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A Life Connected >> Connected Choices
You may already make many of these choices an important and consistent part of your life. Thank you!

If some of your choices are already aligned with your values, stay on the path and find even more connections. If they are unaligned, make new, better and connected choices.

It's a win-win way of living -- build a better life for you and a better world for everyone.

Simplify
> Live simply so others may simply live.

Imagine a world of billions of people living exactly as you do. Would it be sustainable?

If someone has too much, then someone else is going without. Or as Gandhi explained, “If you have more than you need, you are stealing from someone else.” This involves a personal disconnection from the resources being used, from the needs of those in the future, from one’s fellow humans who are in need and a disconnection from oneself and what happiness really means.

Most of us can make choices to simplify our lives and align our consumer habits with our values. If we all use a litte less, we can give a little more.

Fair Trade
> Support a fair price for goods.

Fair Trade ensures that farmers, artisans and other producers get a fair price for their goods. It guarantees a living wage, encourages environmental responsibility and reinvests in communities.

Look for Fair Trade certified products.

Fair Labor
> Promote fair and safe working conditions.

Sweatshops, child labor and slave labor are a growing problem even in the United States.

Clothing and other products like coffee, fruit, chocolate and flowers are often produced under brutal labor conditions.

The cheapest products often come with the greatest human costs.

Get to know more about how the products you purchase are made and make the most humane choices.

Organic
> Healthy food, healthy people, healthy planet.

Protect people, the planet and precious wildlife. Organic products ensure that chemicals are not sprayed and dumped on farm workers, on the land and in our waterways.

Pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms. Promote health -- including your own.

And save energy. More energy is used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to till, cultivate and harvest all the crops in the United States.

Renewable Energy
> Protect resources. Protect lives.

Wars are fought for resources. To build a world that is safe and secure and to preserve the planet for future generations, choose solar, wind, wave, geothermal, biofuels and other renewable choices.

If these choices aren’t readily available to you, offset some of your energy use by conserving energy and by buying “green” energy credits which help pay for and support the development of renewable energy.

And save energy. More energy is used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to till, cultivate and harvest all the crops in the United States.

Car-Free
> Use your own energy to get around.

Take a bus, ride a train or get on the subway. Better yet walk or ride a bike. Use your own energy to get around.

Buy Local
> Support and have a say in your local economy.

Be the champion of local businesses. Buying local supports small businesses, creates local jobs and keeps more money in your community.

And when you support a local company, you then have the opportunity to make sure they treat people, the planet and animals responsibly. They are members of your community unlike giant national retailers.

Vegan
> For the People. For the Planet. For the Animals.

Watch the Vegan video.
http://www.nonviolenceunited.org/veganvideo.html

Vegan foods are plant-based and contain no animal products (meat, eggs and dairy). The reasons more and more people are choosing a Vegan lifestyle include bettering human health, ending farm worker and factory worker exploitation, ending industrial racism, saving family farms, protecting the environment, ending climate change, ending world hunger, using energy and resources more wisely, conserving land, protecting wildlife, preserving our oceans and waterways and being kind to animals.

A Vegan lifestyle expands your circle of compassion to include those who rely entirely on your kindness. Vegan choices are some of the most far-reaching personal, practical and ethical choices you can make.

Recycle and Recycled
> When you throw it away, there is no "away."

Remember, when you throw something away, there is no such thing as “away.” Use less, reuse and recycle. Choose used and recycled products whenever possible.

Tree-Free
> Trees. We need more, not less.

Choose recycled lumber and paper products, consume products with less packaging, use recycled products, recycle what you use and consider tree-free papers like kenaf and hemp.

Cruelty-Free
> Put your compassion into action.

We have the compassion, intelligence and technology to move beyond hurting animals for the production of food, clothing, cleaning products and personal products.

Industries that make a profit by hurting others do so with the consent and support of those who buy their products. Make the kind choice, buy cruelty-free.

Other Resources
http://nonviolenceunited.org/resources.htm