Buy Nothing Day. Weekend. (Century?)

by Ron McLinden
I have a confession. I have "visited" the www.adbusters.org website. It's a decidedly anti-establishment site, created by people in the advertising industry to espouse blatantly anti-consumerist attitudes and actions.

(At this point I suppose I could try launching into an analysis of why they do it - guilt, revulsion, self-hate for contributing to the very thing they attack - but I won't since I think they perform a useful service in the course of their self-redemption.)

The adbusters folks sponsor the annual "Buy Nothing Day," the day after Thanksgiving. That's the day when the stereotypical American consumer goes on a buying binge at the local shopping mall and mega-mart in order to get a head start on the Christmas buying season. (It is also the day that shopping center developers plan for when they decide how many parking spaces to pave.)

BND is a day to do just the opposite. It's a day to rebel against gross consumerism, a day to avoid suburban traffic jams, and, of course, a day to further reflect on the plenty that we enjoy in this country and the price the world's environment and other people pay to support that plenty.

Bottom line: consider yourself invited to observe Buy Nothing Day on November 26.

 But why stop there? Why not extend it through the weekend? Surely there are things around the house that could be done. Surely there are books to be read, friends or neighbors to be visited. And surely there are leftovers to be eaten. It shouldn't take much advance planning to make it possible.

Come to think of it, why not observe the passing of the millennium as a Buy Nothing Millennial Weekend. A period of reflection and looking forward. A time to formulate not only those traditional new year's resolutions, but New Millennial Resolutions as well - Remainder of Life Resolutions.

Planning for a Buy Nothing Millennial Weekend shouldn't be much harder than planning for Buy Nothing Day. You just put in a few additional supplies -extra flashlight batteries, extra canned goods, a few gallons of tap water, and maybe some extra fuel for your camping stove, just like the emergency preparedness folks advise.

A Buy Nothing Century? Probably not very practical. But there's nothing to keep you from planning your own personal Buy Nothing Days and Buy Nothing Weekends throughout the year.

Oh, yes. Those Buy Nothing Days should be "Turn Off Your TV" days as well.(That's a separate campaign from the folks at www.adbusters.org.)