Slowing down = greening up

There is a cool article in this week’s Ecologist magazine about ‘downshifting’.

Put simply, it’s about living more simply, slowing down; about making life less frantic and fraught. It values time over money and possessions – which means more time and reducing the amount of stuff you buy.

Why is slowing down, green? By slowing down a gear you’re racing around less, you live with less and are more resourceful. It’s about gradual, action by action, rather than any radical shift.

Check out Natalie’s blog, who calls herself a ‘bog-standard, Jo Bloggs downshifter’. Since living the downshifting dream, she says that “downshifting makes you happier, improves your quality of life, gets you more involved in your community, and helps the environment”.

According to Datamonitor, there are 12 million Natalies across Europe! So how do we downshift?

- Analyse your finances – 86% of women have bought clothes that have remained on the hanger ever since!
- Cut up your credit card
- Freecycle stuff you don’t want any more – the more stuff you have, the more there is to tidy!
- Cook a meal, using seasonal ingredients
- Take all of your holiday

Do you have any other ideas? Wow. Downshifting makes me relax just writing about it. Time to get a white tea :-)