Alternative Lifestyles to the 9-5 Grind

I find it inspiring that people are trying, on whatever scale, alternatives to our spirit killing, time eating 'normal' way of earning a living. If the ideas are there, they can be developed.

Schumacher Society

http://www.schumachersociety.org/local_currencies.html
Widely used in the United States in the early 1900s, local currencies are a legal, but underutilized tool for citizens to support local economies. Local currencies function on a regional scale the same way that national currencies have functioned on a national scale—building the regional economy by creating a protective “membrane” that is defined by the currency itself.  Local businesses that accept the currency are distinguished from chain stores that do not, building greater affinity between citizens of the region and their local merchants. Individuals choosing to use the currency make a conscious commitment to buy locally first, taking personal responsibility for the health and wellbeing of their community, laying the foundation of a truly vibrant, thriving local economy.

Freegan.info
A Site Dedicated to Revealing Human Over-Consumption and Waste
http://freegan.info/

Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. Freegans embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed.