The economic slow down has had some positive benefits. Getting smaller paychecks because we have been cut back on our working hours does not seem like anything good at all. Doing less because business has slowed down seems depressing to most of us. And cutting back our vacation and leisure plans to save money seems quite discouraging.

At the Seattle Green Festival last spring, we heard John de Graaf talk about the need for all of us to work less, slow down, and make better decisions about our time. In the context of reducing stress and living healthier lives, this seems very obvious. And not too many of us would argue.

Looking at the larger picture, if we can extract ourselves from our personal reality for just a moment, we can see some truly great benefits. The ramifications on our society – if we all worked less, slowed down and made better decisions about our time – are quite interesting.

If all of us who work 40-60 hours a week cut down on our productive work hours, our society would be producing less “stuff” which has to be consumed by others. We would have more time to raise and cook our own food, and probably would eat out less often and need less “stuff.” So we should need less money, too.

Since we would probably be healthier, we should need less medicine and medical care. We would have time to go for bike rides instead of working out at the gym. In general, it seemed his message was that we could, through this economic slow-down, calm down our whole American lifestyle — just slow the cycle down a notch or two.

Doesn’t that sound wonderful? Friends who are now forced to take “Friday furloughs”, or Fridays off without pay, are already enjoying the three-day weekends and the opportunity to do some creative things at home. Or they have time to get to the side entrepreneurial projects they’ve wanted to start for a long time.

That kind of general cut in income forces all of us to get creative, to get frugal, and to think again about how we can “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without”.

Getting frugal and calming down. All in all, that’s not a bad thing. It’s a change, but not all bad.

If you would like to join with others who are exploring sustainability issues, please join a Sustainability Discussion Class at Stillwaters. For more information, contact Joleen Palmer at (360) 297-2876 or Joleen@Stillwatersenvironmentalcenter.org.