“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

– Albert Einstein

“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.”
– Henry David Thoreau

Quotes referenced in a great article by Megan Prusynski on www.planetsave.com that poses 7 questions to ask before you purchase something. 

I remember in one of my philosophy courses in college, Dr. Daruty (one of my favorite professors) commented that “the most important duty a citizen of society has, is to be a good consumer”.  The depth of this statement is complex, and will be discussed over time on this site, but it is indeed true.

Visit the article and test yourselves on your next purchase and see if you think this way?

http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/08/22/simplify-simplify-simplify-less-is-more-when-living-green/

**About the Photo:

Orangutans. (derived from the Malay and Indonesian words orang meaning "person" and hutan meaning "forest",[4] thus "person of the forest") are currently critically endangered.  These peaceful apes are vegetarian whose diet is made up mostly of fruit (65%). Fruits with sugary or fatty pulp are favored. The fruit of fig trees are also commonly eaten since it is easy to both harvest and digest. Other food items include: young leaves, shoots, seeds and bark. Insects and bird eggs are also included.[12] 

According to recent research by the psychologist Robert Deaner and his colleagues, orangutans are the world's most intelligent animal other than humans, with higher learning and problem solving ability than chimpanzees, which were previously considered to have greater abilities. A study of orangutans by Carel van Schaik, a Dutch primatologist at Duke University, found them capable of tasks well beyond chimpanzees’ abilities — such as using leaves to make rain hats and leakproof roofs over their sleeping nests. He also found that, in some food-rich areas, the creatures had developed a complex culture in which adults would teach youngsters how to make tools and find food.

Another unfortunate victim of our rampant growth.  They, like ALL other animals on this earth, have endured their evolutionary rites of passage, however now they are victims of the virulent growth of human consumption and the insatiable appetite for economic growth.