Although I didn’t finish reading Radical Simplicity (I am not ready for that level of detailed analyzation and calculation yet…maybe in a few months), one of the points that was mentioned early in the book really stuck with me: the metaphor chosen was a food buffet with me being the first in line. The question posed was…how much food would I take if there were a few billion people behind me also waiting to serve themselves from this buffet? How would I decide how much was enough for me so that the last person in line was not left with nothing. To me that is what sustainable means: knowing what my needs and wants are, and living a life so that no one else has to suffer because of my choices.

I first encountered the idea of sustainability when I read Your Money or Your Life (YMOYL), a book by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. I was trying to get rid of debt (tuition payments, parental debt) in 2001 and was reading every book on frugality that I could get my hands on. It was in YMOYL that the idea of "enough" was introduced to me. A concept that was, until that point, completely alien. I was on the road to acquiring anything and everything I could because I thought it would make me happy. I wanted cars, I wanted gadgets, I wanted lotso money, I wanted to travel a lot…the list was just endless. While reading YMOYL, I began to realize that happiness couldn’t be bought with stuff (a realization that many people on the compact arrive at). Happiness was related to one’s ability to be content with one had and decide on how much was enough in order for them to be happy.  And…more importantly, once I decide on what’s enough for me, will that mean others who share the planetary resources with me will have enough?

EDIT: I neglected to point out why I was writing the post. Its a post that I’m submitting to be (hopefully) included in the upcoming APLS carnival.