Friday, November 23rd is national Buy Nothing Day. I hope you’ll join us in joyfully opting out of consumer culture for just one day. Instead of shopping on Black Friday, we are planning to bake bread; practice our instruments and start working on some holiday duets (Claire plays cello, I play violin badly, we both play piano, and Tom plays, um, cowbell); go for a walk in one of West Seattle’s wooded parks (no matter how much it’s raining); and come home to a nice cup of hot chocolate. Some friends are hosting a soup, cider and board games party that evening. Sounds relaxing! What are your plans for a lovely day of not-shopping?
Visit Adbusters for more information on the campaign, though this year I’m really liking the site for Buy Nothing Day, UK. (International Buy Nothing Days are not linked to Thanksgiving/Black Friday, and so are being celebrated on November 24th.)
I am SO buying nothing on Friday! I heartily believe in doing…well…actually not much of anything the day after Thanksgiving!
Enjoy the holiday!
You won’t catch me anywhere near a BestBuy or the mall on Friday!. Maybe I’ll read my new copy of Crow Planet if it gets here in time.
Or, we can take all the stuff we didn’t buy on Buy Nothing Day and make Festivus gifts for the rest of us.
Feats of strength!
Buy Nothing Day is a great concept. We will be taking part, although it is November 24 here. Unfortunately none of us are very musical, but my wife Sharon is a great storyteller. I think we will be sitting out in the backyard watching the chickens while chatting. While it is getting warm here, a cup of hot chocolate sounds great! As the saying goes – less is more.
I am not quite sure yet how we will spend that glorious free gift of a Friday, tucked in between a weekend and a holiday devoted to thankfulness…but it will definitely NOT involve shopping (though the adolescent member of our family is chafing at this…just a blip on the growth chart, we hope). I do think that crafting, baking, Monopoly, chess, and books are all in the wings, however.
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Although it salready 2014 and am not sure if anyone will deign to read this comment albeit if its intereseting enough for an eco-warrior-ess/ine?
Anyway I was listening to Public Radio a show called New Dimensions -actually last Saturday too – when I knew what I was listening to was a very well read and articulate young woman/girl on the topic of crows. It reminded me of Leicester in the UK where I grew up (post WWII) where there was an allotment called The Rookery we used as an auxillery garden to feed out evergrowing family of 6 at that time. You may know or have heard of King Richard III whose bones and remains were found there in a carpark recently? The talk or interview was entrancing and very specific I felt technically particularly on the aspects of Leopoldo and some other dude who was quoted in the program. I enjoy words and spoken words used as well as the person being interviewed. I got the feeling that this is an ‘activist’ voice which I found to be compelling and somewhat funny. Thank you. David Wilde (University New Mexico) PS There is a Youtube on ‘The Rookery’ you may fine compelling too!