Friends of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

The idea for The Simple Living Network originally grew out of Founder Dave Wampler`s work with The Institute for Earth Education. Dedicated to helping people find ways of living more lightly on the earth, Dave wanted to use his skills and knowledge to start a service network that would make information and resources available to those interested in changing their patterns of consumption. Discouraged by the prospect of printing and mailing thousands of expensive and wasteful newsletters and catalogs to people who might not want them in the first place, Dave jumped at the chance provided by the Internet to accomplish the task using substantially fewer resources.

Today The Simple Living Network is charting new waters by serving as a model that upholds a strong commitment to community service and ecological commerce. Providing tools, examples and contacts for conscious, simple, healthy and restorative living. Although it may seem strange that something called The Simple Living Network has a several thousand page web site offering community services and sells books, audiocassettes and videos... this is absolutely the most effective and efficient way to introduce hundreds of thousands of people to the voluntary simplicity movement.

We do not advertise. We do not send junk mail. We do not rent, lend or sell our mailing list to anyone. [For more information see our Privacy Policy.] The Simple Living Network is a home-based cottage business operating in the Cascade mountain village of Trout Lake, Washington. Our staff is small and operating expenses are low allowing us to use a greater percentage of our profit to provide community services.

We have purposely chosen to operate as a for-profit corporation in order to model sustainable small business practices. We believe that to be successful in the long-term we must operate through self-funding. Our goal is to fund operations without excessive support from government, industry or foundations so that we may remain a stable and independent voice, free from the bureaucratic constraints that often come with the fundraising/nonprofit structure.

This mode of operation also allows us the freedom to adjust quickly in response to the rapidly changing Internet and societal/market conditions. Our path is one of thoughtful, consistent growth, flexibility and longevity. Having made those tough decisions, it goes almost without saying that our financial survival depends on the revenue generated through your generous CyberAngelTM gifts and resource purchases.

We truly appreciate your support! Please be assured, we are not getting rich by selling things. All profit, after expenses, goes directly into the maintenance and improvement of this web site.