Buy nothing day: shop less, live more.

Saturday November 28th is Buy Nothing Day (UK). It's a day where we challenge ourselves to switch off from shopping and tune into life. The rules are simple, for 24 hours we will opt out of the capitalist consumer culture. We will be celebrating Buy Nothing Day in Briggate, the heart of Leeds' consumer jungle, this Saturday from 11am till 4pm. We will have a free shop, free food, free tea and we will be singing subverted Christmas Carols. Why not join us?

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Everything we buy has an impact on the environment. Buy Nothing Day highlights the environmental and ethical consequences of shopping. The global north- only 20% of the world population are consuming over 80% of the earth's natural resources, causing a disproportionate level of environmental damage and an unfair distribution of wealth. While we in the global north enjoy cheap consumer goods, it is those in the global south who pay the price. Large mulinational companies use factories in the global south where relaxed, or non existent, labour laws mean that workers are unfairly paid, have unsafe working conditions and may not have access to trade unions.

Furthermore, our rampant consumerism is contributing to climate change, the effects of which are being most harshly felt in the global south. Sea levels are rising causing flooding, water supplies have been wrecked havoc with, food supplies have shrunk due to changing biodiversity and reducing numbers of plants, and climate variability is contributing to disease outbreaks. It is also the governments of the global south who lack the resources to combat these devastating effects. The destructive effects of consumerism are obvious. We need to start looking for solutions and Buy Nothing Day is a good place to start.

Buy Nothing Day isn't about changing your lifestyle for just one day. Nor is it about downplaying or ignoring the capitalist system that is responsible for our consumerist culture. Consumerism is a way of life in the capitalist system. The growth of economies in our current economic system depends on the consumption and production of cheap goods and resources. Any efforts to reduce consumption must also be anti-capitalist.

This Saturday let's make a lasting commitment to consuming less, sharing more, reusing and repairing, and actively challenging the capitalist consumer culture.

Buy less, skip more.

For more information visit: http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/ or join us on Briggate from 11am on Saturday 28th November.