On Nov. 29, the day after Thanksgiving, millions of North Americans will flood out of their homes and into shopping malls and stores, summoned by T.V. commercials, newspaper ads and sales kicking off the holiday season. On the day after the biggest annual eating day on the continent, many University students will partake in the biggest annual shopping day on the continent.
This year, however, ASUO asks you to resist the urge to shop and participate in a different holiday — Buy Nothing Day. Established in 1989 by the Media Foundation of Vancouver, B.C., Buy Nothing Day is a 24-hour shopping moratorium meant to encourage us to challenge our shop-til-you-drop, eat-your-heart-out culture and not spend any money. This year, more than a million people in Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Israel, Sweden and the United States will find alternatives to the consumer frenzy and consider the impact over-consumption has on our planet.
Even if North America alone celebrates Buy Nothing Day, we could take a giant leap forward in improving the quality of life on Earth. The average North American consumes five times more than a person in Mexico, 10 times more than a person in China, and 30 times more than a person in India. This has got to change. Many of the purchases we make undermine the spiritual reasons for celebrating the holidays, were manufactured in poor working conditions for poor wages, or, especially cell phones, diamonds and coffee, were made from resources that come out of brutal wars fought overseas in which hundreds of Africans, Southeast Asians and Middle Easterners die each year. Moreover, much of what we consume comes in excessive packaging, which enlarges landfills, pollutes drinking water, harms plant and wildlife, and in most cases, is something we simply do not need.
From Nov. 29 on, let’s try our best to curb over-consumption. There are several ways to do this. We can start by cutting up our credit cards (it’s not that hard to do), only buying what we need, repairing broken things instead of throwing away and replacing them, using reusable products instead of disposable ones, recycling, supporting local and independent shops and challenging our government to do more to address the issue of consumption.
Also, when friends and family members ask us what we want for the holidays, let’s consider asking for non-material gifts. Meanwhile, we should give ourselves and our planet a break, and buy nothing on Nov. 29.
Vivian Vassall is a sophomore majoring
in journalism and is the ASUO environmental coordinator.