This year's Buy Nothing Day will be held on November 28th.
An invitation to avoid spending on this international day of sensibilisation to consumerism.

The Adbusters organisation is once again launching its annual Buy Nothing Day campaign, now in its in twelth consecutive edition. This year's Buy Nothing Day will be held on Friday November 28th, the day after US Thanksgiving celebrations, and also the busiest shopping day of the year for American retailers.

Organised in a decentralised manner through progressive networks, Buy Nothing Day is touted as the international day of anti-consumerism, celebrated by all those who dream of a world where consumption is more deliberate and less voracious. Apart from demonstrating by not buying anything, Buy Nothing Day participants are encouraged to sensitize their peers and the population at large to the consequences of unbridled consumption: environmental degradation, worker exploitation, and wealth disparities.

Participating in Buy Nothing Day is dead simple: on November 28th, don't touch your wallet, don't pay your bills online, tear up your credit card, and find something else to do. And if you don't succeed in spending nothing for whatever reason, just try again some other day! A day without purchases, regardless of its date, is a chance to pause and become aware of the waste our daily consumption generates, a time to ponder new alternatives (equitable commerce, cooperatives, barter exchange, etc.).

Do it for economic justice
Our thirst for consumption rests on an economic system which encourages worker exploitation here and abroad.

Do it for the environment
Our overconsumption is the main cause of environmental problems all over the planet.

Do it for your mind
Too many people fall into debt to maintain their consumption levels and create budgetary situations which make them anxious, depressed, even suicidal...

Do it to redefine define self-worth
All too often, our consumerist society attributes self-worth according to what we own, and not who we are.

NEXT NOVEMBER 28th, I'M NOT BUYING ANYTHING!

For more info on Buy Nothing Day, visit Adbusters' site:
http://adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd/

You can also send a Buy Nothing Day e-card to a friend via
http://www.123greetings.com/events/buy_nothing_day/

For alternatives to mainstream consumerism, check out the following sites:

• http://www.equiterre.qc.ca (Équiterre, a non-profit organisation whose mission is to contribute to a citizens' movement promoting collective and individual choices which are both ecological and socially acceptable)
• http://www.digicom.qc.ca/~fprive/ (a French-language site on the philosophy of "voluntary simplicity")
• http://www.communauto.com/ (Communauto, a car-sharing cooperative)
• http://www.rccq.org/ (Quebec Collective Kitchens Association website)
• http://www.chez.com/vraireve/presentation.htm ("Corde à linge", a network for barter of both goods and services, as well as mutual help, functioning without cash - in French)

(loosely translated by simms from French original by Hubert Bélanger)