True Wealth: How and Why Millions of Americans Are Creating a Time-Rich,Ecologically Light,Small-Scale, High-Satisfaction Economy

When installed at scale on buildings, they reduce energy consumption by absorbing heat in the summer and insulating in the winter. They also purify the air as the plants take in and process toxins.

neighbors could share expensive items that are only used periodically, such as riding mowers.

Technology stands for an operator that

Twenty years later, the consumption share was 65.6 percent, and by 2007 it had topped 70 percent.

more, and perfect the art of self-provisioning.

The New Economics Foundation’s Happy Planet Index incorporates ecological footprint, life satisfaction measures, and life expectancy into a single metric that measures how efficiently nations are using natural resources to produce happy lives (or “happy life years”). Costa Rica tops the list, with its 99

“sustainability plus,” a way of living that gives more back to the earth than it takes.

By these calculations, the world first reached its limits in 1986.

there’s another source of jobs and value that should be front and center in our planning: the restoration of natural assets.

people adapt to higher incomes by raising their expectations.