I guess I would agree with the authors, though, that there’s a lot to be said for “reducing income,” but not so much because of any corelation to consumption. Living conscientiously cannot help but lead us to compromise other things, ill-gotten gain chief among them. I think people really fail to see the impact of the work we do on the world. The world is cared for/destroyed almost entirely by people “on the clock.” So long as our income-generating activities are exempt from thorough scrutiny of conscience, we are going to continue destroying the world (including people/communities) as mercenaries of the bottom-line-driven beast.

Saving can certainly help us a lot in opening up better options (i.e. better stewardship.)