Buy Nothing Day

Traditionally, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States has been known as Black Friday. This marks the first day of the holiday/Christmas shopping season. Retailers offer amazing deals on their products to entice consumers into their stores.

Today (Friday, Nov 25) is also Buy Nothing Day in the United States and Canada, a sort of silent protest against this day of rampant consumerism. I only bring this up because at Thanksgiving dinner yesterday some of my friends were talking about going to Walmart at 5am today to get the best deals. This bothers me on two levels: it gives in to the consumer mentality and it supports a company notorious for its mistreatment of employees.

Happy Buy Nothing Day!

Buy Nothing Day is tomorrow (Saturday, Nov 26) in the U.K.