Buy Nothing Day – November 28 – Take Action

I’ve always had difficulty buying in to buy nothing day.  There.  It’s out there.  For 17 years, I’ve enjoyed the concept from the sidelines.

But it’s not for ethical or moral reasons.  It was considerably more of a functional issue.  For example, if I drove my car to visit a friend’s house to eat home-made soup, would the gas consumption be considered ‘consumption’?  I suppose not, since technically, I’m not buying anything THAT DAY, but it gets into the level of complexity that ‘vegetarian’ versus ‘vegan’ might have.

However, this year the light has gone on.  At a certain point, it’s all about making a simple commitment.  A commitment to change.

And this year, I’m committed.  It’s not because I think I can live a day without the perils of consumer life interjecting themselves as I drop off my son, do my work or talk to people about US Thanksgiving and the state of the world.

It’s because I’m getting increasingly annoyed by the bailouts, the reckless mis-management of our economy and social structure (in Canada, the US and the rest of the world), the obliviousness of neo-cons to the world around them and the whining and crying of massive monopolies as they have their hands outs in the twilight hours of the Bush Administration.

I now know that NOTHING would send a stronger signal to the ‘powers that be’ that we’re sick and tired of being treated like cattle.

So, c’mon everyone!  Buy Nothing.  Send a message.  This is where it begins.

(P.S.  If you absolutely must buy something, please try to make it local.)

BUY NOTHING DAY ORGANIZERS CONFRONT THE ECONOMIC MELTDOWN HEAD ON

Now in its 17th year, Buy Nothing Day is celebrated every November by environmentalists, social activists and concerned citizens in over 65 countries around the world. Over the years, Buy Nothing Day (followed by Buy Nothing Christmas) has exploded into a global movement, inspiring the world’s citizens to live more simply and buy a whole lot less.

Designed to coincide with Black Friday (which this year falls on Friday, November 28) in the United States, and the unofficial start of the international holiday shopping season (Saturday, November 29), the festival takes many shapes, from relaxed family outings, to free, non-commercial street parties, to politically charged public protests, credit-card cut-ups and pranks and shenanigans of all kinds. Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending.

Featured by such media giants as CNN, USA Today, MSNBC, Wired, the BBC, The Age and the CBC, Buy Nothing Day has gained momentum in recent years as the climate crisis has driven people to seek out greener alternatives to unrestrained consumption.

This year, Buy Nothing Day organizers are confronting the economic meltdown head-on – asking citizens, policy makers and pundits to examine our economic crisis.

"If you dig a little past the surface you’ll see that this financial meltdown is not about liquidity, toxic derivatives or unregulated markets, it’s really about culture," says the co-founder of Adbusters Media Foundation, Kalle Lasn. "It’s our culture of excess and meaningless consumption — the glorified spending and borrowing of the past decade that’s at the root of the crisis we now find ourselves in."

Economic meltdown, together with the ecological crisis of climate change could be the beginning of a major global cultural shift — the dawn of a new age: the age of Post-Materialism.

"A simpler, pared-down lifestyle – one in which we’re not drowning in debt – may well be the answer to this crisis we’re in," says Lasn. "Living within our means will also make us happier and healthier than we’ve been in years."
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Do what you can to spread the the BND message this year. Blog it, up-vote it on Digg, or slap a poster on a wall. This could be the breakthrough year when the heavy consumers of the world finally get it.
Warm regards,
The Adbusters Team