Double-Tasking? Woah Woah, Let's Calm Down There Richard Simmons

Buy Nothing Day eh?
My first thoughts are 1) good idea, I like where they are going with it and 2)I've literally never heard of this day in my life, and they should probably start telling more poeple about it.

The issue of over consumption, which is basically using more than the earth can produce or provide, is getting more awareness from the public eye everyday, and for good reason. I know I'm guilty as charged when it comes to over-spending or consuming way more than I should. I tried to map out and possibly regulate how much I spend in a given week, and this is what I came up with:

Food - $15 (not including meal plan)
Alcohol - $30
Various (i.e. movies etc.) - $20
Laundry - $10

When I look at those numbers, I feel not too bad about my situation. 75$ every week is not that bad I thought. But then I remember that I'm living in residence, and therefore I shouldn't be spending any money anyways. My food is paid for and my living is paid for. I don't really need anything else.

When I was finished reading Ursula Franklin's "The Real World of Technology", I honestly thought I would never even think of it again (hopefully... sorry Ursy/Ian). But when I started thinking about this topic, it reminded me of something she wrote. "Those who most need the mass produced goods- and this includes food, medicine, and clothing - do not have the means to purchase the very items they often make." (Franklin, 162) What a powerful statement. I mean, we have everything we could ever want at our fingertips, and we are abusing the hell out of it all. Instead of eating to live, we are literally living to eat, and I'm probably the worst person in the world at eating way too much. I wake up at about 12pm usually everyday, and by 9pm I've eaten at least three meals and I'll get the munchies around 10.


There's a great video that I saw the other day, of George Carlin (mild obsession, nothing serious), who was talking about obesity in the U.S., and he really hit the nail on the head about where our heads are in this day in age. The video isn't exactly rated PG, therefore you can look it up yourselves, however Carlin really does make some valid points. He says that Americans have turned their country into a giant shopping mall; everything is for sale, one must shop to get what they need in everyday life, nothing is free and everything has a price tag on it. Not to mention that in these massive malls that humans have created, we stick massive places where people can stuff their faces full of food so that they don't have to stop shopping to eat, they can do both at the same time!

I truly beleive that buy nothing day is a day to find out for yourself how independant you really can be, and make a change in how we live today. I suggest checking out www.myfootprint.org/ and taking the ecological footprint quiz. It will tell you how many Earths we would need, if everyone lived the way you did. I got 4.16.




Work Cited

Franklin, Ursula M. The Real World of Technology. Scarborough, ON: Anansi Press, 1990.