I'm working on an argument paper for my writing class and I would like some feedback from friends and family. Here are a few facts to get you thinking:
- Americans throw away about 25 million tons of trash between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve. This is about 25 percent more than normal, or roughly 1 million extra tons of garbage per week.
- If every American family wrapped just three presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.
- It takes an average of six months for a credit card user to pay off their holiday debt.
- Americans buy enough greeting cards to fill a football stadium 10 stories high!
My thesis is that by reducing the craze of holiday consumption we could reinvigorate the original intent of the holiday season as a time of family togetherness and spiritual connectedness. By replacing store bought, mass produced, over packaged goods with handmade items, or giving time instead of stuff, we could significantly lower consumer debt and eliminate the environmental impact of old holiday cards, wrapping paper, gifts that end up in the trash, and the gas we use to drive around shopping.
As some of you know, I have not been a huge fan of the holidays since I started working for the "Plastic Palace" when I was 22. Working for Toys R Us for 13 years traumatized me, leaving me permanently scarred, cynical, and soured on a time of year that I loved as a kid.
Working in retail management meant that "the season" was all about selling enough plastic trinkets to turn a profit before the year ended. It meant working 70 to 80 hour work weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
It meant seeing the ugliest side of consumerism year after year as drunk, dead beat dads yelled at me for not having the hot toy of the year on Christmas Eve when they actually remembered that they had fathered a child and decided to go shopping.
It meant watching people overindulging their hyper-materialistic spawn with cartloads of crap that they heard them whining for since Halloween ended and the holiday toy ads started running relentlessly during children's 28 hours of weekly TV watching (yes that is the American average).
It meant watching a parent pull multiple maxed out credit cards from their wallet to pay for the carts of future landfill that would soothe their guilty conscience for the time they didn't spend with them. I couldn't help but wonder how many of these parents were bankrupting their children's education funds by digging themselves too deep in the hole of credit debt for the sake of keeping up with the Jones' kids.
Why do we do this? Has it always been this way? What does Christmas have to do with going into debt to buy gifts for people that are not in need of much of anything at all? What about the environmental impact of all the stuff that we get and give?
In researching these questions I found several movements that are into alternative ideas for holiday gift giving:
There is the "Buy Nothing Christmas" which, as their name states, believes in giving gifts that do not require buying anything. http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/
There is the "Hundred Dollar Holiday" where you spend no more than a hundred bucks total on the holidays. http://www.newdream.org/newsletter/100holiday.php
There is the "Simplify your Holiday" idea that has great alternative gift ideas and tools to help reevaluate what the holidays mean for you or your family. http://www.newdream.org/holiday/simplify.pdf
Buy Nothing Day (http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/) is a boycott of Black Friday and they do some fun things to raise awareness about over consumption. Here is a CNN interview of the founder of Adbusters magazine talking about why Buy Nothing Day exists.
Americans consume a huge majority of the resources from the world while we comprise only a small fraction of the total population. Each item that we purchase has a hidden cost in terms of environmental damage. Future generations may not be able to afford the debt which we are incurring right now. We are voraciously consuming the planet's resources at a rate which was unsustainable a long time ago and which becomes even more unsustainable as the global population continues to soar.
So, what can I do? I don't really know where to begin. I feel guilty and helpless. I feel overwhelmed. I've read a little bit here and there on this topic over the last few years and I've avoided dealing with it head on. I call it a case of long term denial. It's easy to push away when the price most likely won't have to be paid in my lifetime. Or will it?
I'm starting small. I have converted to 100% renewable sourced electricity in our apartment. I recycle (sometimes). After researching my paper I have decided to join New American Dream. It is an organization that
"exists to create that positive impact. We work with individuals, institutions, communities, and businesses to conserve natural resources, counter the commercialization of our culture, and change the way goods are produced and consumed. As for the "new" in New American Dream, we help people live the dream, but in a way that ensures a livable planet for current and future generations. Our message isn't about deprivation. It's about getting more of what really matters—more time, more nature, more fairness, and more fun. "
What do you think about all this? Any counter arguments? Can the holidays be meaningful and fun without the buying? I want to hear your opinions?
