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from Natural Life
Magazine, November/December 2006
There is even an organization encouraging us to have a “Buy Nothing Christmas.” It a national initiative started by Mennonites “but open to everyone with a thirst for change and a desire for action.” Co-founder Aiden Enns of Winnipeg says, “When I was working at Adbusters magazine back in 2001, I noticed how successful the Buy Nothing Day campaign was, especially in North America and the UK.” “What a shame that it’s only one day, I thought,” says Enns. So he decided to inject a spirit of radical simplicity into the whole Christmas season…and Buy Nothing Christmas was born. His first act was to gather a few of his Mennonite friends, pass the hat and purchase a full-page ad in their national church magazine. “If you think Christmas has gotten too commercialized, here’s your chance to do nothing about it,” the ad read. Then the group of volunteers took the message to the broader public and launched a website to spread the word. It’s not that Enns and his group are against giving things at Christmas. “Gift-giving is important,” he says. “It’s a profound action, an important glue that keeps communities strong, people less individualistic. But this gift-giving impulse has been exploited by consumer capitalism and a market that preys upon our appetite for wasteful gadgets and soon-obsolete fashions.” Gift-giving shows affection, thoughtfulness and love, he says. “While gift-giving is a good thing to do at Christmas, that doesn’t mean we have to go overboard.” Buy Nothing Christmas suggests that instead of buying a . . . To read the rest of this article, subscribe to Natural Life's digital edition, which includes access to this and other back issues. Wendy Priesnitz is the editor of Natural Life Magazine. Visit her website. |
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Brace
yourself. It’s time to go Christmas shopping again. But wait, does
it have to be this way? While some bravely enter the fray of crowded
parking lots and ringing registers, others are saying “no” to the
whole shopping thing and finding ways to revive the original meaning
of Christmas giving. In fact, in a recent Ipsos Reid survey
conducted on behalf of World Vision, 84 percent of Canadians said
they would rather have a holiday gift given to a charity in their
name than receive more socks or sweaters. 
