Greens back 'Buy Nothing Day'

23rd Nov 2007

Consume a little less and live a little more

Saturday 24th November will see people around the world take part in Buy Nothing Day - attempting not to buy anything for 24 hours. Described as a 'challenge' to consumer culture, Buy Nothing Day aims to highlight the environmental and ethical consequences of consumerism. (1)

Green Party Principal Speaker Dr Derek Wall said:

"People often ask me - how to be Green? It's really very simple, and requires no expert knowledge or complex skills. The answer is this: Consume less, Share more, Enjoy life.

"The root cause of so many of our problems - from climate change to garbage mountains and species loss - is over consumption. It is a cold fact that we cannot consume more and more, the waste mountain will suffocate our children and rising temperatures will make life on planet Earth unbearable.

"Yet trillions of dollars are spent every year to persuade us to buy more stuff. The present high growth capitalist economy is unsustainable.

"I am backing Buy Nothing Day on Saturday and I often have my own buy nothing days.

"We need an economy based on making things that last longer, enjoying what we have and being less driven by addictive consumer behaviour promoted by out of control corporations. That great green author Erich Fromm said it all in his book title 'To have or to be', we need to think about what we do, not base our identity on shopping alone.

"I am calling on all greens to consume a little less and live a little more."

(1) For more information on Buy Nothing Day, please see:

www.buynothingday.co.uk