International Buy Nothing Day, December 2002
Back at the beginning of this millennium I was working as a photojournalist at a national newspaper in London. One day in early December I was sent down to Oxford Street, London's busiest shopping street to cover a protest against consumerism organised and promoted by Adbusters.
As you can see, in 2002 the Buy Nothing movement had yet to attract a following, if indeed it has at all to date... in fact, a quick look at their social media channels would suggest the latter.
My 2 cents: The origins of consumerism lie in deep-seated ancestral desires which have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years as a response to a recurring set of ancient human challenges.
It is going to be very difficult to change that fact without an extremely enticing incentive, the likes of which I am currently at a loss for.
This is a great one, I am here in Sri Lanka right now and I am happy, that here almost none make that gift buying rubbish. Every year, i hate it back in Germany.....
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Lucky you guys!
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I like how the bearded one stands out in the crowd.
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Personally, I think it's a great idea and it's a great shame it's not taken off more. It is arguably consumerism / materialism that's doing the most damage to the planet, is it not? A response to a recurring set of ancient human challenges? What would they be then? Finding ways to occupy our free time? A primeval need for 'nice things'? A quasi-suicidal need to harm the planet that sustains us (and wrap it up as 'progress')? I'd love to know.
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I too think it is a great shame. However, that doesn't detract from the fact that powerful reward pathways have evolved alongside 'consumption' in humans. So, in a way, yes I would say that we have a primeval need for 'nice things'. However, I don't think people have an inherent need to harm the planet. We harm the planet because we have the aforementioned evolved urges and we are still coming to terms with the implications of them on a global scale.
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nice
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The amount of crap we collectively consume and throw away is horrific. The quicker we can shift to virtual hording in some VR world the better; as I agree its a human nature.
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