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Simple Living Newsletter In this Issue
Current News David Johnston to Host “Green Advantage” Training for Builders
Simple Living Tips Green Greetings Post your family Christmas picture online at a photo-sharing website or send your best holiday wishes in e-cards. Include local produce and meats in your holiday menu. When buying gifts, consider your neighborhood produce market. Many will put together gift baskets featuring favorites from your region. Paperless Place Settings Paper plates and utensils may be tempting to use this time of year, because they seem so easy. However, easy for you is hard on the environment. Use washable dinnerware and cloth napkins. After the big meal, enjoy conversation in the kitchen with family while they help you at the sink. Car-Pool Christmas Shopping Arrange a shopping day with friends where you all ride together. You’ll lower your carbon footprint, and enjoy getting the time to catch up with each other in the car. Santa’s Going Green Compact fluorescent bulbs, rechargeable batteries and reusable shopping bags make great stocking stuffers Using these and other eco-friendly products throughout the year is guaranteed to keep you on Santa’s “good list.” Calls to Action Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska is broadcast on public television stations reaching over half of the United States. If we're in your area, call your station to tell them you enjoy the show! If we're not broadcast in your market, call and request our series. Help us spread the word about the simple living lifestyle. Remember, nothing's too small to make a difference, and a call or email to your public television affiliate is a small gesture that can make a big difference to you and those who live in your area. To find your local PBS station, just type in your zip code on the “PBS Station Finder” on our homepage. Thanks for your support! Pass it on Know anyone who might be interested in our newsletter? Click here to forward this email to up to 5 friends at once. |
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By Wanda Urbanska This year has been a rite of passage for me. In September, I moved into a mid-century brick ranch home here in Mount Airy, North Carolina just an eight-minute walk from my 10-year-old son’s school. Not long after I’d unpacked that first set of boxes to move in, we moved out again as the home began undergoing a green renovation. Right now, Henry and I are “temporarily” camping out in the guest room at my mother’s nearby condo. It’s somewhat disorienting. We’re living out of suitcases. We make do with the same ten items of clothes every day with occasional lapses, like the other morning Henry said: “Mom, where are the clean socks?” (We realized that day that wearing a dirty pair to school would not be “the end of the world.”) Stepping into Mother’s world, we’re living with a lifetime worth of her memories, memories that are shared with me, yet uniquely belong to her: there’s a fresh-faced Marie on the day of her college graduation from University of Texas in the 1940s; a shot of her and my father on their wedding day in Atlanta in 1952; a photo of Buckminster Fuller, Mother and me in Los Angeles in 1980 when she was out visiting me and her distinguished friend. And then there are the books….. Mother’s guest room is really a library. It’s enormous, the size of a small classroom, I think, every time I step in. Mother’s never met a book she didn’t love or find something of value contained therein. She has valuable first editions, some of them autographed, along with a motley assortment of fraying paperbacks and library remainders – many of a certain age. I find that I’m time-traveling here, looking at books by Edna Ferber, Willa Cather and Edna St. Vincent Millay. The amazing thing is… I’m loving it. I’m loving the chance to have close time with my mother, the everydayness of washing dishes, of cooking meals with (and for) Mom, remembering Christmases past. I’m delighting in changing the cat boxes, taking out the trash, recyling her recycables. No spring chicken, Mother got sick over the weekend, and Henry and I steadfastly worked to bring her back to health: standing over her as she drank glasses of grapefruit juice, took pills, downed water, hot tea, and hot meals. I must say for the first time ever, I seriously entertained the idea of multi-generational living. Living out of a suitcase – with my son – has affirmed my commitment to simple living; as a guest in another’s home, you see how little you really need. You don’t need 20 pair of slacks, three will do just fine. And it really is cheaper – and more pleasurable and convivial – when you cook meals for more than one or two. This weekend Henry and I had time to work on our Christmas gifts. We found an old recipe for pumpkin bread and doubled the recipe; we plan to not only give pumpkin bread and a visit when we deliver the goods. My message this year is to give thanks for those who are close now, savor each moment, and make your own personal commitment to sustainability this holiday season and for the new year.
Kanawha: A Simple Living Community of Tomorrow 
By Van Shields While hiking through the North Carolina mountains on a gorgeous fall day last year, Wanda Urbanska and I discovered a shared passion to promote “deeper understanding” that will help create a sustainable future. We were with a group planning a program to develop environmentally responsible leadership. Earlier in the day, we had heard the definition of sustainability: “to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” During that session Wanda and I noted our mutual appreciation for two sides of the same coin related to sustainability - the negative consequences of thoughtless consumerism and the positive virtues of simple living. As we meandered along the trail later that day we continued to discuss how our interests converged. I was generally familiar with Wanda’s work through her television series, but when we talked, I learned more about what led her personally to promote simple living, including her motivation to protect the environment that sustains life. Wanda was equally curious about my involvement in creating Kanawha, a 400-acre mixed-use housing development that will have as its centerpiece a museum dedicated to the environment. I described how this new type of museum will explore future sustainability based on understanding how human choices have had intended, as well as unintended consequences. When I told her about our vision for Kanawha, her eyes lit up. "This sounds like something you'd find in California or Oregon -- but here in the Southeast?" she commented. "You are definitely thinking outside the box." I shared that we were challenged to make this "real world" project work in the mainstream marketplace because we wanted to demonstrate that large-scale green development could be economically successful. When I told her Kanawha development was designed by the world-renowned visionary “green” designer William McDonough, I could see the wheels turning in her head. She wanted to include Kanawha on the next season of Simple Living. We talked a lot about understanding our connections with each other and the environment, and how that understanding will naturally lead to choices that help sustain life. This is the deeper understanding that we seek to promote. Every generation gets its time at bat and future generations – i.e., our children’s, children’s, children - will only be able to meet their needs if we get it right today. Earlier this month, our entire staff was delighted to welcome Wanda, Frank, Meredith and the (ital) Simple Living crew to Kanawha where they shot a segment on "the vision" that will be Kanawha. (They shot Bill McDonough at his Charlottesville office in October to be included in an upcoming special program on "The Vision.") I walked them around the 400-acre property that will be our eco-friendly community; we settled on the magic spot right along the Catawba River where the new museum will be erected. This is where the vision will be realized. It's hikes in the woods where magic happens -- the magic of creating the bonds of friendship, of reframing our contemporary paradigm, of creating a community where future generations will nurture and sustain life.
Meredith’s Musings - Notes from the Field 
By Meredith Lloyd My life has taken the most surreal turn in the last three months. One day I’m at a former U.S. Ambassador’s house, the next, I’m standing on five counties’ worth of garbage at a local landfill. I can go from being stalked by a territorial llama to meeting a world-renowned nature expert all in the same week. Did I mention the camera crew that always seems to be present for these adventures? No, I have not entered The Twilight Zone. I have become field producer for Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska. This may sound a little strange, but I love every minute of it, garbage, llamas, and all. We have visited some beautiful and fascinating people and places on shoots. More than once, I have found myself so caught up in an interview that I forgot to take notes on the additional footage we may have needed to go along with it. During edit sessions, I have been dazzled by high-definition footage that is, in a word, sumptuous. While the people, locations, and production are amazing, it’s really the mission of Simple Living that inspires me, both at work, and at home. Make no mistake; this is a place, which practices what it preaches. This was evident in my first assignment on the job. I came in that morning, bright-eyed, ready for anything. I approached Wanda, pen and notebook in hand, poised to take on whatever task, no matter how challenging. She began to speak. “The first thing we must do is…” She paused. I held my breath, as my mind began to page through all of the possibilities. Make contact with a politician or celebrity to interview? Secure a fabulous location for a shoot? She began again. “We must load the recyclables into your car, to be taken this afternoon.” That is when I realized that at Simple Living, even the seemingly small things are imperative, whether it’s recycling, conserving electricity and water in the office, or walking instead of driving to run errands around town. It’s all part of that message our viewers hear Wanda deliver at the end of every show. “Nothing is too small to make a difference.” It resonates with me in the office, and at home as I go through the house turning off lights, or reaching around my children as they brush their teeth, to turn off the water. My job is exciting, and that in itself can be fulfilling. However, knowing that I go to work each day for such a highly principled organization is what makes me feel the most honored and thankful for where I am. Seeing my own life change and my values come into clearer focus inspires me to to share with others that small changes can have great impact.
David Johnston to Host "Green Advantage" Green building guru and Simple Living guest David Johnston will present a one-day training seminar that offers Green Advantage certification and covers the latest green building practices, technologies, and techniques. The seminar covers indoor air quality, resource conservation, and energy efficiency from a builder’s perspective. Using his 30 years of experience in construction, solar energy, and green design, David will give you the tools to build more efficient homes. These homes are healthy for the client, and cost effective for both builders and clients alike Today’s clients prefer homes that are energy -and water-efficient, durable and disaster resistant, healthier, and environmentally friendly. David Johnston and the Green Advantage program will provide you with up-to-date information on how to build -- and remodel -- with these concepts in mind. The program will also cover many alternative products and materials that will save energy and money. The seminar is offered at the Elks Lodge in Mount Airy on February 5 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a coffee hour/ networking/ registration beginning at 8 a.m. If you have questions or would like to register, please contact Meredith at Simple Living at Meredith@simplelivingtv.net.
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