Buy Nothing Day 2008

Posted on Nov 28, 2008 by Susie Collins in Blog, Home & Garden, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

I’m feeling very happy to be working from home, and not buying anything from anywhere today.

Buy Nothing Day is an informal day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. Typically celebrated the Friday after Thanksgiving in North America and the next day internationally, in 2008 the dates will be November 28 and 29 respectively. It was founded by Vancouver artist Ted Dave and subsequently promoted by the Canadian Adbusters magazine.

The first Buy Nothing Day was organized in Vancouver in September of 1992 “as a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption.” In 1997, it was moved to the Friday after American Thanksgiving, which is one of the top 10 busiest shopping days in the United States. Outside of North America, Buy Nothing Day is celebrated on the following Saturday.

Despite controversies, Adbusters managed to advertise Buy Nothing Day on CNN, but many other major television networks declined to air their ads. Soon, campaigns started appearing in United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway. Participation now includes more than 65 nations.

While critics of the day charge that Buy Nothing Day simply causes participants to buy the next day, Adbusters states that it “isn’t just about changing your habits for one day” but “about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste.”

Source: Wikipedia

Theres only one way to avoid the collapse of this human experiment of ours on Planet Earth: we have to consume less.

It will take a massive mindshift. You can start the ball rolling by buying nothing on November 28th. Then celebrate Christmas differently this year, and make a New Years resolution to change your lifestyle in 2009.

Its now or never!

Source: http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd

For more information on Buy Nothing Day, visit the AdBusters site at: http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd

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Tags: Environment, Healthy Living, Policy, Products, Video

3 Responses to “Buy Nothing Day 2008”

linda

28. Nov, 2008

Easy for me
: )

I only buy food on Thursdays… nothing else is safe enough for me!!!

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Susie Collins

28. Nov, 2008

I know what you mean. We canaries have a small footprint in the first place given our limitations on what we can use. Although my husband and I did postpone until tomorrow an art tour that happens annually up in Volcano Village on the Fri, Sat & Sun after Thanksgiving, just in case we might want to purchase something. I’m not sure that Buy Nothing Day includes handcrafted nontoxic art work, but I wanted to participate fully.

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Leslie

29. Nov, 2008

I generally don’t buy anything except food anyway – and that is all organic. I am kind of suprised that during huge economic crisis that so many people were out shopping (and trampling other people) to get the best deal…

All of us with MCS definitely learn about making a small footprint and just are not able to fall into the marketing hoo-pla, since we know most of what is being sold is not very healthy.

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