To the informed consumer the many answers to this question quickly come to mind. Finding practical things to do at the personal, household level can be as much fun as it is a smart thing to do. For starters, we should ask ourselves questions like - What does "living naturally" mean, involve? - How can it be realized, promoted, be sustained? - What kind of people, families are likely to make a committed move to more natural living?
Of course we all consume products and services in our daily private lives as in our work-related activities. In fact consuming is the impulse to our economies' heart. However, consuming just for the sake of it, in irrational detachment form actual needs, is what is increasingly causing economic strokes, especially in affluent societies. Its' an unhealthy economic as well environmental condition to be in, from the national level right down to debt-straddled, consumerist individuals and families. But treading lighter on the environment and in turn, help making economies more sustainable is not all that hard to do. Lighter and smaller steps in terms of energy use, resource consumption, lifestyles and daily habits can prove to add up to that extra mile in terms of reducing one's impact on the global environment - our common world.
Perhaps a visit to an imaginary family of, let's say five, living in a mid-sized town somewhere west of Pittsburgh or south of Edmonton, can lead to a good idea of what it may mean to live and consume more "naturally". We would have a closer look at things such as:
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