The Center for a New American Dream is a not-for-profit membership-based organization that helps individuals and institutions reduce and shift consumption to enhance quality of life and protect the environment.

Adbusters Magazine is published by the Adbusters Media Foundation, a Vancouver, B.C. based non-profit organization committed to force a major paradigm shift in North America and throughout the world towards a more ecologically sustainable environment. In addition to its magazine, the group sponsors anti-commercial campaigns, such as Buy Nothing Day (the day after Thanksgiving), and operates Powershift, an advocacy advertising agency.

30 Days to a Simpler Life by Connie Cox and Cris Evatt (New York: The Penguin Group, 1998). Practical guide for organizing living spaces, including offices, wardrobes, photos, books, and magazines. Travel, financial planning, and leisure are also covered.

Clutter Control: Putting Your Home on a Diet by Jeff Campbell (New York: Dell Publishing, 1992). Discusses both the physical and psychological aspects of managing material possessions. Suggests ways to minimize the negative impact of too much clutter.

Clutter's Last Stand: It's Time to De-Junk Your Life by Don Aslett (Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, 1984). Discusses the stuff in our lives-why we buy it, why we hoard it well beyond its pleasurable or useful life, and how to let go of it. Also explores mental clutter, such as money (tracking it, investing it, and managing it), people, and activities that complicate your life.

The High Price of Materialism by Tim Kasser (Boston: MIT Press, 2002). Psychology professor offers a scientific explanation of how our contemporary culture of consumerism and materialism affects our everyday happiness and psychological health, including anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and problems with intimacy.

How Much is Enough?: The Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth by Alan Durning (New York: W.W. Norton, 1992). Provides a comprehensive overview of the consumer society-how we got to where we are, the damage done to the earth by the consumer class, and the striking lack of fulfillment resulting from the consumer way of life. The author argues that true fulfillment comes from the nonmaterial aspects of life, such as relationships, work, and leisure.

The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need by Juliet B. Schor (New York: HarperCollins, 1999). Explores America's relationship with its spending patterns-why and how we spend and consume-focusing on the psychological motivations for excessive spending, including the desire to gain status relative to others. Profiles people who have downshifted as an alternative to a life heavily based on consumerism.

Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things by John C. Ryan and Alan Durning (Seattle: Northwest Environment Watch, 1997). Enlightening read that traces the environmental history and impact of goods consumed by the average American.

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