National Downshifting Week
by Bonnie Alter, London 
on 04.20.07
National Downshifting Week is April 21 to 27 this year. It is all about “Helping you find a good work/life balance”. It is a time to slow down and smell the flowers—a time to stop participating in a consumer society, to eat well, volunteer, live more simply and less wastefully. Here is what you can do to make a meaningful change:
Book a half-day off work to spend entirely with someone you love.
Cook a meal from scratch, using locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, preferably organic
Cut up a credit card
Donate a bag of clothes, toys or useful items to a local charity shop, refuge or recycling centre
Hand-make a simple card for the next birthday or event on your calendar
Eliminate 3 non-essential purchases this week
Plant something in the garden you can cultivate and eat and start a compost heap
Tonight, turn off the television, switch on the radio, play a few games and talk
Volunteer an hour of your time to a local charity shop, animal shelter, hospice etc
And take the pledge:“ I hereby pledge to slow my life down a gear for the benefit of my health, my well being, my environment and for those around me whom I dearly love. " :: National Downshifting Week
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Just want to let you know that I downshifted 15 years ago, moving from a hectic Milan to a very quiet hill above Nice. I gave up my car and use my feet, my bicycle or my motorbike.
Two months or so, I started a blog "Vive la lenteur" (Long life to slowness), with a small turtle as a symbol. So I would like to get into the Slow movement. Please contact me!
Nathalie