Every year, Americans engage in the consumer frenzy the day after Thanksgiving – “Black Friday” – the official first shopping day of the Christmas season.
Every year also, other Americans participate in Buy Nothing Day, a day dedicated to educating consumers on the pitfalls of consumerism.
In Salt Lake City this year, the Desert Greens has organized a Winter Coat Exchange. In addition, Pom Poms Not Bomb Bombs, Utah’s Radical Cheerleaders (of which I am a member!) will entertain shoppers and anti-shoppers alike with anti-consumerism carols. And, of course, the Bush Chain Gang will be making an appearance!
If you’ve never taken part in Buy Nothing Day, or if you’ve taken part in the past but haven’t really committed to doing it again, consider this: 2006 will go down as the year in which mainstream dialogue about global warming finally reached its critical mass. What better way to bring the Year of Global Warming to a close than to point people in the direction of real and effective alternatives to the unbridled consumption that has created this quagmire?
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Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 