Rethinking holiday consumerism

by Jennifer Contreras
Photography Editor

Yes, it is too late for "Buy Nothing Day." And, it is too late to remind you all about the privilege of a Thanksgiving feast. However, the topics run rampant this time of year and can be applied any old time - even today.

A week ago my mother, along with thousands of other people, woke up as early as 5:30 in the morning after Thanksgiving to be sure she was at the stores before they opened. She joined the others in three-hour lines to purchase gifts for her family and friends.

While there is nothing wrong with giving gifts, just think for a moment what it would be like if everyday was a "buy nothing day" for you - but not because you chose to avoid the malls, but because you were too poor?

"Buy Nothing Day" is observed in more than 40 countries, including the United States. It is celebrated on the day after Thanksgiving, the busiest shopping day of the year. It was started in 1993 by the Adbusters Media Foundation and is meant to serve as a day of observance and liberation - an observance of the impacts of our obscene consumption habits and a liberation from the dependency and addiction of consumerism.

Even though the day has passed, take your own "buy nothing day" and really think about the impact you make every time you swipe your credit card. Think about the amount of waste one person produces in a year - one and a half tons. Think about the amount of money you spend on credit card interest every year - about $1,000. Think about the time and labor spent on producing every item you purchase. Think about the sweat shops in which the people who produce your products cannot afford to give their families the very products they make. I am not saying that you should never buy again, but maybe if you think about these things you will no longer spend so freely.

Over consumption not only occurs in the form of but also in the amount of food we take into our bodies.

The USDA recently reported that between 1996 and 1998, about 10 million American households did not have access to enough food to meet their basic needs. When this dire statistic is placed side by side with the fact that many people see this season as a time to overindulge to a sinful degree, the balance of food distribution seems to be grossly slanted.

Those of us who, by some twist of fate, were given a life that has never denied us access to food and water are truly lucky. I fear that we as a society take this luck for granted and forget about the estimated one billion people who are facing extreme poverty and chronic hunger right now. About 24,000 of those people will die today - 75 percent are children.

Think about all the extra food that you do not need to eat, and all the food you throw away. We are all guilty of this type of overindulgence. But what if we did not have the option of a second helping, or even a first helping for that matter? It is just something to think about during this season of gluttony.

But wait! Why not think about these things at any time of the year? Frankly, we in this society live gluttonous lifestyles, so the reminder of conspicuous consumption applies every day of the year.

I do not mean to be a downer on anyone's holiday spirit, but the knowledge that I have about the effects of my own frivolous consumptions is enough to crush my spirits.

Think about it: maybe we do not need everything we want, and how much we want is not how much we need.

Happy holidays and peace out!

Jennifer Contreras, a senior photojournalism major, is photography editor of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at kinipela_peace@yahoo.com.