The malls are heavy with anxious sweat. The clammy-palmed throngs are out and about for the holiday “rush”, hunting the aisles with an urgency inimical to the spirit of giving. Yet, another Christmas is possible. Another way of being is within our grasp.
We asked our social media followers, in the spirit of Buy Nothing Xmas, what do you FEEL?
“Perpetually twisted, trying to break free from the machine–one bloody step at a time.”
“I am the monkey wrench in the machinery.”
We can reclaim the ritual of this magical season—consciously and deliberately—with a radical, emancipatory choice. Manufacturing and consumption are responsible for more than half of the global carbon dioxide emissions, and choosing to buy nothing this Xmas may give Gaia some much needed relief.
‘Enough Stuff’ from Geir H. Jörgensen
. . . “I feel released of patterns I am supposed to follow.”
“Liberated and conscious”
“I feel like thriving inside”
While climate change sweeps over us, will we still choose, sheeplike, to join the madness in the malls? Consumerism is the opiate of the masses. Without significant rituals, we clamour to participate in the only ones we have—like the Christmas shopping binge—driven by our desire for meaning.#BuyNothingXmas is an anecdote; a trajectory towards a more lighthearted holiday.
As the much awaited solstice arrives and the celebrated day nears, can you find the strength to break the addiction, to wake up from the commercial nightmare Christmas has become? Will you be brave enough to plant the seed of a new way of being? Make your life a demonstration, a defiance, a piece of art, a heroic journey.
. . .“Experiences are better than things.”
“I feel freedom within myself and some pain for those who don’t yet understand.”
This year, dare to gather your friends and family together and vow to do Xmas in a different way. Go local. Go independent. Go for experiences over stuff. Use your boundless imagination!
1. You become a lone wolf prowler. Decide to live in a personally subversive way over the next few weeks . . . shun malls, veto chain stores and supermarkets, boycott Amazon . . . buy anything you need from local independent retailers . . . take your time . . . rejuvenate yourself! Then, vow to really live in 2019!
2. You go social. Get your family and friends together and decide to do it differently this year. Instead of gifts, you opt for experiences . . . hike together, cook together, be together—pull off a flurry of beautiful human interactions.
3. You morph into a jammer. Make a The More You Consume, The Less You Live sign and march through your local mall, holding it high in the air for half an hour—or until security tries to toss you out (then in the spirit of EXTINCTION REBELLION, thank them for their concern, and rebel on!) Try a performance protest: put on a Santa suit and set up in a mall. When Little Johnny tells you all he wants for Christmas is an iPhone, a video game, and two pairs of Nike Air Yeezy, get his email address and send him a PDF of the 2018 IPCC Climate Change Report. Wish him a Merry Nothing and send him on his merry way!
This season, as you connect with the true spirit of the holidays, as you break from the mad stress of consumption and instead spend time with family, friends, and yourself, what do YOU feel?
. . . “I feel happy sitting outside watching the rain fall.”
“Wistful. Fulfilled. Fruitful.”
“At peace with myself”
“Like I’m gifted time”
“Empowered”
“Motivated”
“Hopeful”
“Nothing”
“Banana”
“RELIEF”
“Valued”
“Smart”
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