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Simple Living Newsletter In this Issue Current News Simple Living Tips WANDA'S TIPS FOR FALL Reduce Your Personal Waste Stream: Get started going green and decluttering this fall by reducing your personal waste stream. How do you do it? By buying used items that have no packaging or swapping with friends and neighbors; by carrying your own reusable bags when you shop (SIMPLE LIVING has our own personalized ChicoBags® for sale on our website, and thankfully they’ve become almost ubiquitous at supermarkets and elsewhere); by composting your organic waste and grass clippings turning it into “free” fertilizer in your yard. Thoughtfully consider each purchase before bringing it into your home. A good strategy is to wait a week or a month before you buy and see if you can live without it before taking the plunge. Hold a Yard Sale: Yard sales are great ways to turn trash into treasure and generate a little spending money. My main piece of advice for anyone holding a sale is not to focus on the asking price of the item (or what you paid for it), just concentrate on moving things down the pike. And, whatever remains unsold of the items you’ve put out, donate to charity. Halloween Tricks: Instead of distributing candy this year, give out nuts or dried fruit or something useful like pencils. Give your kids the license to decorate the yard with piles of leaves, homemade scarecrows and crazy-faced pumpkins! Let them hang ghostly sheets from the tree branches if they wish. This is their time of year. Let kids rule! Seal the Cracks: As you prepare for the coming winter cold season this year, check around your home for drafty spots. I recently sealed up cracks around a window in the basement that was letting in air. Wrap your water heater, and consider keeping your thermostat down. I always tell Henry when he says it’s cold inside that before turning on (or up) the heat, his first option is to add clothing. Holiday Preparedness: All of us are concerned about our pocketbooks this year, so what better time than to retool holiday rituals? The time is now to broach the subject with family and friends of doing a drawing for gifts in the family rather than buying for everywhere. Also, consider a holiday potluck meal rather than placing the burden on one person or household. As we get away from materialism, the focus for Christmas and Hanukkah can return to its real spiritual meaning this season. For more resources on this, check out, www.Alternativesfor SimpleLiving.com, the Iowa-based organization that is now moving to Colorado. Calls to Action SIMPLE LIVING with Wanda Urbanska is broadcast on public television stations throughout America. If our series airs in your area, call or email your station manager to director of programming to tell him or her how much you appreciate the program. If we’re not included in your market, contact that person to request that they carry the series. Help spread the word about the benefits of the simple living lifestyle. Remember, nothing’s too small to make a difference. A call or email to your public television affiliate is a small gesture that can make a big difference to you – and to the world!
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SIMPLE LIVING NOW ON PBS's HD FEED Fans of SIMPLE LIVING with Wanda Urbanska will be happy to learn that they can now view the series on PBS’s high definition channel. This brings the series into more markets and extends the show’s core message of environmental stewardship, thoughtful consumption, community involvement and financial responsibility. “American Public Television is pleased to include SIMPLE LIVING in its high-definition lineup of programs on the PBS HD Channel this fall,” says Chris Funkhouser, APT’s vice president of Exchange Programming and Digital Services. “The series is a key ingredient in helping viewers make adjustments to their stressful, possession-cluttered, time-starved lives, echoing host Wanda Urbanska's mantra: "nothing's too small to make a difference.” As always, do check to see if SIMPLE LIVING is included in your local public television station’s lineup. While you’re at it, look for its inclusion on the HD channel. If you like the series and believe it’s important, contact your local public television station and let the programmer know how important it is to see it in the lineup in a desirable time slot. Let your voice be heard. Wanda Urbanska recently represented SIMPLE LIVING’s national series sponsor, NCFI Polyurethanes, at the nation’s largest residential green building show, West Coast Green, in San Jose, California. Urbanska traveled to San Jose with NCFI’s Director of Marketing, Don Schumacher, to discuss the energy-saving properties of the company’s EPA award-winning spray foam insulation, and to promote SIMPLE LIVING . Urbanska spent much of her time on the floor near the SG Blocks Harbinger Showhouse – a visionary example of innovative and affordable residential design – that was constructed from reused shipping containers on site at the San Jose Convention Center. NCFI’s InsulStar® closed cell spray foam insulation – “the greenest of the green” – was selected to provide significant energy savings for insulation to the model home. Urbanska spent much of her time on the teak deck of the Showhouse autographing copies of the “Sunflower House Green Remodel” DVDs (episodes #411 & #412) that were given away courtesy of NCFI. She also had the chance to meet with numerous green vendors on the floor, including Glenn Sheargold of Caroma, the world’s leading supplier of water-saving dual-flush toilets. Dual-flush technology, Sheargold explained, is “Australia’s little gift to a thirsty world.” Wanda had wonderful conversations with West Coast Green founder Christi Graham and program director Karen Jackson, and visited with friends and colleagues David Johnston, Sarah Susanka, Kathleen Redmond and Scott Terrell. SIMPLE LIVING National Advisory board member Stan King biked 15 miles from his home to the San Jose Convention Center to attend the roundtable about transforming business by becoming an inspirational role model that Urbanska hosted. We met with our colleagues at Whirlpool, Mark Johnson and Daniel Page-Wood and enjoyed green treats and sustainability conversations everywhere. The event was capped by outstanding keynote presentations by former Vice President Al Gore and former California Governor Jerry Brown, offering the huge crowd hope that change was not only possible but imminent. This is one of those moments in history, the former vice president said, “When one era ends and another begins. You can hear the creaking hinges.” ‘NATURAL HOME’ EDITOR WOWS CAROLINA CROWDS 
Robyn Griggs Lawrence, editor-in-chief of “Natural Home” magazine, was our guest in the Carolinas last month when she presented workshops on creating green, healthy homes in Mount Airy, North Carolina; Rock Hill, South Carolina; and Salisbury, North Carolina. During an all-day workshop sponsored by Surry Community College, the Boulder, Colorado-based Griggs Lawrence started the green conversation with an eclectic crowd, including students involved in building Habitat for Humanity homes. After reviewing how chemicals and toxic materials used in our homes can affect our health, Robyn recalled that one participant had “an Aha! moment.” “ ‘I just moved into a new house,’ ” she told me, “ ‘and I haven’t been able to breathe since. I never put two and two together,’ ” Robyn said. At the Museum of York County in Rock Hill, Robyn co-presented with friend and colleague Wanda Urbanska. Wanda showed shots from the green remodel of the Sunflower House in Mount Airy, NC (also chronicled in episodes #411 & #412 of the new season’s series) and was surprised to learn that many in the audience were unfamiliar with the concept of a “dual-flush” commode. Museum president Van Shields and his wife, Peggy, were in the audience taking mental notes for improving their own home as well as looking for ways to incorporate recommended green practices in the ambitious museum and housing development now under way in nearby Fort Mill, SC. Together with celebrated innovator William McDonough , Shields is creating Kanawha, a green development on 400 acres overlooking the Catawba River. An environmental history museum cum community center, the Museum of Life and the Environment will share the land with a sustainable housing community designed to preserve the land, water and air in this fast-growing region. Robyn ended her tour with a presentation to a standing-room-only-crowd at Catawba College’s Center for the Environment. Under the able leadership of Dr. John E. Wear, Jr.
, Catawba’s Center has turned into a national educational model, situated inside one of North Carolina’s first green buildings. The Center itself is adjacent to a 189-acre nature preserve that includes more than 110 species of native plants, three wildlife ponds, bogs and flowing streams. Robyn felt at home presenting at a wheatboard podium and speaking to what she called “an eager crowd in a room looking out over a healthy, verdant forest.” The experience made her realize that “we Boulderites may think we’re ahead of the rest of the nation when it comes to green building—but we could learn a lot by listening to our compatriots in the Carolinas.” Wanda Urbanska spent ten days in July at “Poland in the Rockies,” a 10-day intensive study program about “all things Polish,” held in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, sponsored by the Polish-Canadian Association. Urbanska spoke to the forty-four college and graduate students and young professionals from Canada, the United States, South Africa and Poland about Polish identity and screened show #207 of the SIMPLE LIVING series, “The Poland Special.” “I was delighted to participate as a presenter and a student,” Wanda said. “What a remarkable opportunity it was to meet others who share my passion for Poland. We were all terribly impressed with the high caliber of the venue, and thank Tony Muszynski and Irene Tomaszewski, president of the Canadian Foundation for Polish Studies.” The days were packed with lectures on Poland’s rich, diverse culture and literature and complicated, often tragic, history from a stellar cast of scholars, including John Micgiel, director of the East Central European Center at Columbia University, and Andrzej Rabczenko, minister-counselor at the Polish Embassy in Washington DC. Lynn Lubamersky of Boise State University in Idaho presented an overview of women in Polish history, while Piotr Wrobel, chair of Polish studies at the University of Toronto, delivered passionate lectures on the nation’s stormy history, the legacy of the Partitions, the interwar period, the Holocaust and Solidarity. John Bukowczyk , professor of history at Wayne State University in Detroit, spoke about the emigration patterns of Poles in America and ethnic identity. Eli Rubenstein, Canada’s director of The March of the Living and participant in national Polish-Jewish dialogues, charmed us with his stories and screened the acclaimed 2004 PBS documentary, “Hiding and Seeking,” about an American Jewish man who seeks out the Polish Catholic farmers who risked their lives to save his father-in-law during World War II. Norman Davies , Britain’s best-selling author of “Europe: A History”; “God’s Playground,” the definitive history of Poland; and many others, was the flagship presence throughout the conference. Davies delivered the opening, keynote presentation at the conference on his latest book, “No Simple Victory,” which persuasively challenges the conventional Western wisdom that the Allies won World War II. Could it be that the Soviets, our pseudo-ally, really outfoxed us and “won” the War, he queried? (I won’t give away the rest; you have to read his book.) Wanda Koscia’s powerful 2005 BBC documentary “The Battle of Warsaw,” was screened, along with several of Eric Bednarski’s excellent short films. However, the main offering of the conference was the fellowship, the networking that occurred on bus rides to Banff, mountain hikes. Business cards were exchanged; entrepreneurial ideas launched; a few romances kindled. Thanks to Irene and Tony for a once-in-a-lifetime conference. WANDA TO SPEAK AT CATAWBA COLLEGE OCT. 22 Wanda Urbanska and Charlotte, NC-based green building consultant Jenny Pippin discuss the trials and tribulations of “Green Home Building” on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at Catawba College's Center for the Environment in Salisbury, NC. The reception starts at 6:30 p.m. and the presentation begins at 7:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public at the Center for the Environment Building, Room 300. Please contact Catawba's Amanda Lanier at 704-637-4295 for directions or more information. HOLIDAY GIFT-GIVING: VOTE WITH YOUR DOLLARS 
For the gifts you do choose to purchase this holiday season, consider selecting items that reflect your interest in sustainable living and help support the work of worthwhile organizations such as SIMPLE LIVING. If you buy items from the Simple Living TV website store, www.simplelivingtv.net, proceeds from sales help sustain our work throughout the year. Books: For the reader on your list, you may want to give any one of Wanda’s titles. Special this year is the new paperback edition of “Christmas on Jane Street” that Wanda wrote with – and about – Vermont Christmas tree salesman Billy Romp. Billy and his family park their camper on Jane Street in Greenwich Village and sell trees day and night during the season. After twelve printings in hardcover and ten years in print, HarperCollins is issuing a special Tenth Anniversary Edition of “Jane Street,” for $12.95. It includes a new afterword. Additionally, Wanda’s other books: “Simple Living”; “Moving to a Small Town,” “Nothing’s Too Small to Make a Difference” and “The Fruit Orchard Cookbook,” all co-authored with Frank Levering, make for good holiday gifts. Wanda is happy to autograph books, so just insert a note as to how you’d like her to make out the inscription. Also, as a primer on getting started in simplicity, you can’t do any better than Simple Living America’s anthology, “Get Satisfied.” You can purchase that on our website or directly from Simple Living America at www.getsatisfied.org. Bags/ Mugs: For anyone looking for a reusable shopping bag containing the SIMPLE LIVING with Wanda Urbanska logo, send a check for $5.00 plus $3.95 shipping and handling to the address given below. Same with Wanda’s trademark, durable bronze travel mug, which sells for $20.00 plus $3.95 shipping and handling. DVDs: If you’ve missed episodes of the SIMPLE LIVING series on your PBS station – or want to share it with someone who doesn’t have access – you can order DVD sets from the website. Seasons 1 through 3 are available for $29.95 plus $3.95 shipping and handling. Season 4 – with 13 half-hour programs – costs $35.95 plus $3.95 shipping and handling. You can order on line with your credit card or send a check to “Simple Living” at PO Box 1632; Mount Airy, NC 27030.
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