Learn to Live Simply
Alternatives for Simple Living
Alternatives for Simple Living is equipping people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly and create meaningful celebrations.
www.simpleliving.org
Blue Rock Station
Blue Rock Station is a sustainability center in the heart of Appalachia – featuring an Earthship, straw bale structures, traditional homesteading techniques, heritage and organic gardening… and more. Learn about upcoming workshops and enjoy a virtual visit to Blue Rock Station.
www.bluerockstation.com
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, pioneering the largest public media collaboration in the U.S. Democracy Now!’s weekday War and Peace Report provides audiences with access to people and perspectives rarely heard on corporate-sponsored media, including independent and international journalists, ordinary people from around the world who are directly affected by U.S. foreign policy, grassroots leaders and peace activists, artists, academics and independent analysts.
www.democracynow.org
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR)
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) is the national media watch group, offering well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship. FAIR works to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints.
www.fair.org
Free Press
Free Press is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, it promotes diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, quality journalism, and universal access to communications.
www.freepress.net
New Road Map Foundation
New Road Map Foundation supports a Financial Integrity wiki to share what they’ve learned and create a “go to” place for people looking to integrate financial integrity into their lives.
www.financialintegrity.org
Take Back Your Time
Take Back Your Time is a major U.S./Canadian initiative to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens our health, our families and relationships, our communities and our environment.
www.timeday.org
Free Press / Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism
Free Press / Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalismis Central Ohio’s progressive activist website offering current and archived articles, action alerts, and a guide to local activist organizations and progressive businesses.
wwww.freepress.org
Grist
Grist has been dishing out environmental news and commentary with a wry twist since 1999 and is the one site you can count on to help make sense of it all.
www.grist.org
WCRS 102.1 and 98.3 FM
WCRS 102.1 and 98.3 FM is Columbus’ community radio station and a project of Simply Living. Locally produced programming features public affairs, local music/musicians, and programs in Somali, French and Spanish languages.
www.wcrsfm.org
Think Columbus
SOLE – Support Our Local Economy
Economic and Community Development Institute – Columbus, OH
Since its inception in 2004, ECDI has helped to start over 3,000 businesses in central Ohio through its Lending and Individual Development Account programs. ECDI also provides Financial Literacy and Microenterprise Development Training, as well as Home Repair services for the elderly and disabled.
Columbus Green Building Forum
The Columbus Green Building Forum is an organization dedicated to promoting energy-efficient and environment-friendly building practices in Central Ohio.
Get Green Columbus
The Office of the Environmental Steward was created as part of Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s Get Green Columbus initiative. Funded in part with a grant from the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio, the Environmental Steward’s Office is dedicated to making Columbus a green community by focusing on Green Businesses, Green Neighborhoods, and Leading by Example.
craigslist
Craigslist provides local classifieds and forums – community moderated, and largely free. You can find jobs, housing, goods, services, romance, local activities, advice – just about anything really.
The Freecycle Network or “Freecycle”
The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,810 groups with 7,245,000 members across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them’s good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box above or by clicking on “Browse Groups” above the search box. Have fun!
Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE)
The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) is North America’s fastest growing network of socially responsible businesses, comprised of over 80 community networks with over 21,000 independent business members across the U.S. and Canada.
Local Matters
Low-income rural and urban households, though living in separate worlds, face similar challenges — and are linked by the food they eat. Local Matters works to create opportunities and forge common bonds, including linking farmers and Head Start families, creating community gardens, instituting projects at schools and colleges, and planning many other educational and practical ways to elevate local people and local foods. Local Matters is a charitable, educational and networking organization whose goal is to ensure that all members of our community have access to affordable, nutritious, fresh and local foods.
Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association
OEFFA is a membership-based, grassroots organization, dedicated to promoting and supporting sustainable, ecological, and healthful food systems. The OEFFA web site offers a statewide directory of organic growers, articles of interest to farmers and gardeners, and information about OEFFA and its activities.
Farmers Market Map of the United States
The USDA has compiled this national listing of farmer’s markers, including locations, schedule, and contact infomration. Click on any state to find farmer’s markets statewide. A wonderful source for vacationers and travelers, or get a list of markets right here in Ohio. Listings are alphabetical by city.
MAP Furniture Bank
MAP, a Columbus-based organization, serves as a free furniture bank for individuals and families in need. It was incorporated in March 1998 as a centralized clearinghouse for new, high quality, and used furniture, appliances and household goods. MAP is always in need of usable furniture and furnishings, and will be happy to arrange a pick-up at your home.
SOAR Energy: A Solar and Renewable Energy Buyer’s Cooperative
The Simply Living board has endorsed offering a renewable energy source to Simply Living members through SOAR–A Solar and Renewable Energy Buyers Cooperative. Learn more about this Findlay-based, member-owned energy aggregator and its work to promote green power and help make energy more afforfdable and clean.
The Small Business Beanstalk
The SBB is a local-first company that leverages connections of all types to support business and community growth. We use problem solving, networking, and relationship-building techniques to grow small businesses through a unique combination of matchmaking and concierge services.
Alternatives for Simple Living
Alternatives for Simple Living is equipping people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly and create meaningful celebrations.
www.simpleliving.org
A Simply Living initiative that organizes workshops/classes that train and educate people about sustainability topics and practices
DVD Library
If you would like to check out a DVD, please contact Chuck Lynd at chuck.lynd@gmail.com or 614-354-6172.
American Meat: A Leave it Better Story
American Meat is a pro-farmer look at chicken, hog and cattle production in America. americanmeatfilm.com
An Inconvinient Truth
Former vice president Al Gore presents an eye-opening and compelling view of the future of our planet and our civilization. civilization.www.climatecrisis.net
Awakening the Dreamer: Changing the Dream
The resources and technologies to address our global crises already exist. What's missing is the human commitment to make it happen. https://www.pachamama.org/engage/awakening-the-dreamer
Before the Flood
Features Leonardo DiCaprio on a journey as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, traveling to five continents and the Arctic to witness climate change firsthand. He goes on expeditions with scientists uncovering the reality of climate change and meets with political leaders fighting against inaction. beforetheflood.com
Bought
Your health now brought to you by Wall Street. The hidden story behind vaccines, big pharma, and your food. http://boughtmovie.com
Chasing Ice
Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Within months of that first trip to Iceland, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. www.chasingice.com
Connected by Coffee
Witness how coffee is changing from a tool of oppression in Latin America into a tool of empowerment, and how it is transforming small-scale growing communities across the world. connectedbycoffee.com
Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret
Animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation, water consumption and pollution, is responsible for more greenhouse gases than the transportation industry, yet it goes on. www.cowspiracy.com
Deep Green
We hear compelling insights from dozens of prominent thinkers, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers and government officials on de-carbonizing energy and restoring the natural environment. deepgreenmovie.com
Dirt! The Movie
Explores the environmental, economic, social and political impact that the soil has on society. dirtthemovie.org
Do the Math
A documentary chronicling American environmentalist Bill McKibben's efforts to build a movement to challenge the fossil fuel industry and to change the terrifying math of the climate crisis. http://www.worldcat.org/title/do-the-math/oclc/860711733
Fix It: Healthcare at the Tipping Point
A powerful documentary that reaches across the political and ideological divide. It makes the case for business leaders support for major healthcare reform. www.fixithealthcare.com
Fixing the Future
Featuring communities using innovative approaches to create jobs and build sustainability, Fixing the Future inspires hope and renewal in tough economic times. fixingthefuture.org
Food Matters
A hard-hitting, fast-paced look at our current state of health. Despite the billions of dollars of funding and research into new so-called cures, we continue to suffer from a raft of chronic ills and every day maladies. http://www.foodmatters.com/films
Forks Over Knives
Follows doctors and health experts whose studies have found that many diseases and cancers can be prevented by plant-based diets. forksoverknives.com/the-film
Gasland
Josh Fox uses his trademark dark humor to take a deeper, broader look at the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the controversial method of extracting natural gas and oil, now occurring on a global scale. www.gaslandthemovie.com
Growing Cities
From rooftop farmers to backyard beekeepers, Growing Cities tells the stories of urban farmers, activists, and everyday city dwellers who are challenging the way this country feeds itself. www.growingcitiesmovie.com
Growing Greener Schools
Illustrates best practices for creating sustainable schools and implementing environmental education across a variety of curriculum areas. http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=10798028
Growth Busters: Hooked on Growth
One man takes on City Hall, Wall Street, presidents, and the Pope as he questions society's most fundamental beliefs about prosperity. www.growthbusters.org
Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?
Traces the worldwide economic collapse to a 1971 secret memo entitled Attack on American Free Enterprise System. Today, politics is the playground of the rich and powerful, with no thought given to the hopes and dreams of ordinary Americans. www.heist-themovie.com
I Am
Tom Shadyac answers the questions, "What's wrong with our world?" and "What can we do about it?” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1741225/
In Transition 2.0
In a world of increasing uncertainty, here is a story of hope, ingenuity and the power of growing vegetables in unexpected places. You'll hear about communities printing their own money, growing food, localizing their economies, and setting up community power stations. https://transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/in-transition-2-0/
No Impact Man
A New York City writer lives for a year with his wife and daughter with as little impact as possible, on the environment, giving up electricity, toilet paper, cars, and much more www.noimpactproject.org/movie
Numen: The Nature of Plants
The film presents a sobering view of conventional healthcare and the dangers of environmental insults, as well as a vision of safe, effective and sustainable medicine. www.numenfilm.com
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
Largely misunderstood and criticized for his strong beliefs, Pete Seeger was picketed, protested, blacklisted, and in spite of his enormous popularity, banned from commercial television for more than 17 years. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/movies/26seeg.html http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/movies/26seeg.html
Planeat
PLANEAT is the story of three men's life-long search for a diet, which is good for our health, good for the environment and good for the future of the planet, with an additional cast of pioneering chefs and some of the best cooking you have ever seen. www.planeat.tv
Polyfaces: A World of Many Choices
An Australian family moves to the United States for four years, creating a model farm that works in a symbiosis with nature and selling locally www.polyfaces.com
Queen of the Sun
Taking us on a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of bees and the mysterious world of the beehive. www.queenofthesun.com
Rachel Carson, Nature's Guardian
Bill Moyers pays tribute to environmental crusader Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, who sounded the alarm that launched the environmental movement. https://films.com/ecTitleDetail.aspx?TitleID=15250
Racing to Zero
An upbeat documentary presenting new solutions to the global problem of waste. By simply substituting the word RESOURCE for the word GARBAGE, a culture can be transformed, and a new wealth of industries can emerge. trash24.org
Ram Dass Fierce Grace
An engrossing, poignant meditation on spirituality, consciousness, healing and the unexpected grace of aging. https://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/ramdassfiercegrace
Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey
A biography of Jane Goodall, primatologist and conservationist. It is particularly concerned with her spiritual development, and her message of hope that, working together, humans can overcome our differences and make the world safe and habitable for ourselves and the creatures our choices impact. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0309727/synopsis?ref_=tt_ov_pl
Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping
As this self-appointed minister of social change sees it, America's neighborhoods are being overrun by exploitative corporate storefronts pushing dangerous transnational fairy tales. His guerrilla sermons aim to point out the dangers of indiscriminate consumerism. http://www.playloud.org/archiveandstore/videodata/reverend_billy
Scared Sacred
Ripper travels to the minefields of Cambodia; war-torn Afghanistan; the toxic wasteland of Bhopal; post-9/11 New York; Bosnia; Hiroshima; Israel and Palestine. This powerful documentary captures his five-year odyssey to discover if humanity can transform the 'scared' into the 'sacred'. scaredsacred.org
Seeking the Good Life in America
A documentary exploring alternative ways to live sustainably. Witness early explorations stepping out of more mainstream life and into alternative cultures, and see how one can be uniquely nurtured or challenged. http://www.ic.org/community-bookstore/product/seeking-the-good-life-in-america/
Shift Change: Putting Democracy to Work
With the long decline in US manufacturing and today's economic crisis, millions have been thrown out of work, and many are losing their homes. The usual economic solutions are not working, so some citizens and public officials are ready to think outside of the box. http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/shift.html
Spirit Space: A Journey Into Consciousness
Discover remarkable possibilities as to what and how our consciousness works with the world around us. www.spiritspacemovie.com
Split Estate
Split Estate maps a tragedy in the making, as citizens in the path of a new drilling boom in the Rocky Mountain West struggle against the erosion of their civil liberties, their communities and their health. www.splitestate.com
Thank God for Evolution
Fun and uplifting, Thank God for Evolution goes beyond the current debate to offer up a whole new way of thinking about science and religion. thankgodforevolution.com
The Corporation
Explore the nature and spectacular rise of the most pervasive institution of our time. thecorporation.com
The Ecological Footprint: Accounting for a Small Planet
Our growing economy is placing unprecedented demand on the planet's limited ecological resources. How can we assure our future well-being? http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/efoot.html
The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream
Suburbia, and all its promises, has become the American Dream, but as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. www.endofsuburbia.com
The Essence of Healing
Provides a comprehensive introduction to the philosophy, art, and science of The Reconnection. https://store.thereconnection.com/shop/the-essence-of-healing-by-eric-pearl/
The Future of Energy: Lateral Power to the People
The Future of Energy is a revolutionary film that captures the movement across the U.S. to transition to 100% renewable energy and to bring positive solutions to the ecological crisis. www.thefutureofenergy.org
The Future of Food
Offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade. www.thefutureoffood.com
The Global Financial Meltdown
There isn't enough money in the world to bail out the banks from a massive derivatives default today. The system itself must be changed. This July 2008 presentation by Ellen Brown suggests how.
The Great Story
The marriage of science and religion for the personal and planetary well-being. www.thegreatstory.org
The Living Matrix
Uncovers new ideas about the intricate web of factors that determine our health. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1499960/
The New Biology: Where Mind and Matter Meet
Cellular biologists now recognize that the environment- the external universe and our internal physiology- and more importantly, our perception of the environment, directly control the activity of our genes. www.psychedelicadventure.net
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens. www.communitysolution.org
The Suzuki Diaries: Future City
David and Sarika Suzuki, traveling on a tandem-bike-hitched trailer, explore sustainable urban innovation in Canadian cities. http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/suzdfc.html
The Suzuki Diaries: Sustainability in Action
As they travel through Germany, Denmark, France and Spain, father and daughter begin to see what is possible as they meet the people who are working towards restoring the equilibrium between human needs and planetary limits. http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/suzd.html
The True Power of Water
Dr. Emoto's latest research explores water's unique healing abilities, its intricate relationship to music, and the ways in which we influence water on an everyday basis. www.masaru-emoto.net
The Wisdom to Survive
Explores how unlimited growth and greed are destroying the life support system of the planet, the social fabric of the society, and the lives of billions of people. www.bullfrogfilms.com
Transforming Energy
About the hope of alternative energy as a solution to the problems of global warming and the end of cheap oil and gas. https://www.alibris.com/Transforming-Energy/movie/100425269
Triple Divide
Triple Divide is said to be the only documentary of its kind on the controversial subject of fracking capable of speaking to all sides, with exclusive interviews from the industry, experts, and Americans suffering in the wake of shale gas development. tripledividefilm.org
Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties
Provides the facts and stories that illuminate administration lies, wrongheaded policies, and the real victims of these actions--the American people. www.unconsitutionalthemovie.org
Visions of Utopia: Experiments in Sustainable Culture (Part 1)
Today many people are looking for ways to bring more community into their lives. Ordinary people with extraordinary visions tell their stories of living and working together to build a better world. http://gaia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/GKozeny_IC-SocialLabs.pdf
Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price
The film presents a negative picture of Walmart's business practices through interviews with former employees, small business owners, and footage of Walmart executives. www.walmartmovie.com
What a Way to Go
A disturbing, compassionate, sometimes humorous personal essay about coming to grips with climate change, resource crises, environmental meltdown, and the demise of the American lifestyle. whatawaytogomovie.com
Where to Invade Next
Michael Moore confronts the most pressing issues facing America today and finds solutions in the most unlikely places. wheretoinvadenext.com
Who Killed the Electric Car?
Unravels the puzzling demise of a vehicle that could have saved the environment and America's addiction to foreign oil. http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com/
World Spirit
Poetry and storytelling by visionary artist Alex Grey and music by electronic computer composer and violinist Kenji Williams. http://alexgrey.com/art/performances/world-spirit/
Yoga Is: A Transformational Journey
Thirty million Americans and countless millions worldwide have taken up a practice that is transforming their lives. Follow filmmaker Suzanne Bryant as she meets with the most prominent Yoga Gurus and teachers in the west and travels to India to explore the power of this ancient practice. www.yogaismovie.com
Donate Now
Together we can create a more compassionate and sustainable world!