.’

Voluntary simplicity does not, however, mean living in poverty, becoming an ascetic monk, or indiscriminately renouncing all the advantages of science and technology. It does not involve regressing to a primitive state or becoming a self-righteous puritan. And it is not some escapist fad reserved for saints, hippies, or eccentric outsiders. Rather, by examining afresh our relationship with money, material possessions, the planet, ourselves and each other, ‘the simple life’ of voluntary simplicity is about discovering the freedom and contentment that comes with knowing how much consumption is truly ‘enough.’ And this might be a theme that has something to say to everyone, especially those of us who are everyday bombarded with thousands of cultural messages insisting that ‘more is always better.’ Voluntary simplicity is an art of living that is aglow with the insight that ‘just enough is plenty.’

The spirit of late capitalist society, however, cries out like a banshee for us to expend our lives pursuing middle-class luxuries and coloured paper, for us to become faceless bodies dedicated to no higher purpose than the acquisition of nice things. We can embrace that comfortable unfreedom if we wish, that bourgeois compromise. But it is not the only way to live.

Voluntary simplicity presents an alternative.

STEPPING OUT OF THE RUSH

Consumer culture has failed to fulfill its promise of a better life, and it has even begun taking away many of things upon which our wellbeing depends, such as community life, leisure, and a healthy natural environment. The Life Poets’ Simplicity Collective is founded upon the idea that ‘the simple life’ is a viable alternative to consumer culture, one that will improve not only our own lives, but the lives of others, and, at the same time, help save the planet from the environmental catastrophe towards which we are so enthusiastically marching.

The 21^st century will be defined by how we today deal with the problems caused by overconsumption – not only how we deal with them politically and economically, but, perhaps most importantly, how we deal with them through the everyday decisions we make in our private lives.

And it is for this reason that the idea of voluntary simplicity should give us such hope, because it shows – although perhaps this is obvious – that the power to change the world ultimately lies in the hands of ordinary people. It is a reminder that, in the end, the nature of a society is the product of nothing more or less than the countless number of small decisions made by private individuals.

The corollary of this, of course, is that those small decisions, those small acts of simplification – insignificant though they may seem in isolation – can be of revolutionary significance when added up and taken as a whole. And that is one of the central messages that the Life Poets’ Simplicity Collective seeks to convey: That if we are concerned about the direction our society is heading, and if we seek a different way of life, then we must first look to our own lives, and begin making changes there, and not be disheartened by the fact that our social, economic, and political institutions embody outdated materialistic values that we ourselves reject.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said, in a phrase that expresses the very essence of voluntary simplicity: ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’ This inspiring call to personal action compliments the call of another great simple liver, Henry David Thoreau, who never tired of reminding us that, ‘The individual who goes it alone can start today.’ The point, here, is that there is no reason, nor is there any time, to wait for politicians to deal with the problems that we face; that what the world needs more than anything else is for brave visionaries to quietly step of the rat race and show, by example, both to themselves and to others, that a different way of life is both possible and desirable.

Let us, then, be pioneers once more.

ONE WAY THAT YOU CAN FACILITATE THE EMERGENCE OF A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY IS TO HELP PROMOTE THE MESSAGE OF VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY. YOU CAN DO THIS BY EMAILING THIS LINK TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY OR MAKING PHOTOCOPIES OF THIS WEBSITE AND DROPPING THEM IN LETTERBOXES AROUND YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD(S). (For a MSWord file of this website, condensed into two pages for printing, please email me at samuelalexander42@gmail.

FREE MEMBERSHIP

One of the chief aims of the Life Poets’ Simplicity Collective is to organize the voluntary simplicity movement for collective action and support. This requires an efficient means of communication. Accordingly, individuals sympathetic to voluntary simplicity, from all around the world, are encouraged to register their support by sending an email to simplicitycollective@gmail.com and encouraging others to do the same. Registered members will receive one email per month providing news and information on voluntary simplicity.

THIS WEBSITE IS CURRENTLY UNDER RECONSTRUCTION. MORE INFORMATION WILL BE AVAILABLE VERY SOON…