SANTA BARBARA PERMACULTURE NETWORK AND  S. B. SIMPLICITY CIRCLE
Presents:

Simple Prosperity

Slide Show & Booksigning with
Dave Wannn

Friday , February 8, 2008, 7 pm  Donation $5
Santa Barbara Public Library, Faulkner Gallery



Best selling author David Wann presents 17 forms of “real wealth” that can eradicate affluenza, a pandemic he helped diagnose in the book, Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic. “When we change a few key priorities and values, such as what we mean by the word “success,” many of our material wants will cease to be obsessions,” says Wann. “Instead of fidgety, addictive consumption, our lives can be filled with the real wealth of sanity, health, hope, caring, connection, participation, and purpose.”


Sounds too good to be true? Wann’s new book, Simple Prosperity , Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "www.davewann " claiming to be www. davewann .com , draws on the latest research to document how social connections, good health, contact with nature, stimulating work, leisure time, great neighborhoods, and other forms of real wealth can build up our immunity to affluenza. “As a result, we become less vulnerable to the borrow-and-spend mentality that’s backed the U.S. economy into a corner,” says Wann. “By reevaluating many aspects of daily life, including what we eat, where we live, and what we buy, we’re starting to imagine what a joyfully moderate, efficient, compassionate lifestyle will look like. The good news is that curing the pandemic of over-consumption at both the personal and cultural scale is not about giving up the good life but getting it back.”


Simple Prosperity offers many concrete examples of how we can have twice the satisfaction for half the resources (such as water, energy, and materials.) By rethinking our reliance on energy hogs like aluminum cans (which require 3% of the world’s electricity to manufacture), bottled water (which annually consumes power equivalent to the gasoline used in three million cars), monster houses, excessive airplane travel, feedlot meat, and suburbs-without-stores, we can also reduce our “ecological footprint,” a measurement of how much land is required to support a given standard of living. In the U.S., the average person requires about 30 acres, twice the footprint of an average Italian or German.



Wann points to the transition Japan made in the 18th century as a model for what America can become. “Land was in short supply, forest resources were being depleted, and minerals such as gold and copper were suddenly scarce as well. Japan went from being resource-rich to resource-poor, but its culture adapted by developing a national ethic that centered on moderation and efficiency. An attachment to the material things in life was seen as demeaning, while the advancement of crafts and human knowledge were seen as lofty goals. Ritualistic disciplines like fencing, martial arts, the tea ceremony, flower arranging, literature, art, and skillful use of the abacus all fluorished. Most people had access to basic education and health care, and the three largest cities in Japan had 1500 bookstores among them. “We can make that kind of transition in America,” says Wann.


David Wann is president of the non-profit Sustainable Futures Society, a board member of the Cohousing Association of the U.S., and a fellow of the Simplicity Forum, an association of writers and thinkers on the topic of sensible, sustainable lifestyles. Wann has received various lifetime achievement awards for his work on sustainability. He’s been an passionate gardener for 25 years and coordinates the community garden in the neighborhood he helped design – Harmony Village in Golden, Colorado. He’s written nine books and produced many award-winning TV programs and videos on sustainable design and sustainable lifestyles.

The Booksign and Slide Show  takes place at the Santa Barbara Public Library, Faulkner Gallery, 40 East Anapamu St, in downtown Santa Barbara, on Friday, February 8, 7:00 pm . Books will be for sale by author at event. No reservations are required, admission donation $5. Cosponsors Santa Barbara Simplicity Circle, For the Future, S.B. Organic Club and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
For more information please call (805) 962-2571, or email margie@sbpermaculture.org,  www.sbpermaculture.org.




-end-



Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
(805) 962-2571
P.O. Box 92156, Santa Barbara, CA 93190
margie@sbpermaculture.org
 www.sbpermaculture.org

"We are like trees, we must create new leaves, in new directions, in order to grow." - Anonymous