The rules are simple, for 24 hours you will detox from consumerism and live without shopping. Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending!Buy Nothing Day is the biggest 24-hour moratorium against consumerism. People around the world will make a pact to take a break from shopping as a personal experiment or public statement and the best thing is - IT'S FREE!!!
from the Buy Nothing Day blog
Here's an interesting post about this event shared by Joseph Chun.
Buy Nothing Day was started back in 1992 in Vancouver, Canada by Ted Dave, it was popularized by the Adbusters media foundation and it has spread to become an international day of action.
The founder of Adbusters, Kalle Lasn, believes that over consumption is the root cause of our ecological problems and many of the social problems in the world. One billion people consume 80% of the world’s resources? and the remaining five billion get 20%. One billion people now live in slums. Buy Nothing Day is a time to reflect on the values of consumerism and our own participation in consumerist culture.
What makes this year’s Buy Nothing Day so interesting and different from previous years is that it is happening as the world economies are either in or going into recession.
So why celebrate Buy Nothing Day at a time when so many politicians, business leaders and economists are literally pleading for consumers to return to their dutiful spending sprees?
Is it wrong for us to be talking about an idea that will cost so many people their livelihoods?
Read more on 'Tis the season to buy nothing by Conrad Schmidt on The Ecologist.
