Friday, November 26, 2010

Buy Nothing Today!!

Weird? Well for many in Pakistan this may strange. But most people in most of the countries today, the 27th of November, are celebrating the day buy locking their purses and literary not buying anything today.

Why celebrate the Buy Nothing Day? Well those who propagate the idea contend that everything that we buy has an impact on the environment. Thus Buy Nothing Day highlights the environmental and ethical consequences of consumerism. The world population is fast depleting the natural resources by excessive buying and causing a disproportionate level of environmental damage, and an unfair distribution of wealth.

In fact as consumers we need to question the products we buy and challenge the companies who produce them. What are the true risks to the environment and developing countries? We all know recycling is OK for the environment, but consuming less is better and Buy Nothing Day is a great way to start.

There are also people for whom prices do not matter and they buy as the have swollen purses to do so. I remember a surveyor on TV when asked a fashionable woman about the impact of soaring prices of sugar and petrol on people; she simply shrugged her shoulders and remarked, “It doesn’t matter to me.” Well this is pure selfish attitude as it may not have an impact on you doesn’t mean that it is not affecting others. We as consumers have to keep the larger interests of all consumers supreme, rather than caring for our very own.

Although the celebrating of the day is symbolic, as people would be buying the next day, but we have to see its impact on the mindset. The spirit of the day should translate into our buying philosophy for buy only what is required. If we buy more than the requirement, we will be throwing away the surplus in the litter, which has its many adverse effects on life and environment. For one thing, we have squandered our own resources, and likewise we have consumed more natural resources than actually required and thirdly we have littered more, causing more harm to the environment. An apple on a tree adds beauty and life to the environment and nature, but a rotten apple in the garbage makes environment ugly, dirty and polluted.

So let us buy nothing today and make a resolve not buy anything in excess of our requirement to keep our land healthy and free of pollution and environmental sickness.

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