Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic EvolutionSM
 Friday - November 28, 2008 |
In the United States Buy Nothing Day is always the day after Thanksgiving. Spend a day without spending!
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- William S. Burroughs, 1959
"We live in an acquisitive society where it is impossible to survive without participating, indirectly at least, in thievery. This cannot be helped. We can only begin with ourselves to express our compassion for all creatures and things. Though even picking a flower is a kind of stealing, we pick it as we accept food for our table."Like the Precept of No Killing, 'No Stealing' has its application both in the immediate Buddha Sangha and outside in the workaday world. The Buddha's injunction in "The Eightfold Path' regarding 'right vocation' urges a life of minimal exploitation. But our habits of consumption support massive and irredeemable exploitation of people, animals, tress, earth, water, and air. Great power is generated in support of this precept when people gather in a community and agree to conserve the energy of the universe and protect its beings and elements."
- Robert Aitken - 1982
Taking the Path of Zen, p. 82
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Click Here for my page on Voluntary Simplicity... |
Appropriately, Buy Nothing Day is also know known as "Black Friday!"
"NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Black Friday 2007 bargain frenzy kicked off just after midnight as throngs of shoppers shrugged off Thanksgiving Day fatigue to grab early bird sales on flatscreen TVs, clothes, jewelry and toys."
Holiday Money 2007
Shoppers start holiday marathon
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Black Friday crowds spend an estimated $20 billion. The big question for the economy: Will they keep buying? By Parija B. Kavilanz, CNNMoney.com senior writer Analysts worry that tired Black Friday early bird shoppers will give up midday, causing the sales momentum to sag later in the day. From coast to coast, Americans gathered in the early hours to hunt down Black Friday bargains. Worried retailers and mall operators breathed a sigh of relief after the 2007 holiday shopping marathon off to a robust start Friday. |
The China Syndrome
What's behind a brand name? Less and less every day.
"When corporate America tied its future to globalism, it made a deal with the devil. The record profits reaped by outsourcing U.S. manufacturing abroad came at a high price: the risk to the good names of the country's biggest companies.""Last year nearly 4 million toys and pieces of costume jewelry were recalled after they were found to be contaminated with lead. Some were gumball-machine trinkets, but others bore top-of-the-line names. In addition t the nationwide recall, California filed suit against Mattel, Fisher-Price, Toys "R" Us, Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, and many other manufacturers, importers, and retailers un Proposition 65. That citizen initiative (which I coauthored 18 years ago) requires companies to warn customers about toxic products.
"The defendants will doubtless argue that they had no way of knowing their products were toxic. Many are strongly motivated to keep lead paint out of their goods, having spent years cultivating reputations for safety and quality for their valuable brand names. It used to be when I saw a Mattel toy, I presumed that Mattel made the toy in a factory the company built and manages, with workers it hired and supervises, and that it would not be so crass or dumb as to save a fraction of a penny on a $30 toy by using lead paint.
"But Mattel and other businesses know something they are not willing to tell us: In today's globalized economy, top companies have lost control of the quality of the goods that display their logos. They are powerless to prevent a recurrence of the toxic-toy tragedy - and they are terrified that their brands could be dragged through the mud when the next epidemic of dangerous products strikes.
"The problem is not China. The problem is a business model in which companies outsource manufacturing under short-term, low-cost contracts to the firm that will follow their design standards most cheaply. All that is really Fisher-Price about Dora the Explorer is the design - the product itself is made in a factory over which the company has almost no control. It doesn't manage the working conditions, environmental standards, or safety practices. As a result, it no longer controls the product itself."
- Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director
March/April 2008 Sierra magazine, p. 7
The Problem:
Our consumptive, hectic lifestyles are taking their toll not only on the natural world, but our own lives as well! We consume all kinds of goods, services and entertainment only to find that there's no time left to really savor and enjoy our friends, family and life. We work longer and harder to make even more money to buy us things that bring even less satisfaction to our lives. Plus, buying all of this stuff takes even more natural resources and energy that pollutes and depletes our world that much faster!
The Solution:
Actually, there are a bundle of solutions that address everything from our population and sprawl problems to excessive wealth and the concentration of power. Nevertheless, the thrust of this page is Buy Nothing Day and things we can do, as individuals, to improve the quality of life for all.So, as the name suggests, Buy Nothing Day (BND) is a chance for us to slow down a bit, for at least one day out of the year, to bring a little more value and sanity to our lives. Obviously I'm not the "inventor" of BND, however, I liked the idea so much I thought it worth devoting some of my own web page in support of it. Also, in addition to this page, my family and I have done a pretty good job of not only not shopping on Buy Nothing Day, but reducing our overall consumption levels throughout the year as well.
Buy Nothing Day is a great opportunity to separate ourselves from consumerism for at least one 24 hour period out of the year. BND is a good time to slow down and just be with friends, family, nature, or anything else you happen to hold dear - as long as it doesn't require spending money!
Some people have suggested that, in preparation for BND, you make your purchases a day or two prior the big day or even wait until the day after. Nope! My philosophy is that you simply use BND as part of your overall strategy to reduce those nasty consumer habits we've all become slaves to. For example, let's say that you normally use the day after Thanksgiving to purchase Christmas gifts. Not only would you not buy Christmas gifts on BND, but you'd also try to find ways to reduce gift purchases throughout the overall holiday season - maybe your father would appreciate just spending more time with you, over the holidays, rather than receiving another tie and cufflink set. Or, maybe you and the kids could spend more time together outdoors instead of shuffling around a crowded mall or throwing money at an expensive video game or designer sneakers - the possibilities are endless!
Instead of me just giving you a laundry list of "dos" and "don'ts" why not use your imagination to think of fun (and free!) things to do on Buy Nothing Day? Tailor the day's activities to what you see as important while using the rest of the year to buy and consume even less than the year before!
Caution!
It is okay to spend money for emergency situations during Buy Nothing Day. Maybe there's been an accident, or the children are in urgent need of food or medicine - there are countless other examples as well. The main thing is don't be stupid - do the right thing, even if it means some emergency spending on BND!
Mark your calendar!
Future Buy Nothing Day Dates:
Links:
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