The world is speeding up.
The Christmas decorations were side by side with the Halloween candy in the store this year. As soon as trick or treating was finished, the holidaze came crashing down on us full tilt. There was no waiting for Thanksgiving for the Black Friday sales to start advertising on TV, in the mail and on every computer screen. Shop! Deals! Buy now!
The mainstream news reports made speculation about this year’s shopping season front page news. Would Thanksgiving’s late timing this year, giving us one week less to shop, hurt sales figures? Meanwhile the stock market blasted through 16,000 points.
We live in a consumer based culture. 71% of our economy is consumer spending. We must shop, shop, shop. Even if we don’t have the money to do so, there are quick and easy ways to finance it. Shop now, pay later.
The holidays have devolved into a shopping frenzy. The system requires it. Capitalism is like a shark, it must keep moving or it will die. Without growth, our economy crumbles.
Edward Abby said:
growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell.
We cannot have continual growth on a finite planet. Our continued shopping is a form of planetary suicide.
According to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now: “A pair of climate scientists are calling for what some may view as a shocking solution to the global warming crisis: a rethinking of the economic order in the United States and other industrialized nations. Kevin Anderson and Alice Bows-Larkin of the influential Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in England say many of the solutions proposed by world leaders to prevent “runaway global warming” will not be enough to address the scale of the crisis. They have called for “radical and immediate de-growth strategies in the United States, EU and other wealthy nations.” Anderson says that to avoid an increase in temperature of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the world would require a ‘revolutionary change to the political and economic hegemony.’ “
This is the real inconvenient truth: we have to seriously change the way we are living or else our children will suffer grave consequences. And I don’t mean drive a Prius or change light bulbs. The consumer based society in which we live must be dismantled.
So what to do this holiday season? When Walmart workers and many other big box stores have to work on Thanksgiving day and into the night? When income discrepancy between the lowest and highest wage earners is at all time highs? How do we stop this shopping insanity?
Our loved ones don’t need more presents!
They would much prefer our PRESENCE!
Here are some ideas that will better serve both your loved ones and the planet.
- Make memories. Do something together. Get them tickets to an event. A show, a cooking class.
Granola makes a great gift.
- Make something special. A collage, a recipe book filled with family recipes,a box of cookies. Go through all your boxes of old photos, choose the best and make a movie with them. My granola makes a great gift. Super yummy and easy to make ( here’s the link: http://drsusanrubin.com/rubin-rodeo-granola/ )
- Go somewhere, have an adventure. Our family loves to travel together instead of gift giving.
Here are a couple of movies that will help you to share your non shopping stance.
What Would Jesus Buy, a timeless holiday film that came out in 2007, shows us the dark underbelly of the Shopacylpse and remind us to stop shopping and start living.
The Economics of Happiness is another film that shows how money and things don’t add up to happiness. Instead of GDP, we should measure Gross National Happiness instead.
