Buy Nothing Day

Continuous attempts are made to get people around the world to stop something, just for one day. In reality though, it is just a false sense of optimism that a group of people share. It is impossible for everybody around the world to stop doing one thing; turn off the lights for an hour, don’t drive for a day, or even something as simple as buy nothing for 24 hours. In the grand scheme of things, it shouldn’t be a challenge to avoid consumerism, yet the world is continuously disproving this point.

Admittedly over 65 nations participate in this idea, yet how many people really participate? None of my friends were even aware of this idea, leading me to believe that “Buy Nothing Day” isn’t a very strong protest against consumerism. Sure, there are groups on Facebook, posters hung right below signs advocating the voice of Jesus, and random people preaching the horrors of consumerism, but really these aren’t helping. People have become attuned to ignoring simple posters and people waving sheets of cardboard covered in Magic Marker, there has to be a new way to get the idea out there.

Unfortunately, battling an idea such as consumerism is going to take a lot more effort – taking something out of everybody’s day-to-day life is no easy feat. If I am to ever take this notion seriously, something drastic has to be done about the presentation of the idea. Get more people involved, get higher organizations included with the ideas, but most of all, make it last longer than one day. Cutting consumerism out of your life for a day will not change anything, it will give people a sense of false hope that they are succeeding but that is where it ends. It has to last longer than 24 hours for anybody to take it seriously, once this group can put these notions into effect, more people can finally take this idea seriously