For decades we’ve been told that a better life comes from earning more, buying more and consuming more. Economic growth has become synonymous with progress, and success is often measured by income, possessions and productivity.
But what if we’ve been measuring the wrong things?
That question sits at the heart of a recent Voices of the New Economy conversation with Jon from Living More with Less, who, together with his family, has spent years experimenting with what it means to live a genuinely low-impact, high-generosity life. Rather than presenting sustainability as a story of sacrifice, Jon offers a refreshing alternative: living with less can actually mean living with more.
Redefining wealth
Jon’s vision of a new economy begins by questioning the assumption that life should revolve around money at all.
Instead of organising society around economic growth and monetary success, he imagines an economy centred on wellbeing, purpose, community and sufficiency. Rather than constantly asking how to produce and consume more, we might instead ask what people genuinely need to live flourishing lives.
It is a subtle but profound shift. Wealth becomes measured not by accumulation, but by time, relationships, health, meaning and connection.
Learning from simple living
Jon’s journey began while studying engineering and environmental issues, before travelling through Southeast Asia with his wife. While volunteering abroad, they encountered communities with few material possessions but remarkably rich social lives.
The happiest and most generous people they met were often those with the least. They lived close to family, spent time outdoors, shared resources and worked in ways that connected directly to meeting everyday needs.
The experience challenged many assumptions about prosperity.
Returning to Australia, Jon and his family gradually redesigned their lives around those lessons. They reduced their working hours, became largely car-free, prioritised cycling and local community, embraced repair and reuse, and focused on producing less waste while giving more to others.
Today their project, Living More with Less, documents what they describe as a lifestyle approaching “one-planet living”—a way of living that, if adopted globally, would remain within Earth’s ecological limits.
The abundance we fail to see
One of the most compelling ideas from our conversation was Jon’s distinction between scarcity and abundance.
Modern economies constantly reinforce the feeling that we never quite have enough. New cars, larger homes, endless renovations and ever-growing subscriptions promise satisfaction but often leave us feeling just as rushed, anxious and financially stretched.
Jon argues that much of this scarcity is psychological rather than material.
Many Australians already live with extraordinary levels of abundance by historical and global standards. Yet because we compare ourselves with carefully curated social media feeds and consumer advertising, we rarely experience that abundance.
Recognising what we already have creates space to work less, spend less and invest more time in the activities that genuinely improve wellbeing.
What actually makes a good life?
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Jon’s story is that he has not always held this philosophy.
Over the years he has moved through periods of environmental activism, survivalism, high consumption and even doomsday preparation before eventually returning to a much simpler conclusion.
A good life is not built through accumulating more possessions.
It is built through helping others, continually learning, spending time in nature, building strong relationships and finding meaning in everyday activities.
Whether it is growing food, fixing something instead of replacing it, riding a bicycle instead of driving, or sharing meals with neighbours, these ordinary experiences often generate far deeper satisfaction than another purchase ever could.
As Jon describes it, humans evolved for movement, community, creativity and cooperation—not endless consumption.
Does individual action really matter?
A common criticism of sustainable living is that individual lifestyle changes cannot solve problems as large as climate change or global inequality.
Jon agrees that no single person will change history alone.
But he argues this misses the point.
Individual actions directly affect the lives of thousands of people, animals and ecosystems over a lifetime. They also shape cultural norms. Every visible example of someone choosing a different way of living makes that path easier for someone else to imagine.
Rather than asking whether one person can solve global crises, perhaps the better question is: what happens if everyone assumes their actions don’t matter?
History suggests that social change rarely begins with majorities. It begins with small groups of people willing to model different possibilities.
Building the new economy at home
Many conversations about economic transformation focus on governments, policies and institutions. Those changes are undoubtedly important.
But Jon reminds us that another part of the transition happens much closer to home. It happens in how we define success, how much we work, how we spend our money, whether we repair or replace, if we know our neighbours, or whether we choose generosity over accumulation.
These decisions may seem small individually, but together they help create the culture that larger systems ultimately reflect.
The new economy is not only something we vote for or advocate for. It is also something we practise. And perhaps, as Jon’s family demonstrates, living with less may be one of the richest ways to begin.
