Planning Review initiates with this article on voluntary simplicity a series prepared by Stanford Research Institute's research staff. The articles will address emerging trends in economics, technology, and society that need to be considered by practicing planners. The new series will be coordinated by Riggs Monfort, Director of Program Development for SRI's Business Intelligence Program, and a Contributing Editor for Planning Review.
Voluntary simplicity is not about living in poverty; it is about living with balance. This contribution illuminates the pattern of changes that an increasing number of people around the world are making their everyday lives as an active response to the challenges of our times. By embracing a lifeway of simplicity - characterized by a compassionate and ecological consciousness, frugal consumption, and inner development - people can change their lives and, in the process, move the world toward sustainable prosperity.
The most difficult challenge facing humanity is not devising solutions to the energy crisis or climate crisis or population crisis; rather, it is bringing stories or narratives of the human journey into our collective awareness that empower us to look beyond a future of great adversity and to see a future of great opportunity. What visions of humanity's journey are sufficiently compelling to transcend age-old differences and bring us together in a common venture of inhabiting the Earth in ways that are sustainable?
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