Happy Buy Nothing Day

It's that time of year again, when we must decide where and how to shop for loved ones who are surely expecting gifts around the holidays. Those Canadians at Adbusters have been trying to subvert our post Thanksgiving shopping excess for years now. I don't know if I can get away without spending today, but I'll be very mindful of each dollar I fork over, where it might end up, and what kinds of practices I'll be supporting by spending it.

From the BND 2006 Press Release:

Kalle Lasn, co-founder of the Adbusters Media Foundation, which was responsible for turning Buy Nothing Day into an international annual event, said, “Our headlong plunge into ecological collapse requires a profound shift in the way we see things. Driving hybrid cars and limiting industrial emissions is great, but they are band-aid solutions if we don’t address the core problem: we have to consume less. This is the message of Buy Nothing Day.”

As Lasn suggests, Buy Nothing Day isn't just about changing your habits for one day. It’s about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste. With six billion people on the planet, the onus if on the most affluent – the upper 20% that consumes 80% of the world’s resources – to begin setting the example.