Tree Hugging Family - Living Green

Black Friday Sales Aren’t So Green

by Jennifer on November 22nd, 2007

Of course if Black Friday was eco-friendly I guess it would be called Green Friday.
First off I missed you all the last two days. My sister came into town and surprise there was a two day notice that everyone is coming to my (now sort of tidy) place for Thanksgiving so I’ve been busy the last couple of days.

I did want to make sure and get in a little something about Buy Nothing Day in today before the big bad Black Friday hits tomorrow. I talked a little about this before but now the Buy Nothing website is in full swing. In case you haven’t heard of Buy Nothing Day it’s fairly self-explanatory. Created by the fun folks at Adbusters; Buy Nothing Day coorelates with Black Friday otherwise know as the biggest shopping day of the year.

I went out on Black Friday one year because Cedar needed some new clothes. Once was enough. I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal because I was living in Humboldt at the time and there aren’t that many people there. There’s barely a mall (which I liked). However, on that one Black Friday I’m pretty sure the entire Humboldt area population was at the tiny kind of mall that resides on 101. It was insane. I swore I’d never go out again on Black Friday and I haven’t.

The whole point of Buy Nothing Day is to encourage people to do something better with their time than go out sale hunting on Black Friday.  The deal is to prove that we have better things to do with our time than participate in this mass consumerism ordeal that takes place each year. People buy too much stuff all year round but Black Friday is one of the biggest days of the year for actually encouraging people to buy too much. All the sales and all the ads that claim you need stuff that you honestly don’t. It’s all a bit much.

On the green side Black Friday is anything but earth friendly. This is one day where shopping can do double harm to the environment. Obviously here at THF we discuss the impact that products and the energy it takes to make them have on the planet. Consider the extra bad effects that will happen tomorrow:

Extra gas needed to get from place to place because people are stuck in traffic even more than usual.

Senseless items bought. This is fact. I’ve seen it in action. People go to this huge sale because they saw something they actually need on the sales ad. That in itself is not a bad thing. However, once you get to a store the item is gone — because of course the store didn’t stock enough and so to make up for the wasted time people tend to shop for other items that were not on their list in the first place.

An utter lack of peace. I don’t talk about peace and calm too much here but in many ways I feel that both are tied intrinsically to eco-living. Once you start to live simpler a certain calm does take over your life. You do feel more at peace because you aren’t competing with anyone on a who has what level and it’s an overall nicer way to live. Less clutter, less competition, more peace. Black Friday is anything but peaceful. People fight over stuff and you don’t get any lamer than that. This is stuff wars are made of. Sure it’s on a smaller level but come on. We don’t need to live like that.

Time. One of the best ways to encourage green living is to live a happy healthy lifestyle. People who are healthy and happy tend to be more balanced and want a healthier planet as well. There is no argument on earth that’s going to convince me that all those lines, all the shoving, all the people weaving at the stores on the very crowed Black Friday is a healthy way to live. Your time is worth more than that. Many people get Black Friday off only to spend it working at the mall. Instead take the day and go to the park with your family; play board games; talk… spend time not money. This is what encourages health and happiness not the fact that you saved $10 on a printer.

Tomorrow don’t go out to the stores.

On the biggest shopping day of the year make a difference by going against convention. If you need ideas or would like to learn more about how to participate by not participating check out the Buy Nothing Day website.

Other issue of note: Adbusters created a Buy Nothing Day commercial. They tried to buy airtime on MTV to air said commercial. MTV has refused saying it goes to far. Hilarious words for a channel that shows half naked girls, shooting guns in videos, and more.  You can see the BND commercial here and believe me in my opinion it doesn’t go far enough it’s no worse than a child’s cartoon. You can even send an email to MTV telling them just how lame this is.

If you stay home and buy nothing let me know.

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POSTED IN: Change the World, Peace, Shop Green, Think