I am heartened, challenged, and stimulated by the interesting and engaged discussion that has emerged around my short piece, "I Will Simply Survive." It's always so interesting to see the ways in which I have managed (or not) to be clear in what I am trying to say. My aim was not to cast blame on anybody (except mostly myself, I think), but rather to encourage critical self-examination of what spurs each of us to attempt simplicity, simplifying, eco-whatever. Furthermore, my aim was to expand thinking to embrace those whose choices are constrained by poverty. Of course pro-environmental choices aren't …

In the early 1990s, I knew a 10-year-old boy named Davy who had never been to Toys "R" Us. When I told his story, people would often respond to this part of his life with a sort of sentimental longing. "How wonderful that he has never been to that awful place," they'd say. Davy's lack of experience, however, was a marker not of his protected status, but of his deprivation. Arriving at school barely able to keep his eyes open, Davy spent too many nights staying up late and caring for three younger siblings, one of them still in diapers. …