Consuming Our Holidays
Ask most people here on campus what Thanksgiving and the
holidays are really about, and they would most likely tell you
spending time with family or reflecting on the truly good things in
life. Considering these views of Thanksgiving in particular, it
seems strange then that the day after the holiday is the largest
retail shopping day of the year. This frantic rush for consumer
goods, juxtaposed against a day set aside for time with family and
appreciating the quality features of life, seems contrary to the
spirit of the holiday. Indeed, as found in a survey by the Center
for a New American Dream, most Americans would agree, with the
survey explaining “that most Americans would welcome lower spending
and less emphasis on gifts during the holidays,” according to the
New York Times.
Kathy Plate and others organizing Buy Nothing Day here on campus
certainly agree that reflection and attention to the people and
indeed the world around us should be the way to celebrate this
holiday season.
“Buy Nothing Day started approximately 10 years ago in reaction
to the commercialization and over-consumption that happens this
time of year, especially at Christmastime,” says Plate of the
reasons behind the day.
Other organizers nationwide echo this sentiment. As Chapin
Spencer, a Vermont organizer, said in a New York Times interview,
“The message is a positive one, not a confrontational one. We’re
not telling people we shouldn’t buy what we need, but we need to
look at what we’re buying and what the effect of that is
personally, socially and environmentally.”
Some proponents of the day also suggest those who do wish to
shop this day could participate in the similar Buy Local Day. “You
could buy locally, from a local farmer,” Plate said. The important
part is “reflecting on your own consumption patterns,” Plate
emphasizes.
Holiday spending, as seen in another survey by the Center for a
New American Dream, can lead to high debt, as demonstrated by the
15 percent of its 800 respondents claiming to still be paying off
holiday purchases from 1996. With credit card debts rising for many
of us college students and the average shopper spending “$835 this
year, up from $722 in 2002″ according to the Star Tribune and the
research company Myvesta, examining what and why we are buying
things for one day at least is not a bad idea.
Opponents of Buy Nothing Day decry it as anti-capitalist. Some,
such as Regan McKendry of the Massachusetts Daily Collegian at the
University of Massachusetts, says that we have a duty to
“demonstrate our gratitude…donating every dime that we can spare
into the economy.” One man, interviewed in the New York Times, also
said that people should be spending because “To do for others, you
have to spend money.” To do any less, suggest these detractors,
would make for a bad holiday and be plain un-American.
This confrontational argument against Buy Nothing Day needs a
re-evaluation. Being a discerning shopper does not go against any
founding principle of America, and the suggestion that thoughtful
shoppers are somehow bad for the nation should rile all of us who
do try to be discriminating in what we buy. Besides, careful
consumption is the way to ensure that resources and energy will be
available long-term and allow for ecological sustainability. If we
keep consuming at our current rate, suggests an environmental
program Ecological Footprint, we would need an approximate 2.4
earths just to keep up.
Likewise, those who participate in Buy Local Day are directly
supporting community members who own small businesses or local
artisans who create items. Be it Buy Local or Buy Nothing Day,
Plate, Spence and other participants emphasize that the day should
be special for its emphasis on thoughtful consuming and reflection
on the holiday season. We should, as the New York Times says, dare
to “challenge publicly the very institution of the Christmastime
consumption season on…the day it traditionally begins.”
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Meg is a graduate student at CSU. Her column runs every
Wednesday.
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