Why are people all over the world talking about buying less, especially when talk of a recession is rampant? Well, for starters, at a global level its been said that to satisfy consumption demands of everyone, if they were to consume like the affluent West, we'd need 3 more planets worth of resources. A 1998 UNDP report points out that one child in a developed country will consume, waste and pollute the equivalent of more than 50 children in a developing country. So from the prospect of being fair - acknowledging that less developed countries have the right to the same standards of living as the West - our consumption is unsustainable. Thats not a statement from far left either. Governments at the Rio Summit in 1992 agreed to Agenda 21. The Chapter on consumption states it clearly - "The major cause of the continued deterioration of the global environment is the unsustainable pattern of consumption and production … which is a matter of grave concern, aggravating poverty and unbalances". A report from the UN Environment Programme in 2000 - GEO 2000 - states that if "population growth, economic growth and consumption patterns continue, the natural environment will be increasingly stressed" and "the present course is unsustainable and postponing action is no longer an option." Sustainability has certainly been a catchword of the 1990's and this new century, but its not an easy and quick path to goals, and its certainly not helped by marketers concerned only with their own short term gains, selling profitable junk. As well as creating a cleaner, fairer livable planet for all, personal happiness is at issue. Buy Nothing Day challenges the belief that advertisers promote, that acts of shopping are somehow fulfilling and give lasting happiness. The array of interests that compete for the attention of your wallet, the guilt of commercialised Christmas and other holidays, the ever more sophisticated targetting of adverts at personal ideals and dreams, if anything create distractions and unhappiness.		While we don't say "stop buying into it all" we do question the value placed on material acquisition and spending, and the consequent need for all-consuming overwork that can result. Psychologists Kanner and Gomes write - "large-scale advertising is one of the main factors in American society that creates and maintains a peculiar form of narcissism ideally suited to consumerism. As such, it creates artificial needs within people that directly conflict with their capacity to form a satisfying and sustainable relationship with the natural world." How do you lead a fulfilling life? Only you can answer that, finally. But there are more alternatives than the consumerist lifestyle envisages, and in some ways, a recession is the best time to start addressing such questions. Buy Nothing Day is also concerned with other issues related to consumption and consumerism - the use of sweatshops and prison labour to produce more and more of the goods we buy (what does that mean for our own jobs, and the lives of those who now have those jobs, but often at unlivable wages?); the inability of our current political system to measure social progress and relate that to economic progress; support of locally made and ethically based products and investments. Have a look at our Links page for some starting points. There's a mass of information on consumerism on the net. Try Google with some of these keywords: overconsumption, consumerism, Ecopsychology, sustainability "He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have." -Socrates (B.C. 469 – 399)
Contact: buynothingday@ihug.co.nz