Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Buy Nothing Day - Consume Less

My dear students,

One of the most thought-provoking websites that I have come across is: www.adbusters.org. The guys are from Canada, but they get back echoes from all over. They also call themselves the “Culture Jammers”. Especially those of you sitting on the razor-thin fence between “Editorial” on one side and "Ad-PR" on the other, must have a close look at these people.

“Buy Nothing” is what they are planning to do on Friday, November 28. Sorry for the snap notice, but I glanced at their website just by chance to include them in my “Websites of Influence”. Here is how their line goes:

“Suddenly, we ran out of money and, to avoid collapse, we quickly pumped liquidity back into the system. But behind our financial crisis a much more ominous crisis looms: we are running out of Nature … fish, forests, fresh water, minerals, soil. What are we going to do when supplies of these vital resources run low?

“There’s only one way to avoid the collapse of this human experiment of ours on Planet Earth: we have to consume less. It will take a massive mindshift. You can start the ball rolling by buying nothing on November 28th.

“Then celebrate Christmas differently this year, and make a New Year’s resolution to change your lifestyle in 2009. It’s now or never!”

I have been following their “Less is more … & Better” (this is my dearly-held belief that goes beyond “omit the needless word”) campaign in the form of their “Buy Nothing Day” appeal. I hope this rings a bell for you too.

Warm regards,

- Joe.
Pune, 26 November 2008.

8 comments:

Gauri Gharpure said...

this reminds me of reading abt a long journey someone did. he started off without any money and in the course of the trip, kept finding help, good people all along.. not buying something for a day is very tough. may be i will take a bus instead of a taxi tht day..

Joe Pinto said...

Hi Gauri,

We start off on "a long journey" on the Road of Life (if we do not forget as we grow older) "without any money".

"In the course of the trip", as you call it, we keep "finding help" from good people all along, like our mother and father and other relatives, neighbours, domestic servants and other human beings.

Also with a little help from our friends, as the Beatles said.

I get help from my wife, Dr Kalpana Joshi, and my daughter, J.K. Pallavi, who help me with computers. And from lots of my students, like you Gauri, who keep me going on this blog.

I agree with you that "not buying something for a day is very tough". And if you do actually take a bus in Kolkata, instead of a taxi, that day (28 Nov) I am looking forward to your gentle thoughts about the experience on your blog.

Except for the ride, buy nothing!

Warm regards,

- Joe.

Unknown said...

it was quite an informative one! :)

Joe Pinto said...

Thanks Ami, for your comment. I am happy you found it informative. Did you navigate through the Adbusters website and see the spoof ads and articles?

feddabonn said...

hi joe,

you may also be interested in 'couch surfing'. more information here (http://www.couchsurfing.com/) and here(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CouchSurfing)

Joe Pinto said...

Dear feddabonn,

Thank you for the links. Would you like to introduce these links on you blog so that readers of my blog may benefit.

Or, since your blog is devoted only to poetry, you may want to send me the piece and I can post it on my blog in your name.

That way, readers of my blog would at once be introduced to you, your poetry and your blog. I invite you, feddabonn to write a piece especially for my journalism students on "Why and how to read poems."

Warm regards,
- Joe.

feddabonn said...

dear joe,

i have no direct experience of couch surfing, and the wikipedia article does the concept much more justice than i ever could.

i'm extremely flattered by your invitation, but also a little flabbergasted-i've never thought of it that way. i'll give it my best shout, though!

Joe Pinto said...

hi feddabonn - awaiting your shout. you can do it. - warm regards, - Joe.