Simple Living Works! Monthly Digest

This complete digest, formerly posted weekly, is now updated at least weekly. It contains posts from both SLW! and other simple living sources.

The SLW! Weekly Nudge (focus on SLW!) and SLW! Weekly Digest (focus on colleague organizations) are available as part of a free subscription to SLW! Blog (When you arrive, click +Follow in lower right, add your email address, then confirm when email arrives.)

The free Daily Nudge is available by email -- send SUBSCRIBE to SimpleLivingWorks@yahoo.com -- or by Twitter @GeraldIversen.

2017

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In This Issue:

Susan Vogt Hazel Henderson
• SLW! Podcast #90--Susan Vogt's timely Lenten discipline "Love your enemy" //
• SLW! Podcasts #91-92 -- Hazel Henderson, founder of Ethical Markets Media, also author and syndicated columnist (4/15 & 5/1) //
• Banishing "Fake News" // Simpler Living SANITY // I Buy Blue //
• Our Simpler Living Daily Nudge // Easy-to-share for APRIL
• Podcast #89: Lacy Cagle, Education Dir. on Northwest Earth Institute's new course on voluntary simplicity, A Different Way: Living Simply in a Complex World (3/15)
• Podcast #88: Nancy Pearlman, Exec. Dir. of Educational Communications
• Simple Living SANITY // I Buy Blue // Banishing Fake News
• Our Simpler Living Weekly Daily Nudge // Easy-to-share for Feb.
// March
• Relish These Peace and Justice QUOTES // ART //
• What Others Are Doing - So Much Help!
• More!

What's NOW with SLW!

• Podcast #89: Lacy Cagle, Education Dir. on Northwest Earth Institute's new course on voluntary simplicity, A Different Way: Living Simply in a Complex World (3/15)
• Podcast #88: Nancy Pearlman, Exec. Dir. of Educational Communications, is an award-winning broadcaster, environmentalist, college instructor, anthropologist, editor, producer, on-air personality, and outdoorswoman who has made safeguarding the Earth’s ecosystems a career.
• April is Financial Literacy Month
• Review of Lee Van Ham's new "From Egos to Eden: Our Heroic Journey to Keep Earth Livable," vol. 2 of the "Eden for the 21st Century" Trilogy. Valentine's Day carried added meaning because colleague Lee's new book becomes available on Amazon in print and ebook and other locations where you can get the ebook (Nook, iBooks, Kobo). He says, "Hope the book stirs you to write a review, to converse with others, and to help me tell better than I currently do a story for OneEarth living. Wanting to show Earth more love!"
• Banishing Fake News: I blogged recently that we were changing our long-standing 'Alternate Celebrations' to 'Non-Conform-Freely Celebrations' because the terms 'alternate' and 'alternative' had been compromised by the new buzz words 'alternative facts' in DC. Larry Trover asked, 'Do you have any ideas for banishing fake news without abridging freedom of speech and freedom of the press?' Here's a dozen. READ MORE
• We've cancelled our vacation to Alaska and plan to see the fall colors in Vermont instead. More information about "I Buy Blue. Won't You Too?"
• SLW! Lent/Easter Resource Index
• Our Daily Simpler Living Nudge
  • What Is The NUDGE? / How It Works / How to GET It - Subscribe by sending NUDGE to SimpleLivingWorks@yahoo.com. / How to SHARE It / More About Holidays
  • 2016
  • September: Non-conform Freely
  • October: Sustenance
  • November: Unplug the Christmas Machine || Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?
  • December: Ten Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas
  • 2017
  • January: The Five Life Standards of Voluntary Simplicity
  • February: Celebrating More Responsibly--Music/Worship; Preparing for Lent, Easter and Other Spring Festivals; Rites of Passage; What Is 'Enough'?
  • March: Global Justice—Weeks 1 & 2: Hunger & Homelessness || Week 3: Peace/Violence || Week 4: Advocacy/Boycotts
• New SLW! Site Search Engine on Home Page Window #4
• Current activities of the Chief Activist
• SLW! Blog Index | SLW! Podcast Index
• SUBSCRIBE to SLW! Podcast for free through iTunes, Stitcher.com or your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to SLW! Blog. Click "+Follow" at lower right of blog post, enter a name and email address. Welcome!
• Simpler Living Alternative Daily Calendar - MARCH
• Check out a few of SLW! thought-provoking, timely resources that might meet your personal, family or congregational/group needs. They're all FREE. Visit Seasonal/Thematic Resource Index

What's Coming

Early 2017 SLW! Podcast guests:

What Others Are Doing - So Much Help!

I gladly pass along links from simple living bloggers, podcasters, coaches and others. Some faith-based, some not. You needn't read them all. Choose FIVE links -- including SLW! -- to investigate.
• NEW -- Alternative Radio Podcast (David Barsamian)
• Becoming Minimalist (Joshua Becker)
  • Inspiring Simplicity Reads (4/29)
  • Get Uncluttered This Spring (4/21)
  • Three Powerful Questions that Lift the Weight of “Too Much” and Anchor Us in Peace (4/17)
  • Inspiring Simplicity Reads (4/15)
  • 8 Ways Minimalism Helps Put Money In Your Pocket (4/13)
  • 8 Characteristics of People Who Are Successful At Getting Out Of Debt (4/7)
  • Inspiring Simplicity Reads (4/1)
  • Here's to All of You Trying to Make the Most of a Bad Situation (3/30)
  • 7 Pieces of Financial Advice That Forever Changed My Life (3/26)
  • How Our Need For Perfection May Be Literally Killing Us (3/21)
  • Inspiring Simplicity Reads (3/18)
  • Top Five Regrets of the Dying (3/13)
  • Helping Kids Overcome Envy (3/11)
  • Inspiring Simplicity Reads (3/4)
  • The Deeper Reason Why We Can't Remember People's Names (3/1)
• Center for a New American Dream: Kids Unbranded Action Kit
  • This month, we're challenging families to rethink their spring holiday traditions to be less wasteful while still honoring the meaning and spirit of the season. Why not give it a try yourself?
  • Have a More Fun, Less Stuff Easter: Easter doesn't have to be yet another commercialized, excessive celebration. You can still participate in all the fun without the waste and stress.
  • Take Our Zero Waste Easter Basket Challenge Challenge yourself to create an Easter basket that will produce no garbage that would be sent to landfill.
  • Tips for a Environmentally Friendly Passover If you've been wondering how to do Passover in a more environmentally friendly way, here are six ideas that might help.
  • View all of our Simplify the Holidays resources.
  • What's the biggest threat to middle-aged men? Hint: It's not smoking or obesity.
  • A group of Texas friends sticks together by building a "Bestie Row" of tiny houses.
  • They asked each family to buy a "normal week's worth of food". . . and the differences across cultures are striking.
  • Hope for a New(er) Dream
• The Common Good Podcast - Check out the new site.
  • Ep. 82 :: Kelly Siefken: How Sacramento Food Bank Distributes Food (Where the Food System Fails) and Helps Families Become Self-Sustaining
  • Ep. 81: Learning Resistance and Alternatives from Zapatistas and Jubilee's Mexico Partners
  • Ep. 80:: Walter Brueggemann on the Primal Power of Money & Possession: 6 Theses [Essential reading: his book's Preface, Foreword, Introduction (free online)] (2/1) || Part 2: Brief Biblical survey
• Community Solutions: Founded in 1940, this non-profit organization advocates for small communities and the benefits of face-to-face relationships. Since 2003, the focus has been to provide resources for low-carbon living and to inspire collective, cooperative solutions in the face of peak energy and climate change.
• Creation Justice CAPSULES: News and Opportunities for Christians Doing Creation Justice
• E-The Environmental Magazine
• Earth Island Journal (Earth Island Institute): Latest News // Current Issue
• Earth Mama (Joyce Rouse) NEW -- Made for These Times song for Ladies Sewing and Resistance Society
  • Lead sheet with melody line (downloadable PDF @ http://www.earthmama.org/)
  • Full lyrics (downloadable PDF @ http://www.earthmama.org/)
  • video (1 minute) of singing and sewing https://youtu.be/NQjZ4eeVTWs
  • video (6 minute) including wonderful short interviews with sewers explaining WHY they will be marching, some for the first time ever in this kind of activism. Song plays the last minute. https://youtu.be/IJiNZcYc428
  Blessings, Joyce (Earth Mama) //
Website, Songbooks, YouTube videos; Whole Enchi-Mama on a USB Thumb drive, Standing on the Shoulders music video, sheet music offerings // SLW! Podcast
• Eco-Justice Ministries (Peter Sawtell) // Voluntary Simplicity archive // SLW! Podcast // SLW! Podcast #66
  • Four Sentences for Climate Justice (4/28)
  • Science, not Silence (4/21)
  • Easter, Creation and Restoration (4/14)
  • Yes, Forgiveness (4/7)
  • An Unforgivable Order (3/31)
  • Thank God for Regulations (3/24)
  • Budgets Are Moral Documents (3/17)
  • Acting on Evidence and Morals (3/10)
  • No Palms for Palm Sunday? (3/3)
• GodSpace (Christine Sine) // SLW! Podcast
• The Good Stuff your dose of what's working in the world from The Story of Stuff Project!
• Green Child eMagazine: Simplify for Happier, Calmer Kids
• The Homesteading Guide Daily: Exploring life off the grid.
• Jubilee Economics / Casa Jubileo (Lee Van Ham & Gerald Iversen)
  • A Bit of Encouragement from the Red Mid-West (4/18)
  • Centro Cultural Daniel Swanson (3/16)
  • A World Famous Prayer Opposes Superpowers, Urges Jubilee Living (3/11)
  • Richard Rohr Brings Us Closer to Nature and to Our "True Selves" by Joining Contemplation with Action (2/13)
  • Even More Encouraging News from Central Coast Calif (1/27)
  • Standing with Standing Rock on Central Coast Calif. (11/23)
  • Did the 2016 Election Open an Opportunity for OneEarth Jubilee? (11/17)
  • Mexico Blog (English/Spanish): Chiapas Delegation
• A Living Earth Economy (David Korten - Yes! Magazine): How we can make peace with nature, realize the value of living wealth, and return to local, self-organized rule.
• Living Lightly (Susan Vogt on living more simply but abundantly): 365+ Days of Give-Aways - Finding good homes for no longer needed items rather than just putting them in the trash //SLW! Podcast // SLW! Podcast: Lent
  • Pre-cycling & Packaging - How deceptive advertising and over-packaging can play mind games on us. What parts can you break free of?
  • Phone-fast - How long could you go without a cell phone? Do you want to? What to do with the old one?
  • Top 10 Simplicity Tips of 2016 - Although I'd like to think you read each bi-weekly blog I post, for the time-crunched among you, here are what I consider my top 10 from last year.
  • Online Shopping & Boxes - In the aftermath of Christmas I consider the pros and cons of online shopping and the plethora of boxes it creates.
  • Beyond Virtue - Timeliness - As virtuous as it may be to find the perfect place to donate older, but still serviceable clothes, sometimes the perfect can be the enemy of the good. How much is it worth your time?
  • Doing Good Can Be Hard - Related to the the above post (where I took the easy way out) here is the opposite position (where I made the effort to save a 50+ year old appliance. What would you do?
• Live Simply (Third Way: Celeste Kennel-Shank)
• Lutheran Peace Fellowship: Simple Living Resources // SLW! Podcast
• The Minimalists podcast (Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus). Getting us past the things so we can make room for life's most important things -- which actually aren't things at all.
  • 071 | Media
  • 070 | Clutter
  • 069 | Values
  • 068 | Overwhelm
  • 067 | Happiness
  • 066 | Things
  • 065 | Tour
  • Minimalism: A Documentary about the Important Things
  • The Art of Letting Go: The Minimalists TEDX Talk (July, 2016)
• Mustard Seed Associates (Andy Wade)
• New Changemakers: Join the Changemaking Celebration! (Tom Sine)
• NorthWest Earth Institute's latest discussion course ebook, Sustainability Works: Rethinking Business As Usual // Change Is Our Choice: Creating Climate Solutions // Voluntary Simplicity // SLW! Podcast
• The OneEarth Project (Lee Van Ham) // SLW! Podcast
  • A Fun Conversation about OneEarth Consciousness with Gwilda Wyaka (4/21)
  • 10 Ways Rallies and Marches Can Move Us toward a Better Planet (4/12)
  • Allies in Spreading the Message of OneEarth Ways (4/6)
  • Ecological Events Accelerate Despite Washington, D.C. (3/27)
  • Four Years to Prevent 1.5°C Rise in Global Temperature; Best Action? Form Alliances (3/17)
  • Patricia St. Onge, "Foreword" Writer for My Book, and I Will Be at the Same Event and YOU ARE INVITED!
  • One Decisive Question for Keeping Earth Livable; Three Responses (3/11)
  • Three minute film:Ecology and Economics: Colleagues, Not Rivals
  • Conversation about The OneEarth Project and Lee's book, Blinded by Progress: Breaking Out of the Illusion That Holds Us
• The Pastoral Center/Gospel Living (Paul Canavese) // SLW! Podcast
  • Other Simple Living and Ecology resources
  • CatholicCreationCare.com - General resources
  • CreationCareKids.com - Children's resources
• PostConsumers: Find the Satisfaction of Enough / Full Article Library
  • 2017 Resolution Summary: Spend Less Money by Letting Go of Addictive Consumerism
    We all want better control of our budgets, but what if you could improve your mental health, reduce stress and be friendlier to the planet at the same time? Our 2017 resolution shows you how. Read more >>

  • How Much of Your Monthly Spend is Caused by Addictive Consumerism?
    Your first step will need to be to figure out how much addictive consumerism contributes to your monthly spend. We walk you through how to do it. Read more >>

  • Tips for Setting Realistic Budget Goals
    The fastest way to ensure that you fail at your budget goals is to set unrealistic goals and then go into a cycle of feeling as though you failed when you can't meet them. We have tips on setting productive and achievable goals. Read more >>

  • When Your Budget is Fine But You're Still Not Happy
    The purpose of everything that we do at Postconsumers is to bring more joy to your life through the satisfaction of enough. But what if your budget seems to be just fine but you're still not happy? We have advice on where to look next. Read more >>
  • Manufactured Trends: A Marketing Arsenal Weapon You Should Watch Out For
  • 25 Ways to Help Save the Ocean (Or At Least Stem the Tide)
  • Marketing 101 for the Postconsumer: understand how marketers are manipulating us, so we can make informed decisions about how we control our consumerism.
• Simple Enough (Bob Sitze) // SLW! Podcast
• Simple Living: the Good Life (Janet Luhrs) - Time, Finances, Home-Work, Health
• Simple Times (Debi Taylor-Hough): Saving Your Time, Money & Sanity
• Simplicity Collective - Let us be pioneers once more (Samuel Alexander)
• Simplicity Parenting (Kim John Payne): because it is a beautiful world
• Smart and Simple Matters podcast (Joel Zaslofsky of Value of Simple: Liberate Your Time, Money and Talent) // SLW! Podcast
  • The Not So Big Way to Have Useful Beauty Every Day (Sarah Susanka), Ep. 117
  • Why the Future of Work Is Working for Yourself (Stephen Warley), Ep. 116
  • When Being Your Way into Action Is Better Than Thinking (Julie Gray), Ep.115
  • Death Literacy, Enoughness, and Why Life Is Long (Humaira Hamid), Ep.114
  • How to Be Social, Selective & Simple (Ryan Nicodemus), Ep.113
• TransitionNetwork.org: Transition Towns--A movement of communities coming together to reimagine and rebuild our world
• TreeHugger: Finding a Greener Future
• For links to earlier entries, check the previous SLW! blog.
• Upcoming Non-Conform-Freely Celebrations: Sept.-Dec. // Jan.-April

What's Happened

• Podcast #89: Lacy Cagle, Education Dir. on Northwest Earth Institute's new course on voluntary simplicity, A Different Way: Living Simply in a Complex World (3/15)
• Podcast #88: Nancy Pearlman, Exec. Dir. of Educational Communications, is an award-winning broadcaster, environmentalist, college instructor, anthropologist, editor, producer, on-air personality, and outdoorswoman who has made safeguarding the Earth’s ecosystems a career.
• April is Financial Literacy Month
• Podcast #87: Author/community organizer Cecile Andrews
• Podcast #86: John 'Affluenza' de Graaf
• Podcast #84-85: Walter Brueggemann on Money & Possessions (part 1 of 2--Six Theses Throughout the Bible) // (part 2--survey of the Bible)
• Post-Election Emergency/Disaster Preparedness and Survival Guide
• John Marty: The Environmentalist -- City Pages' People Issue celebrates men and women who make Minnesota a better place to live. Worth reading or listening from John Marty in "Whose Birthday?" and  "Whose Birthday?" Podcast
• Previews of Simple Living Blogs, Podcasts and Sites // Collaborators & Champions
• Recent Responses to all SLW! media, including links
• New Year's Resolution: I will focus on what I CAN change. I will focus on voluntary simplicity, my choices to challenge consumerism, live justly and celebrate responsibly.

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Peace, Gerald 'Jerry' Iversen, Chief SLW! Activist

*IMAGE: Spirit of Simplicity #3-A301

For hard copies of Alternatives' resources at nominal cost, contact ELCA Archives, 321 Bonnie Lane, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 // (847) 690-9410 // archives@elca.org

We do not solicit or accept donations, nor do we sell anything. All our resources and services are free of charge. We're an all-volunteer organization. Instead, we urge Alternative Giving. Give away at least 25% of what you spent last year on all celebrations -- Christmas, birthdays, etc. -- to local, national and international causes.

Copyright: Creative Commons non-commercial attribution share-alike license.

*Treasury of Celebrations: published by Northstone, a division of Wood Lake Publications, BC, Canada, best known for its Seasons of the Spirit curriculum.

Through social media, we extend the mission and resources of the non-profit organization Alternatives, 1973-2011. Simple Living Works! web site home page | Theme/Seasons Index. To learn more about SLW! MISSION, for example -- please listen to our getting-acquainted episodes, especially #1 and 2 We produce a half-hour podcast twice a month, hopefully educational and inspiring for you, your family and your congregation or group .We blog each week.

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