Buy Nothing Day in the UK

Yes, we know. Buy Nothing Day was started in North America as a responsible and forward-thinking answer to the problems of rampant consumerism, the worst example being "Black Friday", the shopping orgy that is held the day after US Thanksgiving. The HQ and brain trust behind the campaing is Adbusters, an organization based in Vancouver, BC.

But on so many levels, the UK approach resonates more strongly with Canadians, I'd venture to say. For one thing, it's held on the last Saturday of November, when the 'shopping days before Xmas' count-down becomes frenzied and incessant.

Here's one social marketing that the UK genius folks have developed.



More inspired anti-shopping YouTubes here.

From the UK Buy Nothing Day website:

Everything we buy has an impact on the environment. Buy Nothing Day highlights the environmental and ethical consequences of shopping. 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 an unfair distribution of wealth.

And voluntary responsible consumer simplicity can continue every day of the year if you keep the following in mind.

Ask yourself these simple questions:

Do I need it? How many do I already have? How much will I use it? How long will it last? Could I borrow it from a friend or family member? Am I able to clean and/or maintain it myself? Will I be able to repair it? Am I willing to? Have I researched it to get the best quality for the best price? How will I dispose of it when I'm done using it? Are the resources that went into it renewable or nonrenewable? Is it made from recycled materials, and is it recyclable?

If not shopping today disrupts your schedule and standing in solidarity with the campaign would mean that you're deprived of ciggies, your kitty of litter or your children of milk, pick another way to be a conscientious consumer.

Investment bankers just keep rolling along.

Is greed a christian value?  It would seem that there are people in this world, call them capitalist if you will, who are never ever satisfied with a modest return on their investments.

No, they clamour for the El Dorado of profits, the golden goose that will keep on laying eggs until there are no schmucks or rubes left to con, eager to buy into the bottom of the investors’ pyramid.

So it should come as no surprise after the collapse of the sub-prime mortgages market, Wall Street has moved on to the next big thing.  No matter that some ‘financial advisors’ have been busted for shilling this ‘financial product’ for unethical and possibly criminal misconduct.

“The bankers plan to buy “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash — $400,000 for a $1 million policy, say, depending on the life expectancy of the insured person. Then they plan to “securitize” these policies, in Wall Street jargon, by packaging hundreds or thousands together into bonds. They will then resell those bonds to investors, like big pension funds, who will receive the payouts when people with the insurance die.

The earlier the policyholder dies, the bigger the return — though if people live longer than expected, investors could get poor returns or even lose money.

Either way, Wall Street would profit by pocketing sizable fees for creating the bonds, reselling them and subsequently trading them. But some who have studied life settlements warn that insurers might have to raise premiums in the short term if they end up having to pay out more death claims than they had anticipated. …

Critics of life settlements believe “this defeats the idea of what life insurance is supposed to be,” said Steven Weisbart, senior vice president and chief economist for the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group. “It’s not an investment product, a gambling product.”

Undeterred, Wall Street is racing ahead for a simple reason: With $26 trillion of life insurance policies in force in the United States, the market could be huge.”

Back in the 1980’s many gay professional men who suffered from HIV/AIDS turned to financial operatives running similar schemes, who lent them money at high interests rates AND required that the policies be turned over to them as beneficiaries.

Greed.  Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.  It's all fun and games and profit until hundreds of people get bankrupted.  Oh, and the market crashes. 

Furthermore ... Cathie from Canada makes a laconic comment about how Wall Street might strategically adopt Palin's "Death Panels".

BUY NOTHING DAY

Hey you! Do not purchase anything tomorrow. Nothing at all.

You! Yes, you.

You! You're not addicted to shopping are you? Prove it then. Buy nothing.

You! What's the balance on your credit card? Does that scare you? Buy nothing.

You! Look in your cupboards. Look in your closets. Look around you. Do you use all that stuff?

If you said no, you can spend part of tomorrow, BUY NOTHING DAY, gathering up the good clothing and books and other fine items that you do not use and bring them to a local charity that will recycle them by selling or giving away the stuff that you bought but you don't use.

This year, November 28 is BUY NOTHING DAY. 17 years old and the appropriate response to the economic meltdown. It was started by Adbusters. Go read.

And tomorrow remember to BUY NOTHING.

RIP-OUT ARTIST

It was intoxicating, addictive even, to stumble upon a completely unsanctioned creative activity that could be practised publicly, especially in an airport.

It all started when I was tempted by a glossy magazine, the April issue of Vanity Fair to be more precise. As I walked past the variety kiosk, its cover caught my attention – Three Female Comics done up as neo-classic contemporary (a)Muse(r)s – what’s not to like? I purchased the VF then lugged its heavy load to my boarding gate. I was suddenly inspired, by Tina et al, to lighten up.

I started flipping through the first pages of the publication. Advertisements for Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Estée Lauder, Prada, Clinique, Armani, Hugo Boss – those heavyweights of the luxe consumer food chain. More flipping. I’m looking for the content page. Flip. Flip. Flip, flipflipflipflip fer fucksake! At page number 51 I hit what I want and what I need: the table of content. I am furious.

Flipping through all this advertisement was a tedious and wasteful use of my time. Then a small thought wiggled its way into my consciousness. What if I ripped out every single non editorial content page? What if I only kept what I wanted to see, and read and tossed the rest in the recycling bin?

I started ripping. Rip, rip, rip. Some of those damn pages were quite thick. I discovered about midway that the editors snuck text that I wanted to read on the reverse side of adverts. I left those in.

Nonetheless, by the time that I had rigorously removed all the publicity, the magazine was surely 50% lighter. Less paper to travel with me across the country! Less stuff to look at!

I examined the pages that I ripped out. Heavy stock, dense with glossy colours. I wondered what the cost of each of these could be, if one factored in the photographer and her/his entourage, the model, the set and all other production expense including the print job.

No surprise that these baubles and various odds and sods of disposable trinkets, perfumes, accessories and such command a hefty price – and yet are manufactured in China, just like the low-rent consumer crap is.