Fighting the good fight

Not Buying It, Judith Levine

I had never read anything by Judith Levine before so I wasn't familiar with her writing style and I was unsure what to expect. I liked the format of the book and, being a person who reads everything she can on voluntary simplicity, very interested in the subject matter.

In a way I guess my reading this book was like preaching to the choir. I already try to buy very little and to spend as little time in malls as possible. Often the book was funny and I could understand Levine and her partners frustration as they tried to decide the rules of what is necessary and what isn't. Levine keeps her hair short so $50 haircuts with her stylist are necessary to her. Her partner, Paul, is Italian and believes that wine is an absolute necessity. Levine is a real culture junky - always going to movies, plays and concerts so I think that was one of the hardest things for her. However, I was really surprised when she said she paid off her credit card in June, the bill was $7,956.21! That is, I am almost embarrassed to admit, very close my entire earnings for last year. So I guess my simplicity isn't so voluntary afterall.

Even though it didn't really teach me anything I didn't already know I really enjoyed this book. She spoke to a number of different people on the subject, joined a voluntary simplicity circle and spent a lot more time looking for free things to do. My only real problem was a ton of editing errors - how did they get past the editors? I think the publishing house should give me a job.

A very interesting article:

Consumers spend a collective $100 billion every year on bottled water in the belief--often mistaken, as it happens--that this is better for us than what flows from our taps, according to environmental think tank the Earth Policy Institute (EPI).

For a fraction of that sum, everyone on the planet could have safe drinking water and proper sanitation.

Another holiday rant, this time not by me: The Tyee

Hundred Dollar Holiday by Bill McKibben

I read this short and sweet little book (95 pages) yesterday in two sittings and it has made me excited for Christmas again. Mostly I want to go out and buy it for everyone in my family, although I am not sure how well that would go over.

The sub-title of the book is: The case for a more joyful Christmas. McKibben proposes that everyone limit their gift-giving budget to $100. It isn't a strict rule, the premise is to make Christmas fun and meaningful and by limiting the amount you spend you have to be more creative in your gift giving. It isn't about not giving at all but about giving more of yourself. It is about making Christmas less stressful and fun again.

McKibben goes into the history of Christmas, tracing its roots and explaining how important gift-giving once was to a society who worked hard and had little rest or entertainment except on special occasions. The history is fascinating and he doesn't use it as a finger-wagging exercise about why we don't need Christmas anymore - quite the opposite.

To read a version of the book, in an article he wrote for New American Dream go: here.

Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin

Originally published in 1981, it quickly became one of the books to read about sustainable living. In the revised edition (1993), Elgin has found that many of the environmental stresses he spoke of in his earlier book have become more urgent.

Something Elgin tries to make clear from the beginning of the book is that voluntary simplicity is very different from involuntary poverty.
"Poverty is involuntary and debilitating, whereas simplicity is voluntary and enabling." It is learning to live with what you need to live comfortably and being conscious of what you are taking from the earth. This isn't something people living in developing nations need to worry too much about - they are on subsistence living out of circumstance. Many people think they need to sell everything they own and move to the woods to live simply but a life of self-imposed deprivation will only lead you to constantly miss the things you gave up.
Another important point is voluntary simplicity isn't about turning away from progress but about using it to advantage of all. At the end of the book Elgin talks about who the media could be used as a medium to educate people. You can't get rid of the television but you can try and move it away from its focus on consumerism and use it to make people more aware.

The most fascinating part of the book, for me, was based on a survey Elgin did in 1977 asking people who read the Co-Evolution Quarterly (where the questionnaire was printed) about what simple living meant to them. Obviously Elgin has chosen some of the best answers and the people who read the magazine were mostly converts to the simplicity movement already. However, the answers don't seem dated and it is interesting to hear how people have made changes these changes in their lives in their own voice. The common theme seemed to be that they were much happier now, they found that it is hard to live consciously all the time and that it will always be something that needs to be worked on but they thought it was worth it. No one talks about missing "stuff."

A quick and easy read and a good introduction for anyone interested in voluntary simplicity.

This is an interesting article about how Ottawa is trying to become a city not focused on environmental sustainability. Not a very good image for Canada's capital.

The article raises an interesting point with Ottawa raising transit fares. Calgary is also raising their transit prices; hopefully it won't push people back into their cars and away from transit. I can't imagine that it will make that much of a difference because gas prices are so high and parking downtown is so expensive. While a six dollar bus ride (round trip) is a lot of money it is probably still cheaper than the wear and tear commuting does to your car. And, the amount of single-occupancy cars driving in and out of the downtown core everyday is astronomical. Many of them are SUVs too. It would be nice if Calgary would put in a high occupancy vehicle lane to promote carpooling.

There are a couple carpooling websites that Calgarians can go to but they aren't well known.

http://www.carpool.ca/
http://www.erideshare.com/carpool.php?city=Calgary

I find it comical that there is a debate going on in the corporate world about whether or not stores should say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays when talking to customers. The Gap made the news with this a couple of years ago because they wanted their employees to do away with Merry Christmas for the more politically correct Happy Holidays. They made the news again when they changed their mind because of all the press they received.

The Starbucks Christmas blend coffee has alternative stickers to change it to their Holiday Blend in case customers are offended by the assumption that everyone celebrates Christmas.

I suspect the real reason behind this push for political correctness isn’t a concern for the feelings of customers but the fear of losing a sale. The powers that be don’t want to exclude anyone and so they try to include everyone.

Growing up in a quasi-Catholic family and attending Catholic school I assumed the rest of the world was Catholic too. It always baffled me why my piano teacher wouldn’t put up Christmas lights or a tree. However, I noticed the menorah and the other subtle changes in her home (mostly the foreign-to-me treats that she would tempt me with). I always wanted to give her a Christmas card and she would accept it graciously and then remind me about Hanukkah.

The more commercialized Christmas gets the more non-important things get blown out of proportion. People spend more time shopping than spending time with their families reflecting on what the season should mean to them. The book Affluenza says the average American (and we can probably include Canadians in here too) spends six hours a week shopping and only 40 minutes playing with their children.

Buy Nothing Christmas is an organization started by Canadian Mennonites and open to anyone who wants to make the “Holiday Season” more meaningful – no matter what holiday you might be celebrating. BNC promotes not getting swept up in the over-blown consumer culture and reminding yourself what the holidays mean to you. If “it’s the thought that counts” is really true then what does spending countless days in a mall really say?

As a non-Christian, I still like and celebrate some aspects of Christmas. I like to go out and get a tree and sit with my husband stringing cranberries to decorate it, I like to bake endless amounts of cookies, and I like be reminded to call up old friends and get together. Buying absolutely nothing isn’t really an option for me because I feel pressure to buy presents for people who are buying them for me. I try and make as many gifts as I can (lots of people get baking). My nephews appreciate my homemade cd’s, secondhand books and knitted scarves

When I do go out and buy something I try and consider its shelf life and how much packaging in comes in. Will the packaging be recycled? Is this something the person is going to use or will it end up in a garage sale – or the garbage – six months from now.

Maybe, for those of us who feel too much pressure to Buy Nothing at Christmas we can have a movement called Conscientious Christmas. This involves staying away from all-day mall sessions where you wander aimlessly and end up buying more than is probably necessary.
Conscientious Christmas involves thinking through every gift carefully: where it came from, how it was made, how much packaging it uses and where it will be a year from now.

At least when I am knitting those scarves (no matter how wonky), with each stitch I am thinking about the person who is going to receive it. I think about their favourite colours when I pick out they yarn, I wonder if they will like the pattern and if it is thick enough to keep them warm. If it is for the younger nephews; I try to guess how long it will be before they inevitably lose it and I hope the scarf gets picked up and passed onto to someone else.

After all, a scarf is just “stuff” and that’s not what Christmas is about.