The Tipping Point and Simple LivingSpring 2007 newsletter column

The Tipping Point and Simple Living
By Wanda Urbanska

My line of work—promoting simple, sustainable living via public television—is an incredibly rich and rewarding enterprise. Not “rich” as in lucrative. Quite the opposite. In fact, from the start, it’s been a labor of love. But “rich” as in textured, meaningful, making-a-difference kind of work. What a labor of love. As we begin production of the fourth season of Simple Living, I look back with fondness on the many friends we’ve made along the way—and the many visions we’ve seen of sustainable living, the many idealistic people we’ve met who are working to make the world a better place, working hard to curb the effects of climate change.

Visiting Samso Island in Denmark in November 2004, which is the Danish government’s experiment in getting an island community to achieve energy self-sufficiency this decade, made an indelible impression and has remained a tremendous inspiration. So was my lifetime career highlight of interviewing President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter in Plains, Georgia back in April 2005. President Carter was light years ahead of the American public when he advocated dramatically increasing fuel mileage on the American fleet in the 1970s, only to be roundly opposed by American automakers and ultimately defeated by the electorate.

But perhaps the proverbial tipping point has arrived. Maybe the public is finally starting to wonder if climate change is real and is concerned about the crazy weather patterns we’ve all been experiencing lately. (Frank and I lost our first cherry crop in 17 years due to an Easter freeze, after enjoying spring weather at Christmastime.)

Wanda's column continued here....

All SLA newsletter columns and archives are posted at the main site here.