A new
wave of anti-consumerism is overtaking the land, and proponents call it The
Compact. It began innocently enough,
with a group of 10 middle-class San Francisco-area friends deciding a year ago
to spend one year buying nothing new. No
HDTVs, no digital cameras, no Tickle Me Elmos.
Everything other than food, essential toiletries like toothpaste and
shampoo, underwear and a few other things had to be purchased used or bartered
or found.
Participants discovered old and new ways to obtain things
they needed. Sites like Craigslist and Freecycle as well as the old thrift-store
standby became their new shopping malls, and participants, after an initial
period of retail withdrawal , found they had more money and a new appreciation for the “stuff”
they had.
Like this idea? Think you can give up your Barnes & Noble and Baby Gap for a year? It’s
not too late to join the wave for 2007.
There’s a Yahoo
Group
devoted to it as well as many local groups around the country.
Me? I'm always looking for new ways to stick it to Wal-Mart, and
this one seems quite satisfying. Dare me? I will if you
will. (Wait. Does that laptop I've been coveting
count? Or...)
