The path to fulfillment ain’t what it used to be, says Colin Beavan. College, a career, two-and-a-half-kids and a white picket used to seem like the holy grail. But it’s hard to feel like you’re where you should be while buried in student loan debt and awaiting the disasters of climate change.

Beavan, known for his experiment to live “zero net-impact” with his family in New York City for a year, offers suggestions in his new book How to Be Alive: A Guide to the Kind of Happiness That Helps the World (Dey Street Books, $26). He will speak about it at Politics and Prose on Wednesday, January 6th at 7 p.m. The book comes out the previous day.

During his experiment (chronicled in his previous book, No Impact Man, and a documentary by the same name), Beavan realized he was embarking on a radical “lifestyle redesign” that many other people were interested in. Attribute it to the economy, or general state of global unrest, but material objects and traditional markers of success have lost some appeal. So, the author addresses how to live more happily and with a more positive impact.

You don’t even have to join a hippie commune or swear off technology (unless you want to) — In seven parts, How To Be Alive is a guide to how to better your life and the world on your own terms.

Beavan pulls from literature, philosophy, science, and “lifequester” anecdotes to give advice on making changes big and small. Among them: Identify your own values. Try to live in accord with them, whether you’re choosing a job or buying clothing. Find your people (and how to do that). Engage in intrinsically rewarding activities. Tackle smaller, easier problems first.

And, of course, one has to forget the notion that “standard life approaches” are the way to go. Beavan encourages readers to experiment with choices and stop placing limits on themselves.

Beavan gained his PhD in electronic engineering from the University of Liverpool. He was a consultant to philanthropic organizations before returning to the United States in 1992. He now directs the No Impact Project and advises NYU’s Sustainability Task Force and the council of Just Food.

In addition to No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process, Beavan’s prior books include Operation Jedburgh: D-Day and America’s First Shadow War and Fingerprints: The Origins of Crime Detection and the Murder Case that Launched Forensic Science.

This event is free and open to the public.