Let’s go not-shopping

So it’s time we faced up to the reality that every day our personal credit cards are collectively building up the debt on the planetary credit card. That planetary debt will be due for payment very soon - not by our children, but by us.

Of course most sustainability advocates understand this problem and we all agree that people who shop more than we do are shopping too much. (It’s a bit like driving, where many surveys have shown the clear majority of us think we’re “better than average” drivers. Work out that maths of that!)

The reality is we pretty much all do it more than we need to, whenever we can afford to. We all have our weak spot, it might be eating out, clothes, MP3 players, CD’s, cars, tech gadgets or shoes. Mine is hardware and my particular delusion is that if I have better tools and gear I’ll be a better handyman. Fortunately my wife Michelle regularly points to reality and gets me back on track!

The problem is that we’re all stuck in this cycle of more is better. If only I had this or that, I’d be more comfortable, look better, work more efficiently and besides, I deserve it - I’ve worked hard, I deserve a little treat.

So what do we do about it? I think we need to build a global, open source campaign of not-shopping. It needs to be open source because there’s a lot of powerful people and companies who are going to really hate this, so it’s better if no one is in charge, then there’s no one to get at! Open source, distributed and viral = unstoppable, global and fast.

We need to grab all the great ideas that have been bubbling away under the surface and drag them into the bright light and fresh air of the mainstream debate. In doing so however, we should resist the temptation to treat this as a moral crusade against an enemy. We should see it more like an addiction - which means we need recovery programs, support groups and a new culture of sufficiency. None of these ideas are new of course; people have been making these arguments for decades. What is new however is the times we are in, which means the time has come. So let’s all rise up and go not-shopping!

Because it is an addiction, we’re going to need help. We’re going to need to support each other with ideas and creativity. Fortunately there is a movement out there with really smart people who’ve thought hard about this and they’re just waiting to all be connected and amplified. For example there’s already a viral campaign around the world broadly going under the name of “The Compact” where support groups counsel each other through a year of buying nothing new except basic needs like food and medicine. Yes, a year! That’s cold turkey addiction therapy, but the stories of their experiences are quite extraordinary.

For those like me not quite ready for the whole program, there’s lots of other ways to start, like an organised not-shopping day you can find here. There’s a book - by Judith Levine Not Buying It - My Year without Shopping that you can read about here, countless blogs like this one here by fashion writer Susan Wagner, and even a gospel choir and stage show - Reverend Billy and the Church of Life After Shopping which you can find here. Rev Billy and his flock regular drop by to local shopping centres seeking new converts. The heathen priests of consumer land aren’t very fond of their visits!

If you want to understand the concept of why buying more stuff is big problem in terms of impact, or teach your kids about it, then check out the great website the Story of Stuff which you can find here.

So let’s all inform ourselves on the issue and give this movement a boost. Write about it, tweet about it, talk about it. Connect all these groups and ideas into your network and onto all your favourite blogs. Talk to your friends, send them this column and most importantly of all, buy less stuff.

Let’s help not-shopping to sweep the world.