People are finally pushing back against the incredible influence that corporations have on every aspect of our lives. People are finding a voice for the frustrations of being powerless against the corporations.

And that’s a good thing. Corporations have taken control of our economy, our jobs, our political system, our environment, but much more than that: they now tell us how to entertain ourselves, how to spend time with others, how to show love for friends and family, how to look good and feel good about ourselves, how to communicate, how to educate our kids, how to spend our spare time, how to be in public spaces together, how to create and enjoy music and art.

Every minute of our lives is now spent with products of a corporation, and we are never alone.

How can we find our non-corporate voices? How can we protest against this?

We can take a stand.

The minimalist might protest simply by not buying corporate products. Don’t eat at corporate restaurants, or buy corporate coffee, or buy corporate clothes. Don’t have logos on everything you own. Don’t watch corporate entertainment — make your own! Find non-corporate ways to spend time with people. Find non-corporate ways to celebrate Christmas. Find non-corporate music to listen to, or create your own.

It’s possible. We still have our humanity. We can still breathe, but first we must create some breathing room.

Their philosophy of production is beautiful:

“We believe in ‘petite-production’, which means the willingness to work on slower rhythm and scale. Through creating and hand-making by ourselves, we are aiming to flavor our products with the warmth of the craftsmen’s hands, instead of the gasoline from the machine.”

Imagine if our world of mass-production was turned into a world of petite-production. People would hand-make clothing bicycles furniture food.

We would produce less and consume less. Things would cost more but people would make more for their labor.

We would love our work more. Produce quality things that last. Love our lives more. Call it Anti-Walmartization.

Slow down make less do it better be happier.

Every aspect of our lives have been pervaded by corporations. We eat not just fresh, simple food grown from local farms, but processed food (sometimes “organic” processed food) packaged by corporations, or fried up at chain restaurants. Coffee brewed by Starbucks. Computers made by Apple. Programs from Microsoft and Adobe. Shoes by Nike, clothes by Gap, homes by Crate & Barrel. We spend time at the malls, watch TV shows and movies made by major entertainment conglomerates, read books and magazines and newspapers by those same conglomerates, listen to our iPods, watch on the iPad, talk on the iPhone or Blackberry, get our email through Google or Apple, say hello on Facebook, get our news from CNN and The New York Times Company, do our workout at Gold’s, eat our Weight Watchers, connect via Verizon.

And yes, I’m a part of this.

What part of our lives isn’t controlled by corporations? A tiny portion, one that’s shrinking rapidly.

Minimalism is a way to shake free of those shackles, slowly. It’s a way of saying, “I don’t need to buy more, to work more in order to get more of your products and services. In fact, I can be happy, content, joyful, creative without spending a single dime. All I need is the sun and the trees and the water and a good friend.”

Minimalism is finding ways to live that aren’t controlled by the corporations.

A human being is a living, feeling complex organism whose single goal is the perpetuation of its genes through survival and reproduction. A corporation is a non-living, non-feeling complex organization whose single goal is earning more profits for its shareholders. And while I’m not against making money, I do think that the pure profit motive isn’t always compatible with our survival interests as human beings.

Consider: a corporation wants to maximize profits, and to do so it will often cut corners, endangering our health and the environment. It will deceive us so that we will spend our money on its products. It will treat its employees horribly, to cut costs and drive up production. It will treat living, feeling animals like objects to be manufactured, cut up, processed, fried and packaged, ignoring the suffering of those animals because profits matter, not compassion. It will happily make us fat, because it knows that selling fried food devoid of nutrition is good for profits, while we die from heart disease and diabetes and cancer. Our earth is being devastated, which is good for profits but not for us as humans.

It’s time to stop this madness. The corporation is a hungry beast, and we keep feeding it. Let’s walk away, and let it die from hunger. Let’s free ourselves, and create a world where living things are more important than profits.

Here’s the thing: you can already have it, right now.

So often we forget that the things that constrain us … they’re in our heads. They don’t exist in the real world, except where we believe they exist. Money, for example … we already live in a moneyless world, as money only exists in our heads. Sure, there’s the physical paper money or gold coins, but those have no value except the value we believe they have, and our ability to buy things with money, our need to do work for money, our stress over not having money or owing money … it only exists in our heads. The world around us, if we suddenly stopped believing in money, would be moneyless.

Governments are the same. The U.S. Declaration of Independence states that “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” … but actually, they exist only in the minds of the governed, and only have power so long as the governed allow them to have power. The same applies to any system: schools, work, banks, and so on — they exist in our minds.

And so, to live in a world reimagined, we only need to use our imaginations. We have that power already.

Want to live in a car-free world? Stop using a car. Now the world you live in becomes one in which you walk, bike, and use mass transit. Others might not follow, but that’s their choice. If you want to live where there aren’t any cars, there exist such places and you can move to one of those places, if that’s important to you. But already, you can live in a car-free world.

Want to live in a world where your food isn’t shipped thousands of miles and grown unsustainably by agribusiness? Start a garden. You can just start with one plant, and then another, until you have enough to eat eventually. Or start a community garden, or use farmer’s markets, or join (or start) a CSA.

Want to live in an unschooled world? Unschool your kids. It’s not hard, and takes zero resources — although the Internet and the library are great if you can get them, and the world around us is an unlimited resource for education.

Want to live in a non-consumerist world? Stop buying things. Make things last, reuse things and move to reusable things (such as cloth napkins and glass containers), fix things when they break, trade, join Freecycle. Stop watching ads (which might mean you stop watching TV or reading ad-supported magazines and newspapers).

Want to live in a paperless world? Stop buying and using paper. Want to work from home or near your home? Start a business where you can do that now (it costs almost nothing), or work with your boss to telecommute.

Want happiness? Everything you need is already here, in the world around you: beautiful people, gorgeous nature, the legs you need to walk among these things, and the eyes, ears and mouth you need to appreciate them.

I acknowledge that we won’t stop global warming with just our own actions, but at the least, we’ve stopped participating in the destruction of our planet … and at best, we inspire others by showing them it’s possible.

I realize these things would be better with larger numbers, so find a friend or family member willing to join you, and you have a partner. Then a third, and a fourth, and now you have a club. Get a fifth, and you have a movement. And then you have some real magic.

But the magic, my friends, can start today.

It stems from my belief that somewhere along the line, we allowed ourselves to be sidetracked from what’s important — people — and instead have put profits, corporations, productivity, and consuming at the forefront of everything we do.

We’ve become workers focused on productivity, because we need to earn a living, so that we can … buy things (including entertainment). Including a car, which is needed to go to work and to shop. We need to send our kids to school, so we don’t need to worry about them when we work, and so that they can grow up to be good workers. We need to buy fast food and convenience food, because we’re too busy or tired from work to cook.

We’ve gotten fat, tired, sick, deep in debt, disconnected from our kids and other family members, divorced, separated from our neighbors. We’re polluting and causing global warming, all in the name of money and work and profits and buying. This seems broken, to me.

But what’s a better way of living? A society reimagined, built around people and a love for our environment and living and working and playing together, a love for being outside and playing and being active, a love for doing things and spending time with people rather than for buying things and working to support that buying habit.

What would such a society look like? I hesitate to put forth my vision, because it shouldn’t come from one person but should be reimagined by everyone who will live it. However, I’ll put forth a small sliver of such a vision, just to get the conversation started.

The car, junked

I’d start by banishing the car. It’s supposed to give us freedom, but we’re chained to it and its expensive payments, maintenance, repairs, fuel, parking, pollution, and so on. I’d prefer the freedom to walk, bike, and take good mass transit, and to play in the roads again. We’d reclaim the roads as public spaces for the community, and redesign life so that most everything we need (food, work, school, play, stores, restaurants, etc.) are within walking or biking distance, and mass transit is available for everything else.

That means we’d need to stop commuting to work. I’d propose that many people could work from home, either as entrepreneurs and small business people or telecommute or collaborate online. Close to our homes, we’d also need marktets for food and tools and whatnot, and people who make clothes and food and bikes and all that kind of stuff, not to mention repair and maintain everything in the community. We’d need builders and musicians and all of that too, but it could be done much closer to home.

Schools, erased

I’d also banish the school, at least as we know it: institutions that force learning, that homegenize children, that teach them to be robotic workers instead of thinkers, creators, independent learners. This isn’t a criticism of teachers (who I think are saints), but of the system itself. Kids are turned off to learning because they’re forced to go to school for 6-8 hours a day, sit at desks, not talk or play with their classmates except at designated times, do work they’re not interested in, memorize things without thinking much … pretty much what they’re expected to do for most of their adult lives, unless they’re lucky enough to break out of this thinking.

What’s better? I unschool my kids, and I think this is a much more human system, and better if your goal is to get the kids to actually learn, to enjoy learning, to figure out how to do things themselves, to create and be self-motivated … pretty much what I hope my kids will do as adults. How do we do this? We help them find things they’re interested in, and try not to force them to do anything. They read books they find interesting, work on projects that are fun to them, get excited about things, make things. Revolutionary, I know, but not that hard once you break out of the schooling mindset. We’re still learning how to unschool, as are our kids, but if it weren’t a learning process, it wouldn’t be worthwhile.

So kids could be unschooled in my reimagined society, learning from their parents or siblings or grandparents, or on their own, or from working members in their neighborhood who are doing things they’re interested in. Or we could have learning centers, where kids go if they’re interested in learning about art or music or writing or computers or cooking or building or whatever — they wouldn’t be forced to go here, but would be provided with the resources. Unschools, provided by the community, supplanting the cost of running the old-fashioned style schools.

Sharing vs. consumerism

I’d get rid of supermarkets and huge agribusinesses and food flown and shipped from thousands of miles away. Instead, we’d grow our own food, right in our backyards, or in community gardens. We’d swap foods with neighbors — some of my sweet potatoes for some of your quinoa. I think more people would become vegetarian/vegan this way, but it wouldn’t be required — if you wanted to raise your own animals and kill them, you could. This system would be hugely better for the environment, and our health, and would reconnect us with our food and nature. We’d eat whole, unprocessed foods, cooked tastily. It would take more time, I’m sure, but slow food isn’t such a bad thing, and if done right, it wouldn’t have to be too time consuming, especially if everyone pitched in.

I’d do away with the corporation, and put the cooperative in its place. Corporations are so inhuman, so profit-driven, so horrible for employees and the environment (in general, with exceptions). Cooperatives are owned by the workers, and so obviously treat the workers with more humanity. They’re also less likely to rape the earth or damage the community or customers. They’re simply a way for people to work together democratically and cooperatively.

I’d change the concept of housing, somehow. Right now, it’s hugely wasteful, with people buying gigantic homes with all kinds of space they don’t need, needing all kinds of heating/cooling as a result, and forcing people to work long hours to pay for it. Instead, we could have smaller homes, built with the help of neighbors (think Amish barn-raising), so we’d need far fewer resources to build them and far less debt to own them. We might even have community homes, if people felt like it, though that wouldn’t be mandatory. This would allow sharing of resources, and would reduce the cost of living for everyone involved.

I’d have libraries for everything. Just as bike libraries are springing up, and car sharing is becoming more common in cities, and other libraries like tool libraries are coming into public consciousness, we could have libraries for any kind of resources: computers, clothing, furniture, even houses. This would mean things would be far cheaper to use, as we’d be sharing them, and it would mean far less waste as well.

I’d have zero advertising, and close to zero consumerism. We’d discourage people “shopping” and paying for entertainment and trying to buy more and more just to impress others, and instead focus on experiences and sharing and doing things together — reading and creating and going outside for hikes and cooking together and gardening together and building together and fixing things together or being alone … but not buying.

Work, living, and community needs could be reimagined too — perhaps we’d form voluntary teams to take care of different things. For example, if parks or streets needed to be cleaned, we could have teams to do that, and everyone could volunteer a certain number of hours (not forced, but you’d probably be embarrassed if you didn’t pull your share). Anything could be organized this way, voluntarily and democratically: workplaces, teaching, cooking, care of young children, whatever the community wanted. This would take closer-knit communities, but I think that would be more possible without cars and with people walking and biking, and doing things together such as community gardens and building neighbors’ houses.

A digital world

I’d have free wireless Internet for the entire community, so that everyone could collaborate and have access to information and education. Online sites could be used to organize the community and put forth proposals and build consensus. The wireless would be paid for by everyone, and could be done with the money we save from food and not having to build infrastructure for cars and so forth. We could also eliminate the need for a telephone system, and I’d also get rid of cable TV systems, which would help pay for free wireless.

I’d eliminate paper, for the most part. It’s a waste of trees and takes up a lot of space in offices and people’s houses, and then often becomes waste. Books, magazines, newspapers, CDs, DVDs all become digital (as they are already). Paperwork becomes digital, and faxes are killed two decades after they should have been killed. We eliminate printers and save more money. All we have are little notebooks and journals and sketchpads for those who like to write and draw on paper.

The results

Think about this: with these changes, we’d have much smaller living expenses, because housing would be affordable, we wouldn’t be paying for cars, food would be cheaper, school would be free, other things would be cheap because we’d be using libraries for everything. We’d not be consumers, but builders and creators and growers. And so, with such small expenses, we would have to work far less to earn a living.

Imagine that: lower expenses means working less, which means more free time to … do anything you want. To spend time with friends, family, kids, neighbors. To be alone. To create, to commune with nature, to be free. To do interesting things. All of that free time, far from being a drain on society, could be a huge benefit, as people would be happier, have better family lives, would create more interesting things, would be less likely to commit crimes, and so on. I’m not saying this would create a utopia, but I think it would have a positive effect. We’d, of course, be much better for the environment and much better for our health, our sanity, our happiness.

Back to reality

OK, so by now you’re saying, “Yeah right, Leo. Keep dreaming.” And I acknowledge this is a dream, but the conversation needs to be started somewhere. On the note of practicality, we wouldn’t need to change the entire world, or the entire country or culture. Just one community, and it could be a small one — a college town such as Austin or Davis or Eugene, or a neighborhood such as Nopa (in S.F.). This community could organize itself and reimagine itself, and make one change at a time towards a more positive future.

This community, I think, would inspire others, and other communities might soon follow, just as Bogota has inspired many other places with some of its progressive policies. By showing it can be done, and sharing some of what they learned, these early communities would pave the way for others to start down this road.

It’s a road I’d love to walk down myself. But don’t let me tell you what to do: reimagine the future yourself, and join the conversation.

—

See part two of this post: society, reimagined: how to make it reality.

We’re a society of conveniences, more than anything else. But at what price?

The global warming crisis, for example, has been entirely caused by conveniences, and the solution, many say, must be just as convenient as the problem: electric cars, clean energy, smart homes, organic convenience foods. I’m not entirely convinced — I think we’re going to need to rethink our love of conveniences.

The obesity epidemic has also been caused by conveniences: fast food and microwaveable meals and food that has been processed and artificially flavored so eating takes so little work that we do it in huge amounts. The solution, for many, must also be convenient — they don’t want to cook their own meals or put in hours of exericise. They want fast but healthy meals that are ready instantly, exercise that can be done in a few minutes or that feels easy, pills and surgery that solve our fat problems. My thinking is that exercise is and should be hard work — hard but fun. Cooking healthy meals takes a little time, but it should be enjoyable and mindful cooking and eating.

Cars are wonderfully convenient, except when they aren’t: hefty monthly payments, taking time for maintenance and cleaning and fueling, breaking down in the middle of the highway or not starting or getting a flat tire, getting road rage when stuck in rush hour traffic, circling the block to look for parking, and so on. The cost of that convenience, of course, is our health and our environment — small prices to pay, perhaps.

Convenience always comes with hidden costs, when you look at the whole picture. Sometimes that cost is to the Third World, or to the environment, or to our own future, but hey, that’s Somebody Else’s Problem (SEP).

I once said we should unautomate, and it’s a thought that we should come back to often. It’s inconvenient to hang dry clothes, but it’s also pleasant and sustainable. Having a small home garden is not as convenient as relying on agribusiness, and yet it’s worth the price of inconvenience. Walking, biking, and taking mass transit isn’t so convenient, but it’s much more enjoyable and sustainable than relying on cars.

What inconveniences can we incorporate into our daily lives that would be rewarding in many ways? I don’t have the answers, only the question.

Well, hear me out, please. If you could read to the end of the post before disagreeing, blasting me, or dismissing me, I’d be grateful.

In this post I’ll tell you (briefly) why I chose veganism and how it is the diet I believe is most in line with minimalism.

Minimal eating

Veganism, simply defined, is abstaining from animal products, from meat and fish and poultry to dairy and eggs and other such products. I also try for whole foods that are minimally processed, which means I mostly eat veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, some whole grains.

This is a limited, minimal diet, and yet it can be incredibly satisfying and maximally flavorful. It’s also very healthy, very light, and low on the budget (if you compare it to eating whole foods carnivorously).

A small amount of ingredients. Light on the palate and stomach. Easy to prepare, with a minimum of fuss.

The most sustainable diet

I won’t go into the figures here (they’re covered better elsewhere), but raising animals for meat, eggs and dairy is incredibly wasteful. For every pound of meat or dairy, many times that amount of plants must be used to feed the animals for those products.

Animals also produce a huge amount of pollution and contribute immensely to greenhouse gases, not to mention the machinery and fuel that’s used to raise, slaughter and transport them … and all the plants needed to feed them. They contribute hugely to deforestation and other environmental problems as well.

Eating only plants cuts that waste to a minimal amount, and is so much better for the environment. Minimalists who care about living lightly and sustainably would do well to research this and consider it.

Minimal cruelty

One of the main reasons for becoming a vegan is that we don’t believe animals should be held captive, suffer, and be slaughtered for our pleasure.

There is absolutely no need for humans to consume animal products to live a healthy life. Sure, we’ve eaten them for millions of years, but as millions and millions of people have proven, you can eat a vegan diet and be healthy.

And so, the only reason to eat animal products is pleasure — you like the taste and “can’t give it up”. Vegans don’t believe animals should suffer for our pleasure, and becoming vegan means you’re opting out of a society that treats animals with extreme cruelty and pretends it doesn’t happen.

Addendum 1: Obviously this applies to factory farming, but it’s also true of free-range, grass-fed animals. Some vegans (myself included) don’t believe animals are objects that should be used for our pleasure, kept captive and killed, no matter how “humanely” we treat them while alive. This is akin to slavery of a fellow thinking, feeling creature. Animals don’t exist for human benefit — they exist for their own benefit.

Addendum 2: Another justification commonly made is that vegetarians kill plants, and those are living things too. However, they don’t feel and think and suffer in the same way that humans and animals do — they don’t have a central nervous system or brain. It’s a fallacious argument — carnivores have no problem with killing plants, and are only pointing this out to make vegans look inconsistent. If you feel that killing plants is cruel, then I challenge you to live consistently with that belief. Vegans are doing our best to live consistently with ours.

Living lightly, not always conveniently

If your definition of minimalism involves always choosing the most convenient, easiest options, then veganism might not be the most minimal choice. It can sometimes be inconvenient, when eating at restaurants that aren’t vegan-friendly or at the homes of non-vegan friends or family.

That’s a reality, but in truth, it’s not that hard. I mostly cook my own food, with a minimum of preparation, and so most days I have no problems whatsoever.

More and more restaurants are becoming vegan-friendly, and the ones that aren’t can usually whip up a quick and simple vegetable dish on request. I usually avoid McDonald’s and most fast food anyway. When I go to someone else’s house, I usually bring a dish with me, and friends and family who know me best often will cook a dish for me out of consideration.

So it’s not that hard. My suggestion, if you’re interested, is starting small: try a couple vegan dishes this week, a couple next week, and so on. There’s no need to drastically change overnight, but in time you’ll find that vegan dishes are delicious and the vegan lifestyle is wonderfully minimalist.

Thanks for listening, my friends.

It’s hard to let go.

Recently on Twitter someone asked: “Both parents gone. Tried to keep small things, photos – even then it’s alot of stuff. Regret tossing some notes & cards ..help?”

I can’t imagine how hard that would be, losing both parents and trying to hold on to memories of them. So I won’t try to give advice here.

What I can do is say what has worked for me, in allowing myself to let go of possessions but hold on to memories.

1. Scan. Old photos, letters, cards, notes, report cards, kids’ drawings, awards, etc. All can be scanned and saved into your computer. Use a program such as Evernote to keep them all organized, synced among your computers, and backed up online.

2. Take pictures. If the object can’t be scanned (a little teddy bear, or a wedding dress), take a digital photo. Keep them all organized via Google’s Picasa photo program — it’ll also store everything online, privately if you want, and you can use it to sync between computers.

3. Share with others. Give some of the most treasured things to others who will enjoy having them. Allow them to pass them on to other loved ones, etc., so the love and memories can be spread rather than hoarded.

4. Box things. If you really can’t part with things, even after scanning and taking photos of them, put them in boxes and put them out of sight, in storage, marked with a date that’s 6 months from now. On that date, open the box and realize you didn’t really need the items — and then pass them on or toss them.

4. Remember what’s important. It’s not the actual, physical objects that matter — these you can learn to let go of, with time. What matters is the memories. If you can hold on to the memories, by looking through scanned letters and photos on your computer from time to time, then you’re good.

There’s no one way, of course, but one thing to consider is whether eating huge amounts of food, super-sized fast food meals and mountains of fried cheesy food that you find at chain restaurants … whether this American style of eating is consistent with the minimalist philosophy.

I say no. A minimalist would more likely eat less, prepare food simply with few ingredients, eat mindfully, and eat sustainably.

Here’s how.

• Eat less. If you’re overweight, eating less is absolutely the best thing you can do. If you’re underweight, eating less isn’t a good idea. But the Okinawans, reknowned for their incredible health and longetivity, do so well in part because they eat fewer calories than most people. They stop when they’re 80% full. I’ve been doing this with great results. Trick is to cut back on your portions a little at a time, and your stomach slowly grows smaller. It’s not hard if you do it slowly, gradually. Don’t starve yourself, but learn to eat until you’re almost full — after 5 minutes, you’ll realize you really are full.
• Fewer ingredients. Try three-ingredient recipes (other than spices, oil & water) — there are lots of them on the web. I like oatmeal, nuts & fruit (with cinnamon); black bean chili with tomatoes (and cilantro, cayenne, chiles, salt); black beans & quinoa; soy yogurt, berries & nuts; coconut flakes, fruit & soymilk; apples & almonds. You get the idea.
• Simple preparation. The above dishes require very little preparation. If you really love cooking, this tip won’t be for you, but for those who normally eat out or eat packaged foods, it’s important to find foods that don’t require a lot of prep time. You want to do little work with few ingredients — just fresh, real food that is flavorful and healthy.
• Eating mindfully. Instead of eating while you watch TV, try paying attention to each bite, savoring your food and getting the most out of it while eating less.
• Eating sustainably. A plug for veganism, which is more sustainable than meat and dairy because plants require fewer resources (yes, even fewer than free-range animals). If everyone became vegan, we’d have more than enough food to feed the world, and we’d use fewer resources with less carbon emissions.

As I’ve said before, minimalism is a great way to step more lightly upon this earth. Consuming less is more important than buying green — though I’d encourage you to do both.

So let’s get straight to the tips:

1. Eat less. Wrote about this recently. Less food consumed means less resources used up and pollution used to create the food and get it to you.

2. Eat less meat. Worldwide, beef production contributes more to climate change than the entire transportation sector. Pork and chicken are also big contributors to pollution and carbon emissions, compared to plants.

3. Eat locally. Transporting food from where it’s grown or raised to where it’s processed and packaged, to your supermarket, has a high environmental cost. Eating locally not only greatly reduces that transportation cost but it supports local farmers instead of corporations. Look for local foods, in season, at farmer’s markets near you, or at your supermarket or local health food store, or get involved with a CSA.

4. Drive less. Work from home or telecommute as much as possible. Combine errands to make fewer trips. Move to a place near work and all the things you need. Walk or bike more, or use public transit. It takes time to reduce your driving, but if you’re conscious about it, you can make changes a little at a time. Also, you’ll get healthier by walking or biking instead of driving.

5. Travel less. Airplane flights are a huge contributor to climate change. Travel less by doing teleconferences, taking vacations close to home, and rethinking your travel needs. I’ve traveled a couple times in the last couple of years, but before that it had been about 7 years without a flight.

6. Buy less. Buying a lot of things is wasteful. Each item requires a lot of resources and contributes hugely to climate change (see the True Cost of Stuff). So cut back on how much you buy. See if you can borrow an item, check out a book from a library, make what you have last longer, find innovative ways to repurpose what you already have or make an item yourself, or just do without. Many times you’ll realize an item wasn’t a necessary purchase and you don’t miss it in your life.

7. Buy used. This avoids buying a new item and all the resources that go into creating and transporting it. It extends the life of something already bought. Look in thrift shops, consignment shops, used bookstores, eBay and Freecycle. Often you’ll find some really cool used stuff.

8. Have a smaller home. Obviously not a change you’re going to make this week, but something you can think about for the long term. A smaller home takes fewer resources to create, and requires less power, water, heat, and thus fewer emissions. If you get rid of a lot of your stuff, and rethink your needs, you’ll realize you need less space.

9. Use less power. Even without a smaller home, there are tons of ways to reduce power. Cool and heat your home less. Turn off lights, unplug appliances, hang dry clothes more often.

10. Use less water. Don’t take long showers – get wet, turn off water, soap up, turn on water and rinse. Don’t water your lawn, and wash your car less (or get rid of the car). Wash clothes less (wear them longer). Conserve water when you wash your hands or dishes.

11. Go paperless. Many offices and even homes use tons of paper, but most of it is unnecessary. Don’t print stuff out if you can read it on the computer. File things digitally rather than in folders. Get bills and other documents sent electronically or online rather than via mail. Stop catalogs from being mailed to you. Read newspapers and magazines online rather than buying them. Stop sending faxes for goodness sake.

12. Go vegan. Not a completely necessary step, but one I recommend. Vegan food, contrary to what most people think, can be delicious and satisfying, and it’s often healthier (less saturated fats, fewer calories, for example). Most especially, eating no meat or dairy or eggs means withdrawal from industries that are horrible for the environment, and horribly cruel to animals.