When industrial civilisation collapsed in the third decade of the 21st century, a community living on a small island in the South Pacific Ocean found itself permanently isolated from the rest of the world. With no option but to build a self-sufficient economy with very limited energy supplies, this community set about creating a simpler way of life that could flourish into the deep future. Determined above all else to transcend the materialistic values of the Old World, they made a commitment to live materially simple lives, convinced that this was the surest path to genuine freedom, peace, and sustainable prosperity. Seven decades later, in the year 2099, this book describes the results of their remarkable living experiment.

Entropia: Life Beyond Industrial Civilisation

Literature & Fiction

Alexander, Samuel

Contemporary

Simplicity Institute Publishing

Many people sense that consumer culture is dragging us toward extinction. We feel trapped in a cell of our own making. If humanity is to have any sort of future worth living in, we must discover an exit from our confinement. There is a door, hidden in plain sight. What sort of culture might appear if we took seriously the essential values and principles that form the deep structure of voluntary simplicity and used them to inform a new perspective of the good life? Might we discover an exit from the confining cell of consumer culture? Can we find the passage leading beyond individual lifestyle choice to cultural renaissance? This book aims to help seed this renaissance by widening the conversation about how we transition from the road to extinction to a path with heart that has a future.

The Hidden Door: Mindful Sufficiency as an Alternative to Extinction

Education & Teaching

BURCH, Mark A.

Schools & Teaching

The dominant culture of industrial civilisation is highly materialistic, holding up Western-style, consumer lifestyles as the path to happiness and fulfilment. But consumer lifestyles are failing to satisfy the human craving for meaning, and they are degrading our planet in ways that are grossly unsustainable and unjust. We desperately need to explore or rediscover less materialistic, ‘simpler’ ways of living.‘Simple living’ refers to ways of life based on notions such as frugality, sufficiency, moderation, and mindfulness. This anthology brings together twenty-six short essays discussing the most significant individuals, cultures, and movements that have embraced simple living throughout history. What did Buddha and Jesus think about simple living? What contribution did the ancient Greeks and Romans make? How do the Amish and the Quakers live? And why did Henry Thoreau leave his hometown to live in the woods? Readers will also gain insight into the lives and philosophies of people like Mahatma Gandhi and William Morris, and learn about contemporary eco-social movements, such as those based on permaculture, intentional communities, degrowth, and voluntary simplicity. This deep but engaging book examines these great moments in the story of simple living, and many more, but it looks backwards in order to shed light on the present and future.Read it and be inspired.‘This engaging book raises one of the key questions of our times, presenting a rich tapestry of perspectives on what it means to live simply.’ – ROB HOPKINS, The Transition Handbook‘Simple Living in History challenges the mentality of waste and extravagance that defines modern industrial lifestyles, reminding us that the answers we need have been here all along, waiting for us to notice them.’ – JOHN MICHAEL GREER, The Wealth of Nature and Green Wizardry‘This book highlights the continuous cultural lineage that underpins current activism for an ecologically viable and spiritually nourishing life now and in the future. For permaculture practitioners and activists focused on building ecologically smart, localised economies, this book highlights how rethinking our attitudes and behaviour toward consumption can be a fruitful pathway to social and ecological harmony.’ – DAVID HOLMGREN, Permaculture: Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability

Simple Living in History: Pioneers of the Deep Future

History

Authors, Various

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Calling for a sufficiency-based culture of ‘simple living’ to underpin a macroeconomic framework of ‘degrowth’, Samuel Alexander draws on a remarkable breadth of economic, political, ecological, and sociological literature to explore the radical implications of living in an age of limits. Written with clarity, rigour, and insight, this book will both challenge and inspire. ‘Prosperous Descent is a creative and important contribution to a movement with surprising momentum, one that challenges the very notions of progress and wellbeing on which our societies are constructed. It is a radical challenge in the best sense of the term. We can all learn a great deal from Samuel Alexander, both about our societies and about how to live our lives.’ – Clive Hamilton, author of Affluenza: When Too Much is Never Enough and Growth Fetish‘This timely book reminds us that the good life is the simple life; a life within limits. It is a truly interdisciplinary volume, covering topics from the macroeconomics of a planned degrowth, to the ecology of planetary limits, to the sociology of voluntary simplifiers. A must read.’ – Giorgos Kallis, co-editor of Degrowth: A Vocabulary for a New Era‘Consumer capitalist society is characterised by a deep feeling of anxiety and isolation. It persists by inculcating a deep sense of disempowerment and diluting our radical imagination. The strength of this book lies in its ability to delicately weave together not only the theory but also the practice of simplicity. It carries with it the moral weight of generations of people who have demonstrated a different way of living and the shallowness of consumer society.’– Peter D. Burdon, author of Earth Jurisprudence and co-editor of Wild Law: In Practice

Prosperous Descent: Crisis as Opportunity in an Age of Limits

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

In this second volume of collected essays, Samuel Alexander develops the provocative ideas contained in "Prosperous Descent: Crisis as Opportunity in an Age of Limits". Industrial civilisation promotes mistaken ideas of freedom and wellbeing, while placing unsupportable burdens on the biosphere. This being so, Alexander argues that the richest nations need to transcend consumer culture and initiate a ‘degrowth’ process of planned economic contraction. To achieve this, he shows that we need to build a post-capitalist politics and economics from the grassroots up, restructuring our societies to promote far ‘simpler' conceptions of the good life, based on notions of sufficiency, frugality, appropriate technology, and local economy. --------‘With the vision of a prophet, the eloquence of a poet, the forensic detail of the scholar, and the engaged passion of an activist, Samuel Alexander offers critique, analysis and strategy for a post-growth society beyond carbon-fuelled, consumer capitalism. It is a truism that ‘where there is no vision the people perish’. This book in its comprehensive scope presents a challenging, provocative and absolutely necessary vision, synthesising theoretical and practical considerations related to understanding the current crisis of ‘the human condition’, and offering informed suggestions as to what comes after the unsustainable growth economy. They say knowledge is power, if so, arm yourself by reading and (re)acting to and on this book, notes from the ‘front line’ of our crisis-ridden but self-transforming present.’– John Barry, author of The Politics of Actually Existing Unsustainability ‘Impressively researched, eloquently argued, and deeply engaging, Samuel Alexander’s work sits at the forefront of the degrowth movement. More than just a powerful critique of the capitalist growth economy, this book highlights the promise – and the necessity – of localised, ecological economies as the only means of adequately confronting the crises that are converging upon us. At times his vision of the future may be challenging, but it is never despairing, and ultimately the reader comes away uplifted and inspired. Alexander convinces us that less can indeed be more.’– Helena Norberg-Hodge, author of Ancient Futures and producer of The Economics of Happiness

Sufficiency Economy: Enough, For Everyone, Forever

"This is a creative re-enactment of the life, death and ideas of the most influential Cynic of antiquity, Diogenes of Sinope. Lost after 2500 years, the dialogues attributed to him are here recovered through informed historical re-imagination, and in a series of six 'acts' Samuel Alexander takes his protagonist from his marketplace teachings through to the final condemnation of his works, and execution of his person. In this quasi-Socratic tragedy, Diogenes’ ideas of simplicity, moderation and natural living are too revolutionary for an oligarchical system to tolerate, and yet prove too resilient to be permanently silenced. Alexander is faithful to the spirit of ancient authors and deftly works in subtle allusions to ancient sources – yet writes ever with an eye to present problems. His Diogenes becomes an essential voice for the revolutionary and potentially apocalyptic transitions of our own time.” – William Desmond, author of The Greek Praise of Poverty

Deface the Currency: The Lost Dialogues of Diogenes

Philosophy

In our age of overconsumption, Henry Thoreau’s fiery criticisms of consumer culture and his poetic defence of simpler living have never been more relevant or necessary. But Thoreau is not an easy writer to read. His sentences are often very dense and his ideas are often challenging and provocatively expressed. For these reasons the casual reader can be easily put off. But his perspectives are too important to miss. This concise introduction provides a deep but accessible overview of Thoreau’s philosophy of voluntary simplicity. ‘Just Enough Is Plenty is a superb introduction to Thoreau’s life and ideas, written with clarity and style by a leading exponent of Thoreau’s economics of voluntary simplicity. Samuel Alexander expertly guides the reader through the often difficult terrain of Thoreau’s economic ideas, highlighting the opportunities for living simpler, freer lives. The result will help a new generation of readers understand Thoreau’s essential message – and apply it to their own lives. The benefits of doing so are potentially immense.’ – Philip Cafaro, author of "Thoreau’s Living Ethics"

Just Enough is Plenty: Thoreau's Alternative Economics

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

‘Wild Democracy is a daring and compelling collection of essays that explores the theory and practice of moving towards an equitable, post-growth society, and defends an alternative, post-consumerist account of human flourishing. Thoreau believed that ‘in wildness lies the preservation of the world’ and Samuel Alexander has shown us how we do this in our backyards, our local communities and our everyday practices. He has done Thoreau proud.’ – Robyn Eckersley, author of 'The Green State: Rethinking Democracy and Sovereignty' ‘Building bridges between different schools of thought, Samuel Alexander outlines an alternative to the nightmare of a growth society racing towards collapse, articulating various post-capitalist approaches, between anarcho-marxism, wild democracy and spirituality. In doing so this book attempts to overcome the old divide between reformism and revolution.’ – Serge Latouche, author of 'Farewell to Growth' 'Wild Democracy: Degrowth, Permaculture, and the Simpler Way' is Samuel Alexander’s third volume of collected essays, following the publication of 'Prosperous Descent: Crisis as Opportunity in an Age of Limits' (2015) and 'Sufficiency Economy: Enough, for Everyone, Forever' (2015). He is also author of 'Deface the Currency: The Lost Dialogues of Diogenes' (2016), 'Just Enough is Plenty: Thoreau’s Alternative Economics' (2016), and 'Entropia: Life Beyond Industrial Civilisation' (2013), as well as being editor of 'Voluntary Simplicity: The Poetic Alternative to Consumer Culture' (2009) and co-editor of 'Simple Living in History: Pioneers of the Deep Future' (2014) and 'Words for Awakening: Voices of Inspired Revolt' (2017). For more details see: www.samuelalexander.info

Wild Democracy: Degrowth, Permaculture, and the Simpler Way

Compost Capitalism: Art and Aesthetics at the End of Empire

Arts & Photography

What role might art need to play in the transition beyond consumer capitalism? Can 'culture jamming' contribute to the necessary revolution in consciousness? And might art be able to provoke social change in ways that rational argument and scientific evidence cannot? In this stimulating new book, "Art Against Empire: Toward an Aesthetics of Degrowth", degrowth scholar Samuel Alexander explores these questions, both in theory and practice. He begins with a novel theoretical defence of art and aesthetic interventions as activity that is necessary to effective social and political activism, and concludes by presenting over one hundred 'culture jamming' artworks from a range of contributors that challenge the status quo and expand the horizons of what alternatives are possible.

Art Against Empire: Toward an Aesthetics of Degrowth

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