A remote piece of land and a countryside cabin, that's what Andy Couturier and Cynthia Kingsbury dreamt of in their late twenties. Japan would be the place where they would work several years to finance that dream. Japan would be the place where they would meet, against all odds, like-minded environmentalists and anti-nuclear activists, friends and teachers, who would show them the abundance of less.

For two decades they have been back in the US and have split their life between a city apartment in Santa Cruz and a self-reliance farm in Northern California practicing a subtle set of values: gentle, humble, simple, small, slow. Join us on Friday, June 22, for a discussion with Andy and Cynthia as they will share their personal journey from a consumption obsessed society to inner abundance: a series of approximations towards an ever changing goal.

Andy Couturier is the American author of two books, Writing Open the Mind: Tapping the Subconscious to Free the Writing and The Abundance of Less​. He is the director of The Opening​, a school for creative writing. His essays and articles on ecology, sustainable living, and nuclear power have appeared in The Japan Times, The North American Review, Kyoto Journal, The Oakland Tribune, and others. He is also the winner of the prestigious 2017 Nautilus Book Award​ in the category Green Living & Sustainability.

Find out more here: https://taol.greeninitiatives.cn/​

Fresh Start warmly welcomes all to attend, listen, and ask questions.