Also written by: Dr. Michele Lee Kozimor-King
This year marks the twelfth cohort of the first-year seminar titled Simple Living. It is also the second year that the 16 students enrolled in the course will be authoring this weekly column to share with our community, new ways to live, work and consume.
This year, the class will be using the Northwest Earth Institute’s Discussion Course on Voluntary Simplicity to anchor their study of the growing social movement. The Northwest Earth Institute (NWEI) is a non-profit organization founded in 1993 with the objective to promote sustainability and help individuals connect with their community through social action.
According to the NWEI’s website (https://www.nwei.org/where-change-happens/on-campus/), “More than 400 colleges and universities worldwide have successfully used NWEI’s discussion course books to strengthen academic communities and foster learning about sustainability — in and out of the classroom.”
In addition to the FYS, Dr. Michele Lee Kozimor-King, professor of the course, will be facilitating a 5-week Discussion Course on Voluntary Simplicity for faculty and staff development. More information will be available in Campus News or you can join the discussion by contacting Dr. Kozimor-King directly (kozimor-kim@etown.edu).
What if you are not in the FYS and cannot join the Faculty/Staff Discussion Group? You too can share the experiences of the class by reading this weekly column, purchasing the NWEI discussion course book, or following the class hashtag #EtownSimplified on Twitter.
We welcome your ideas, tips, and feedback. Stay tuned for upcoming columns on the NWEI’s EcoChallenge, the tiny house movement (and our trip to Tiny Estates in Elizabethtown), KonMari for campus, and ways to reduce waste.
The Etown Simplified column has been a part of the Etownian for a year (happy birthday Etown Simplified!) New readers of the paper should expect columns offering advice on how to live one’s life to the best with less.
Past articles have included how to successfully pair one’s wardrobe down to 33 essential garments, how to declutter a dorm room, and taking steps to living healthier on campus.
Students in the Simple Living FYS learn from minimalist bloggers, authors and movements like NWEI.
While these students learn to master simplicity in the class room, they help us make the information available to students across campus, providing step-by-step instructions and resources for starting a simpler life.
