Press Clippings
Charlotte Observer - July 10, 2004
Living More Lightly
By Mark Washburn
‘Affluenza’ expert hosts N.C.-based TV series about simplifying your life
Long before feckless friend Nicole and Paris took us to the “Simple Life,” Wanda Urbanska was making a living at it.
Moving from Los Angeles to Mount Airy two decades ago, Urbanska decided to simplify her life, wrote a book about it and became a star in the countercultural realm of living less-complicated lives.
Today at 10 a.m., a PBS series called SIMPLE LIVING WITH WANDA URBANSKA – largely filmed in North Carolina – debuts on UNC-TV.
“We’re challenging viewers to live more lightly on the Earth,” Urbanska says. She urges environmental stewardship, wildlife-friendly yards, financial responsibility and thoughtful consumption.
“Our landfills are filling up at an alarming pace, and it’s very difficult to open new ones,” she says. Even small changes in lifestyle can have an impact over time, like reducing the number of soda cups from convenience stores in the trash.
“We say you should be carrying travel mugs instead of leaving this trail of waste,” she says.
“The mantra of the program is that nothing’s too small to make a difference. If you’ve got a Styrofoam cup, use it twice.”
Among the topics of today’s program are energy and transportation choices, with hybrid car and the Charlotte trolley making guest appearances.
Elderly appliances
One weekly feature is called “The Thing That Refused to Die.” It looks at some old appliance or machine that keeps on working well after its age of obsolescence. Today’s featured item is a 1923 cash register still ringing up sales in a Mount Airy barber shop.
“Sometimes the thing you put out to pasture is the most valuable thing you own,” Urbanska says.
In the future shows, viewers will meet a woman who still wears an outfit she bought in 1960, a man who bought a Model T for $10 in the 1940s and still drives it, a 1967 Electrolux vacuum cleaner still snarfing dust, and a 1950s-era toaster bought at a yard sale in 1967 for 50 cents and still making toast.
Urbanska says reducing the junk and clutter of the household, making wise choices about energy use and making do with sensible products rather than the latest gadget of the moment tends to reduce stress overall.
Not having to make exorbitant payments for the fanciest car on the block means less time at work and more time at home. Reupholstering the furniture rather than buying a new living room suite means less waste and less expense.
Europeans, she says, adopt this philosophy widely and lead more relaxed lives.
“In France, you’d see furniture appallingly old by U.S. standards,” she says.
“It’s not about deprivation. It’s about joy, fulfillment. Europeans have more time, more leisure and vacation time, they’re less of a consumer-oriented lifestyle.”
Going national with show
After PBS expressed interest in the series, Urbanska went shopping for a corporate sponsor. She found one with a similar outlook, the century-old Smead Manufacturing Co. of Hastings, Minn., a simplicity-oriented company that makes products to organize the workplace and manage record-keeping.
She had hosted the 1998 PBS primetime special “Escape from Affluenza,” based on the simpler-lifestyle philosophy, but making a series was new to her and Frank Levering, who’s executive producer and scriptwriter. They live with their 6-year-old son, Henry, in Mount Airy and have a family cherry orchard in the nearby highlands of Carroll County, Va.
Levering says the show’s philosophy resonates particularly with baby boomers who are burned out by the pace of life.
“It’s about frugality – freeing up more time in your life to do more meaningful things,” he says.
Filming took them to 10 states, from Massachusetts to Louisiana, and PBS affiliates reaching about half the nation’s households have already picked up the series South Carolina’s public TV system, SCETV, is planning to pick it up in the fall, and WTVI (Channel 42) is considering the series.
Getting Simpler
Among the ways to adopt a more Earth-friendly approach to living are:
-Use energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs.
-Install water-saving plumbing fixtures.
-Resist impulse buying. Put it on the calendar and consider the purchase the following week.
-Cook in bulk – freeze the leftovers.
-Compost organic wastes like banana peels and coffee grounds to keep them out of the landfill.
-Consider nondisposable items, even handkerchiefs vs. tissue, cloth napkins vs. paper.
-Bring your own carryout containers when you go to restaurants.
-Don’t use paper plates for a party – do the old-fashioned thing and use real plates.