*10 Pathways of Just & Sustainable Lifestyles*

*1. Nurture blessings and hope in your own life and in the life of your
community.* Promote solidarity and cooperation. Don't leave the anybody
behind for the wolves to devour.

*2. Grow some of your own food.* Plant fruit and nut trees, berry
bushes, and other perennial food crops. Preserve heirloom varieties of
plants and animals. Buy as much food as possible from local farmers and
local processors. Encourage schools and churches to start gardens. Avoid
meats, eggs, and poultry from the giant hog, feedlot, and chicken house
"Confined Animal Feeding Operation". Look for local meats produced with
sustainable and humane practices. Do your part to help develop a local
food system.

* 3. Use energy frugally.* Walk, take public transportation, or ride a

bicycle wherever possible. Super insulate your dwelling and avoid air
conditioning as much as possible. Use less stuff, use less energy, have
more money.

*4. Practice personal detachment from material goods.* Reduce, reuse,

recycle, repair, make do, do without. Patronize the aftermarket in
places like swap meets, thrift stores, and flea markets. Avoid new stuff
as much as possible, don't buy new clothing made in sweatshops, limit
your consumption of resources, including water.

*5. The borrower is the slave of the lender.* Flee the bondage of debt.
If you must borrow money for education or housing, pay it off as quickly
as you can, make extra principle payments on loans. Never finance
frivolous consumption with borrowed money on credit cards.

*6. Learn many things.* Practice many skills. Teach others.

*7. Accept responsibility for your own life,* but understand your
interdependence with others and the importance of community. Be aware of
your environment and how your lifestyle impacts the community and world
you live in and other people. "What I do doesn't matter" is a lie we
tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better about doing wrong. Watch
out for dangers and disasters that may be ahead, and act in advance to
mitigate the impact of such events. The Bible says, "Remember the time
of hunger in the day of plenty." The time to build the cellar is before
the tornado hits. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.

*8. Avoid big box corporation stores and franchise chains.* Buy from
local businesses and if possible earn a living and spend your money
outside of the corporation dominated globalized economy. Organize
cooperatives and start small businesses to replace unsustainable
globalized business structures. Keep your money in a credit union.

*9. Support political and voluntary initiatives that promote

sustain-ability and resilience,* such as public transportation, energy
efficiency, renewable energy resources, small farms, decentralized
economics, balanced government budgets, and local markets.

*10. Don't let the perfect become the enemy of the good.* Do what you
can, with what you have, where you are. Don't attempt too much at first.
Set goals and meet them. Be willing to start small, or it is likely you
will never start at all. But beware of procrastination.
RMW

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