Friday, November 23rd is Buy Nothing Day - it's a day where you challenge yourself, your family, and friends to shop less and live more.
The challenge is easy - live simply for a day. Spend time with family and friends, rather than spend money on them. When crazed shoppers wake up at 3:50 am to secure their place in line, sleep in instead, and spend the day just enjoying life.
Buy Nothing Day exposes the environmental and ethical consequences of consumerism. The developed countries (20% of the world population) are consuming over 80% of the earth's natural resources, causing a disproportionate level of environmental damage and unfair distribution of wealth. As consumers we need to question the products we buy and challenge the companies who produce them. What are the true risks to the environment and developing countries? How is our money going to support inhumane conditions for laborers? It's our responsibility to look for simple solutions and Buy Nothing Day is a good place to start.
Now if you decide to head to the malls, we will in no way look down on you. By all means, get the deals. We have dragged each other out of bed on one too many a morning, believe me! However, this year instead of complaining about consumerism detracting us from the meaning of Christmas, we are attempting to live out our beliefs. The thing is, this isn't just a one day deal, we are hoping this will be a lifestyle change. We've got a long way to go yet, but anywhere is a good place to start.
1 comment:
we're trying really hard to cut back on spending in general. I've found, miraculously, that I'm not missing spending on things. Trying to cut back on our food budget will likely be a bit harder. I'm trying to make all our own bread and next week I'll give a go at making our own pizza....we'll see.
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