Buy Nothing Day Meetups Everywhere

On Buy Nothing Day, defy our society’s relentless shopping rituals by taking part a ritual of consumption awareness, reclaiming commercial space through the simple act of not shopping.

A Whirl is a fun, easy to do and delightfully visual way to raise awareness about overconsumption. Some people have likened it to Critical Mass with shopping carts—reclaiming a faux public space for our own purposes. For more info on Whirl-Mart, see http://www.breathingplanet.net/whirl/.

What to do?

Dress inconspicuously—this starts as invisible theatre. Arrive at BB&B between 12:45 and 1:15 pm, alone or in very small groups. Enter the store, grab a shopping cart, and start pushing it through the aisles in a calm, unhurried fashion. When you see another person with an empty cart, don’t acknowledge her visually, but do fall in line behind her. And don’t be surprised when you start to hear the squeak of other shopping carts behind you. Explore all the aisles; if your line seems traffic jammed, feel free split off and have others follow you. Or re-combine with another shopping cart snake. Explore the shopping cart escalator. If anyone asks what you're doing, you can say it’s a “consumption awareness ritual” or “we are looking to see if there’s anything we want to buy” or simply, "I'm not shopping." Relax, enjoy, and try not to giggle.

When and how does it end?

Often store personnel let this go on rather than making a scene. But if asked to leave, do so. If the event doesn’t get ended by 2pm, bring your cart to the checkout and exit. Some of us will then either Whirl another store, or go to a real public place to unwind.

For more info, contact Madeline, 917-538-7505.

AND—FREEGAN FEAST IN THE EVENING!

Is your Thanksgiving a nightmare of wasteful binging, revisionist history and dysfunctional family dynamics? Explore an alternative at a freegan feast on Buy Nothing Day. We dumpster and forage the ingredients, then everyone helps to prepare the food and clean up afterwards. All food is vegetarian, most is vegan. The Buy Nothing Day feast will be held way uptown. Food prep starts at 5:30pm, we eat around 8pm. And if you can, join a foraging party on Thanksgiving evening on the upper west side. To RSVP for the feast and/or the food gathering crew, call Janet, 347-724-6954.