Simpler Living Nudge

Posted by: Simple Living Works! on: June 4, 2020

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6/1-15/20

LATEST from Simpler OneEarth Living Podcast–Ep. 0620::Pandemic Shows Food System Broken, Opens Door to Better Choices

CoronaVirus is revealing breakdowns and lack of resilience in our food supply systems. Which links in the chain are broken? Rather than fixing them, what are new and better choices for us in how we bring food from soil to savory, healthy eating? 

This is the third successive podcast episode in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic. Over 100,000 people have died in the U.S.—a horrific, emotional and spiritual wrenching of lives, hundreds of thousands of people across the nation are hurting, grieving. Surely, this experience of death and suffering—the largest in our lifetimes—is releasing the commitment to new life in enough of us to take leaps in the direction of change—the changes that our planet says we must make in this decade of the 2020s. Not to do so will form calluses on our souls and decay in who we are.

Covid-19 is fracturing the fragile food supply system we’ve been depending on. The system that’s broken down is driven by industrial agriculture, global markets, trade breakdowns and corporate control.

 In recent Museletter #326, “Fraying Food System May Be Our Next Crisis,” Richard Heinberg summarizes flaws in the current system and offers solutions.

Be sure to listen!

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Recent Simpler OneEarth Living Podcast Episodes

Episode 0520::Life with Covid-19: Heading Toward a More Ecological World

Episode 0420::CoronaVirus: A Devastating Natural Disaster with a Message–Live Differently

Episode 0320::Busting Two Killers: Growth Economics and Human Population Growth amid Species Extinctions

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Up Coming Non-Conform Freely Celebrations

Pentecost Season Begins, 5/31 (Ordinary Time)

6/14-Flag Day–Fly the Earth Flag!

6/20–First Day of Summer

6/21–Father’s Day

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Simpler Living Daily Nudges–Month 6*: Alternative Giving // Week 1: Contributions // Week 2: Volunteering // Week 3: More Alternative Giving // Week 4: Planning Christmas Festivals Early

Send “Nudge” to SimpleLivingWorks@yahoo.com to receive a free, brief email.

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Free Subscription: Daily Simpler Living Nudges Receive brief nudges toward Simpler Living, such as the ones here, at no charge. Simply reply to SimpleLivingWorks@yahoo.com with NUDGE at the top. You can unsubscribe at any time by replying Unsubscribe Nudge.

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• 10 Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations

• SLW! Blog Index | SLW! Podcast Index
• SUBSCRIBE to SLW! Podcast for free through your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to SLW! Blog. Click “+Follow” at lower right of blog post, enter a name and email address. Welcome!
• Non-Conform-Freely Celebrations: Months 5-8*
• 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 Happened

Chemical Shenanigans

This short story is quite different than the other items Gene Sager has submitted for SLW! The others are more “educational.” The take-away of this one for me is the non-violent extremes we may have to take to stop the Earth plunderers. It’s engaging, even clever.

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A Time of INvoluntary Simplicity

Simple Living Works! — and its founding predecessor, Alternatives — have been promoting Voluntary Simplicity since 1973. It’s voluntary because we privileged North Americans and Western Europeans have a choice. We can live extravagantly or sustainably.

Now more and more folks will live simply INvoluntary. Over half the people on the globe, especially in the developing world have been living simply INvoluntarily in all of modern times.

Those of us who have practiced voluntary simplicity most of our lives are now prepared for this time of crisis. We follow the ten standards of Living More with Less. And financially we practice the 3 S’s. We Share at least 10% of our income, we Save at least 15%, which leaves 75% to Spend on expenses.

When we talk about recovery from the crisis, we do NOT mean getting back to “normal.” Normal is destroying the Earth. Instead we try to learn from the Earth and its carrying capacity. We urge the One Planet / One Child plan to reduce our current Overpopulation. We urge learning what is Enough and avoiding OverConsumption and waste.

I don’t mean to criticize or belittle those who are suffering in this crisis. I offer another way that has worked well for us. The SLW! web site has numerous videos and documents to guide individuals, congregations and groups through this crisis. It takes time and discipline to convert from the “American Dream” to the Land of Enough.

What can we and the government do to save America? 1. Adopt the Basic Universal Income, which gives each adult $1200 per month. This is not a limit but a foundation to support oneself and one’s family. 2. Adopt Medicare-for-All, which provides basic medical services for everyone. 3. Promote a Steady-State economy. Infinite growth is impossible on a finite planet. And how would we pay for these expensive benefits? TAX the RICH! FDR did it in the 1930’s and it saved us from the Great Depression. For the past 20+ years the wealthy have gotten disproportionately more benefits than the average citizen. And since the Republican Tax Scam of 2017, big corporations and the super rich have grossly increased inequality in America. The current pandemic has brought that inequality into sharper focus.

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SideEffects of Sheltering at Home

As terrible as the pandemic is, it can be seen as Mother Nature correcting humans who are pushing the Earth beyond its carrying capacity. When the pandemic resides, we must not return to “normal.” Some folks who are bored at home may have “unprotected sex,” thoughtlessly procreating. Sex for pleasure is a gift of God, avoiding disease and unplanned offspring. Some pro-growth corporatists and fundamentalist “Christians” will likely guilt people to replace the dead, disregarding sustainability. Ignore them.

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Giving Idea

Rita and I have decided to give our “share” of the Covid-19 federal bailout to local non-profits and mutual aid societies helping the needy. We have enough. Urge your congregation to do the same. Maybe publish a list to identify the helpers. As the closing song of our podcast proclaims, “Learn to live simply that others may simply live.”

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Jubilee in the Midst of the CoronaVirus https://oneearthjubilee.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Jubilee-in-the-Midst-of-the-Coronavirus.pdf

DONATE: https://oneearthjubilee.com/support-oneearth-jubilee/

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Live Generously

We believe in The Thrivent Way–Live Generously. Thrivent is the nation’s largest fraternal financial institution. It’s profits are returned to its members’ communities and distributed by its members, instead of shareholders. I’ve been a member for 70+ years. Members give away profits to 501-c-3 non-profits depending on how much they have invested. We have all of our retirement funds there, so we have a considerable amount to give away. Also, to promote volunteerism, all members (regardless of how much they have invested) get two small “seed” grants per year to help in their community. Formerly Lutheran Brotherhood and Aid Association for Lutherans, Thrivent is now open to all Christians. Thrivent also conducts workshops on wise use of money, in contrast to the greed motive that most commercial investment companies pedal.

This is not a commercial for Thrivent. The background above sets the stage for a personal testimony in this time of crisis. Rita and I strive to Live Generously as a team. Rita is very generous with her time and skills. She volunteers widely. However, she has a hard time giving away money. I, on the other hand, can be generous with money but less so with my time. We complement each others’ generosity and keep us from feeling guilty for not being perfect.

I’ve written before about practicing Voluntary Simplicity and about QCD’s (qualified charitable distributions) to direct tax dollars to humanitarian organizations of our choice instead of the military. Such choices are especially important in this time of crisis. So many people are in need of basics.

It’s easy to get distracted, though, away from preventing problems to cleaning up problems. Yes, we need to feed the hungry and house the homeless. But we must not stop working to reduce global population and to reduce plundering the Earth for the sake of “the economy.”

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Peace Podcast from John Dear

On the first day of each month, Pace e Bene is pleased to post a free, new podcast featuring Fr. John Dear reflecting on some aspects of nonviolence. John Dear has been studying, teaching and writing about nonviolence for 40 years, given thousands of lectures and published over 36 books. We are happy to share his latest insights on nonviolence each month. They are specially recorded for Pace e Bene in an informal conversational style. We encourage you to listen to the whole show, or to break it up and listen to it over the course of a week.  You can access John’s latest podcast, The Nonviolent Psalms of Peace, at www.paceebene.org, on Apple and Google.

SLW! Legacy Podcast Episodes–John Dear of Pace e Bene: Campaign NonViolence, author of ‘They Will Inherit the Earth: Peace and NonViolence in a Time of Climate Change’

• SLW! #114: Part 1
• TCGP #98: Part 2

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Solving the Climate Crisis with No-Growth Economics To get a worldview very different from the greed and profit-oriented politicians and corporatists, visit these solution-oriented resources:

1. GrowthBusters
2. Post-Carbon Institute — SLW! Ep. 109–Richard Heinberg
3. CASSE: Center for the Advancement of the Steady-State Economy — The Common Good Podcast Ep. 46–Brian Czech (use player)

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Snapshots: How Money is Turned into Jubilee Actions # # #

“Jubilee Circles” is now available also as an audiobook, at iTunes, Nook Audiobooks, Google Play, and Audiobooks.com, which offers a free sample. It includes 20 actions to take to help keep our planet livable. https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/jubilee-circles/381421 THAT’S THE LINK to the audio version of the little book “Jubilee Circles: Help Save Life on the Planet.” Please share this audio version with all who’d like to listen while jogging, walking, etc.

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We will protect ourselves from Climate Crisis deniers, through such series as:

• Healthy Political Practices & Spiritual Disciplines  // Banishing Fake News // Simple Living SANITY

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• Why We Podcast–We truly believe in the missions of SLW! and Jubilee OneEarth Economics! The mainstream corporate media — left, right or center — exist to sell us more stuff. Though we are only the tiniest whisper, we cannot stop offering an honest alternative to that MultiEarth message. There is no Planet B. Here’s a list of worthwhile media. And even more.
• Our Daily Simpler Living Nudge — What It Is / How It Works / How to GET It – Subscribe by sending NUDGE to SimpleLivingWorks@yahoo.com. / How to SHARE It
• Previews of Simple Living Blogs, Podcasts and Sites // Collaborators & Champions
• Recent Responses to SLW! media
• Publications–The complete SLW! Monthly Digest on the SLW! site features the latest posts from colleague organizations and is updated weekly. Simpler Living Nudge features offerings from SLW! It comes as your free subscription to SLW! Blog. Daily Nudges come by email (send NUDGE to SimpleLivingworks@yahoo.com) or by Twitter @GeraldIversen. Choose the options that work for you.

You can access all SLW! podcast audio and the show notes at SimpleLivingWorks.org (then click window #3). Complete Episode Index. Listen through your computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone (or equivalent). SUBSCRIBE as Simple Living Works! through iTunes, Stitcher.com or your favorite podcast service. To SUBSCRIBE to email notices, click Comments at the bottom of Show Notes, then check ‘Notify me of new posts by email.’ Please rate us in iTunes and leave a review. Send us your email address to receive the free monthly SLW! eNews. Remember to like us on Facebook. Urge your friends to do the same. Do your friends a favor. Share our blog and podcast. Like SLW! on Facebook. | Follow us on Twitter. | Follow us on Pinterest. Share your thoughts on our podcast and blogs. Email SimpleLivingWorks@yahoo.com, leave a message on our Facebook page or on the SLW! blog. Peace, Gerald “Jerry” Iversen, Chief SLW! Activist Copyright: Creative Commons non-commercial attribution share-alike license. Through social media, we extend the mission and resources of the non-profit organization Alternatives, 1973-2011. *We choose to use month numbers rather than the traditional names because the names are inaccurate (September means “7” but is the ninth month?!) and they honor gods and emperors from warring ancient Roman culture. For more, see Weekly Nudge, 8/8/18.

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