Defying consumerism

Celebrate 'Buy Nothing Day' on Friday

This Friday, on the biggest shopping day of the year, buy nothing. Stay home with friends and family, volunteer at a homeless shelter, protest over consumption at your local mall or just take a moment to throw away the mail order catalogues that have accumulated on your countertop.

These are some of the rallying cries for advocates of Buy Nothing Day, a celebration of anti-consumerism now celebrating its eighth anniversary. Buy Nothing Day, if seemingly insignificant in the frenzied pace of the holiday season, is, at its heart, a day of reflection on the abundance of consumer commodities we'll be inundated with this season.

Buy Nothing Day promotes simple living and consumer awareness. This "holiday," which was started by a disparate group of environmentalists and concerned consumers, has since become a national movement to stall the filling of our landfills with the likes of Sea Monkey carcasses, discarded Furbies and other disposable consumer commodities. Buy Nothing Day attempts to break the culturally conceived bond between consumption and happiness. It is also a day to stop and consider the time when "enough is enough."

In a culture where we'd rather spend money on than time with loved ones, Buy Nothing Day could not be more important.

While consumerism may be good for the economy, the barrage of throwaway commodities that inundates the American family is no friend to the environment. Americans are part of the 20 percent of the world population that consumes 80 percent of the world's resources. Our unexamined buying patterns and unnecessary consumption are much to blame for this disturbing statistic.

Friday, after your Thanksgiving dinner has digested and the product pushers have begun fetishizing clothing, carpet cleaners and singing carp and department stores are serving up sales, stay away from the land of commodified desires. Don't go to the mall. For 'tis the season when your face will be pulled off and sold back to you as the latest makeup trend. The consumer culture will have it no other way.

This Friday, when one more gizmo calls your name and yet another e-commerce site offers you free shipping, take a moment to step back. Think about the best way to spend your time and money this holiday season. And for your sake and ours, buy nothing.

Take the Buy Nothing Day tour at www.adbusters.org.