My recent post on 10 myths about simple living has prompted a couple of people to get in touch, and I thought I might do a round-up of related links. Samuel Alexander and the Simplicity Institute are producing some great research on downsizing and post-growth lifestyles. If you consider yourself to be living a life [...]
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Book review: Voluntary Simplicity, by Duane Elgin
There’s a long list of classic environment and lifestyle titles from past decades on my reading list. Every once in a while I pick one up – The Limits to Growth, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Silent Spring – and see how it has stood the test of time. Usually it confirms the impression I got [...]
10 myths about simple living
1. Simple living is about retreat, and withdrawing from the world On the contrary, simple living is about engaging more fully in the world, but with a different set of criteria about what matters. People matter, relationships, community, nature, the present moment, and life is full of distractions. Simple living clears the clutter away so [...]
Another reason to give up your car
A couple of months ago I listed ten reasons to give up your car. Here’s one I missed: the cost. According to a recent survey, the annual cost of running a car has risen to £3,089. That’s a 21% rise on last year, down to high oil prices and some bizarre shenanigans within the insurance [...]
Big, complex, expensive and violent
Events in Japan have, unsurprisingly, re-ignited the nuclear debate. Alongside genetic modification and perhaps nanotechnology, it is among our most controversial and high-stakes technologies. As I’ve read the different sides in the papers this week I’ve been reminded of E F Schumacher’s critique of industrial society. He identified four trends at work, and they underpinned [...]
The Idler Academy opens today
The Idler Academy is now open, Londoner’s may be pleased to hear. Aiming to recreate the “spirit of cultivated leisure” of the 18th Century coffeehouse, the academy will be serving coffee and cakes, selling books, and hosting talks and events. Visitors will be able to take courses in Latin, ukelele, embroidery, and growing food. Gavin [...]
Movie review: No Impact Man
It’s been out for a while, but I just got around to watching No Impact Man over the weekend. (Thank you Dogwoof sale*) If you haven’t come across it, Colin Beavan runs one of the world’s better environmental blogs at No Impact Man. It began a few years back to track a bold personal project [...]
Ten reasons to give up your car
I recently found myself explaining to a friend why I don’t have a driving licence, and have no intention of getting one any time soon. I claimed I could give them ten good reasons not to drive. I was making the point rhetorically, but then I thought I should actually try it… 1. Climate change [...]
Let’s normalise – making carbon cutting normal
10:10 has had a very successful first year, inspiring and connecting tens of thousands of people, building a campaign to change daylight savings time, co-ordinating an international day of action in October, and even getting the government to commit to cutting its emissions by 1o% this year. But it’s 2011, and you may have noticed [...]
The case for working with your hands, by Matthew Crawford
Since going part time, I have enjoyed writing in the mornings, and then gardening, making things, and working on our house renovation in the afternoons. Spending some time with actual things feels important when I spend so much time on a computer, even if my handyman skills leave a lot to be desired. The Case [...]
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