I agree that the core of a "good life" is not about consuming specific things (e.g. meat, mcmansions, etc.). Instead, I see a "good life" as one where each ind

I agree that the core of a "good life" is not about consuming specific things (e.g. meat, mcmansions, etc.). Instead, I see a "good life" as one where each individual is able to choose their overall lifestyle by balancing the factors that make it up: career, family, day to day culture (e.g. deep south vs. midwest, big city vs. rural), and passion (e.g. hobbies, art, athletics, writing, etc.) People start to become unhappy when these aspects of their life become mutually exclusive. For example: - A gay person has to live in the deep south in order to see their family. - A worker has to build their sense of purpose/identity around their work because they can't pursue their own passions outside of work. The problem that I see is that, at least in America, things are so spread out geographically that balancing these aspects often requires travel. Your family may live in another city so you travel a couple times a year to see them on holidays. In order to advance your career you travel to attend a conference. In order to pursue your passion you travel to learn from an experienced instructor or to participate in a competition. Etc. The only way that I could see Americans being able to keep the parts of their life in balance while cutting down on flights is if we instead had the infrastructure and vacation days to travel via public transportation. However, I don't see a way for that to realistically happen.