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Saturday, May 17, 2014

Excess and Trash - A Review of the Book "7: An Experimental Mutiny on Excess"

A few months ago I picked up a book on a whim.  It was on a special offer for my kindle, and the description of the book intrigued me.
7: An Experimental Mutiny of Excess - By Jen Hatmaker
7 is the true story of how Jen (along with her husband and her children to varying degrees) took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseases of greed, materialism, and overindulgence.
So I will admit - this is not my typical book.  I'm more of a chick-lit kind of girl.  My time to sit and read is limited, so I mostly choose light books that let me escape into the carefree lives of the characters.

In any case, the author lured me in within the first few pages.  It is a casually written book  that reminded me of emails my friends and I might exchange.  At times I thought she tried a little too hard to be funny, but then sentences later, she grabbed me with deep thoughts about the values of America, and how it relates to modern religion.

Each month she and her family took on an "excess"  and stripped down to the bare minimum.
  • Month one they eat only seven foods
  • Month two they only wear seven articles of clothing
  • Month three they rethink their possessions 
  • Month four is a media fast
  • Month five  was a focus on waste (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)
  • Month six focused on spending
  • Month seven was a focus on stress and simplifying day to day life
She realized many things along the way;  We are incredibly lucky to live in such a rich place.  But our richness also seems to come with greed waste and misplaced values.

With some help she planted a garden that produced a good amount of vegetables and fruit.  She found that donating unwanted items directly to organizations that could use them (Think homeless shelter - instead of Goodwill), she felt a better connection and fulfillment in her giving.  She realized that today's consumption is undermining the earth's environmental resource base.

Hatmake has quite a following of readers.  I was quite happy to see her rethink disposable water bottles and embrace buying items from local sources.  Her family bought an more environmentally sound vehicle, and are now trying to reduce their waste footprint.

I appreciated that her book called on religious leaders to take care of the earth.   I also liked how she seemed to not be afraid to roll up her sleeves and serve those who were lacking resources and needed help. 

In short - if you are looking for a book that both playfully and thoughtfully looks at how you love more sustainably and less wasteful,  this book might be a good read for you. It was (at least to me) an interesting experiment that showed we can all do just fine with more thought and less waste. 

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