Conservation Guardians of Northwest Illinois

More Field Notes Previous Next

Home  •  Field Notes  • Living Well with Less

Can We Live as Well with Less?

Winter 2001-2002 Newsletter

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle used to be the mantra of recyclers.  It has now been extended to include a fourth "r."  Rethink.  Rethink what we buy, rethink need vs. want, rethink how we live.

When it comes to the environment, the way we live matters.  According to the United Nations Development Program, one child born in the industrial world consumes more in his or her lifetime than thirty to fifty children born in developing countries.  In our country, for every $100 we spend on groceries, $15 dollars goes towards the cost of the (often discarded) packaging.

EPA reports show doubling of per capita solid waste since 1960.  Current estimate of waste is 5.5 pounds of garbage per person per day.  The increase in per person waste produced indicates that increased population is not the only cause of increased garbage; it's also the increased rate of consumption.

While we consume more individually, our cities and towns are consuming the countryside by spreading out further into the environment.  It's called urban sprawl.  Around Atlanta and Las Vegas, urban sprawl causes awful traffic congestion, which encourages dependency on imported oil.

As the population moves out from the cities, more and more malls are built and large amounts of land are lost to parking. Urban sprawl is not just a big city problem.  In 1992, Illinois developed an average of 24,600 acres each year. In 1997, the average number of Illinois acres developed per year increased to 58,440 acres.

Over consumption affects us in other ways, also.  Aside from rising debt and lower savings, many of us spend a huge amount of time caring for our "stuff" and supposed "time-saving" devices.

So what is the answer to these situations?  Perhaps we need to question our lifestyles and rethink and redefine progress.  Is bigger really better?  New homes are often over 4,000 sq. ft. of living space.  How many jackets or pairs of shoes can one person wear?  Can we make Christmas and other holidays more personal and less consumer oriented?

Although both the questions and answers will vary from one individual and family to another, there are some organizations that have tackled these lifestyle questions:

Center for a New American Dream
Alternatives for Simple Living
New Roadmap Foundation
Simple Living Network

This downsizing trend is called "voluntary simplicity."  There are no rules, only guidelines and suggestions.  Changes are very personal and can only be based upon analyzing one's lifestyle and making changes that one can live with.  Some changes are based on reducing consumption and others are more value oriented.

Value oriented changes might be family story time instead of gift giving at holidays or baking cookies together instead of buying them.  I find simplifying to be an evolving process rather than an exact science.  Removing some of the clutter from my life has been rewarding.

"Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them.  Now we face the question whether a still higher standard of living is worth its cost in things natural, wild, and free."
—Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Anyone interested in more specifics or more in-depth discussion can call me, (815) 273-7366.

— Maggie Friedenbach, Recycling Educator, Jo-Carroll Solid Waste Agency