buy nothing day

I spent most of yesterday in meetings that had a lot to do with sustainability and how it can be achieved through good planning and design. The discussions related to a particular development project I am working on as a transport planning consultant. Working for developers sometimes makes me squirm, because my view of an appropriate design solution is not always aligned with that of the client paying my bills; but in this case, the match is a good one.

What is even more satisfying is that the people who attended yesterday's meetings (people who are not involved in the project but have an indirect stake in its outcome) are generally supportive and are keen to see it succeed. As a result, they asked incisive questions and offered constructive criticism. They are concerned about its potential impacts - not only on themselves, but on culture and the environment, on social structures and on economic livelihoods - and they are looking for reassurance that the broader challenges will be considered and addressed, and that the potential positive spinoffs will be realised. The best kind of meeting.

In discussion afterwards with a colleague who also attended, our conversation turned to questions about why sustainability is such a Big Deal. It's all about greed, she suggested. If we lived simpler lifestyles that met our physical, emotional and spiritual needs, we would automatically be living sustainably. My colleague had clearly been thinking of spiritual matters, as she had been out the previous night to hear Tenzin Palmo, a Tibetan nun who secluded herself in a remote cave 13 000 feet up in the Himalayas for 12 years of Buddhist meditation. I'm not advocating cutting ourselves off from the material world, but if we were more aware of ourselves and our social interactions, we would know what to do, and we might even do it.

So here's something to do. On Saturday, 24 November, buy nothing. Join international Buy Nothing Day as a reminder of our wasteful, consumptive lifestyles. It’s about reminding ourselves to really think about what we are buying‚ why we are buying it‚ and whether we really need it at all. Consuming at the level we do is unsustainable and is directly responsible for many of the world's environmental and economic problems. Waste, pollution, climate change, and many other topical and important issues are all fueled by consumerism.

I'll leave the last word to A.A. Milne, writing about Winnie-the-Pooh and the episode In which Christopher Robin leads an expotition to the North Pole:

"I think," said Christopher Robin, "that we ought to eat all our provisions now, so that we shan't have so much to carry."

"Eat all our what?" said Pooh.

"All that we've brought," said Piglet, getting to work.

"That's a good idea," said Pooh, and he got to work too.

"Have you all got something?" asked Christopher Robin with his mouth full.

"All except me, said Eeyore. "As usual." He looked around at them in his melancholy way. "I suppose none of you are sitting on a thistle by any chance?"

"I believe I am," said Pooh. "Ow!" He got up, and looked behind him. "Yes, I was. I thought so."

"Thank you, Pooh. If you've quite finished with it." He moved across to Pooh's place, and began to eat.

"It doesn't do them any Good, you know, sitting on them," he went on, as he looked up munching. "Takes all the Life out of them. Remember that another time, all of you. A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference."

See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_Nothing_Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerism

http://www.ecoplan.org/ibnd/ib_index.htm

http://www.verdant.net/society.htm

http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Consumption.asp

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0111_040112_consumerism.html