Freeing our families

In 1986, Wanda Urbanska and Frank Levering were a successful, hard-working couple living in Los Angeles. He was a Hollywood screenwriter, she a journalist working for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. But something was wrong -- they were, in their own words, working too hard, spending too much, and failing to contribute to the greater good.

The two moved to Frank Levering's family farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where they have found what they were looking for -- a more meaningful life, rich with community involvement if not cash, surrounded by nature not the wealthy and powerful. It is a way of life made possible by freeing themselves from the need and desire for "stuff."

This couple is not the only one to leave behind "success" for a simpler life. But unlike most, they shared their experiences in a book entitled Simple Living: One Couple's Search for a Better Life. And last year, they premiered a television series that invites the viewer to try out a simpler life for themselves.

I took my 15-year-old son Alex, a budding film maker, to the Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival this weekend, and we had a chance to view one of the episodes of Simple Living. The episode we saw shows why supporting local businesses, rather than the big box stores, benefits the whole community; how to help your kids resist the "consumer monster"; and why faith communities are working to "protect creation" through making their centers of worship more environmentally friendly. Each episode suggests what you, the viewer, can do.

Wanda's personality, and the presence of her son Henry, bring the program an authentic warmth. The language is simple but the advice is meaningful both in its benefits for families and its impact on strengthening society. And it built on some of our most fundamental values in the United States -- the values on family, on community, on decentralized business, and on acting on our beliefs. This program shows that resisting the lures of consumerism advanced by large corporations -- and the over-stressed, competitive lifestyles that results -- is the best thing we can do for our families and our future. My son thought it was pretty cool, too.

Check your local PBS station or the Simple Living website for program times.