24.11.07

Buy Nothing Day

Yes today is Buy Nothing Day...
a day where you challenge yourself, your family and friends to switch off from shopping and tune into life. The rules are simple, for 24 hours you will detox from consumerism and live without shopping.
So far today I have not bought anything and I intend not to buy anything.
SHOP LESS - LIVE MORE!
Everything we buy has an impact on our planet. Buy Nothing Day highlights the environmental and ethical consequences of consumerism. The developed countries - only 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? The argument is infinite - while it continues we should be looking for simple solutions - Buy Nothing Day is a good place to start.
I think we also need to question our own attitudes. Do we need the latest gadget, the latest download? Does it really matter? If there were a few more individuals who didn't copy their neighbours, their friends and their work colleagues and started to think for themselves about what they spend their money on it'd make the world a happier place to live in.


I am not going shopping today. I'm not going out to a restaurant. I'm not going to buy a newspaper. I'm not going to the pub. If my car runs out of petrol , I'll just have to walk.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

But I do that regularly!

Anonymous said...

I have just read their FAQs. What a bunch of self-satisfied whinging liberals.

If *I* want to buy something, I will when I choose. (As an aside, growing up with nothing has meant I still find it hard to spend money. But I will damn well spend it on what I want and when I want to.)

And the killer is their 'unfair distribution of wealth'. Grrrrr.....

ellie said...

Are you buying time until you have to post again?

David Todd said...

Grannymar, I think I'm a bit like that too.


Lord Taoist, you might get my writing another blog post sometime about choices.The choices we make including those about education, relationships, housing, employment and leisure.How these choices affect how we spend, or even obtain, our money. On the other hand I might not write about it as it seems like too hard work.

I might write another blog post about 'the unfair distribution of wealth' but would probably need to seek legal advice before I'd publish it.

Ellie Thanks for encouraging me to write 2 blog posts on a Saturday. If you do that again :-)