Buy Nothing Day 2007

The day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday for retailers, but for Kalle Lasn of Adbusters , it's Buy Nothing Day and has been since 1992.

One of the first to recognize that consumerism was more than a personal problem - that it contributes to global warming, to instability between nations, and that it is at the heart of many of our ecological problems, Lasn urges people to buy nothing for one day. In some locations, BND afficionados encourage people to cut up their credit cards (and begin to get out of debt). In others, they give away free samples of nothing.

This year, Lasn is talking about BNXMAS - to avoid spending for the entire Christmas shopping season, or at least spending beyond food, shelter & necessities. I don't think he expects many to follow this course - but it's interesting how impossible this seems to us in the West, when much of the world's population will buy little besides food & necessities in this time.

Lasn was interview on CNN - and it was not a friendly interview. It does provide a glimpse into his thinking and enthusiasm.