consumerism — Transition Voice

Homemade Halloween

By Lindsay Curren October 18, 2012

We're running this piece from 2010 again in celebration of the upcoming Halloween. One of my worst parenting memories happened when I took my daughters trick-or-treating on the vaunted Lawn of the University of Virginia campus one year. The girls were about six and four at the time, and the picturesque associations of the annual UVa. Halloween tradition conjured up by friends made it sound incomparable to other activities. This was easy: show up around 4:30pm and go by Lawn dorms to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Small World Tagged With: consumerism, cooking, DIY, homesteading, Oct 2010, parenting, relocalization

Is America the most materialistic society in the history of the world?

By Staff Reports September 26, 2012

When it comes to materialism, has any nation ever surpassed what we are seeing in the United States right now? We define our lives by how much stuff we have, to a large degree our personal and business relationships are defined by how much money we make, and even most of the important dates on our calendar are all about materialism. Just think about it. We throw outrageous birthday parties for our kids and we shower them with gifts. Most of our "holidays" have become highly … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: consumerism, Occupy Wall Street, Rich Kids of Instagram

Occupying science: technology for the 99 percent

By Erik Curren December 19, 2011

Even to save the planet from climate change or to save the economy from the end of cheap oil, you can't stop the march of technological progress, we're often told. Whether it's the personal car, industrial farming or nuclear power, once the genie's out of the bottle, you just can't squeeze him back in. And anyway, we're also told, even the most dangerous technologies are morally neutral. They can always be used for either good or evil. It just depends on who's using them and for what. Thus, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: consumerism, Fukushima, nuclear power, Occupy Wall Street, solar power, technology

Presents or presence?

By Patricia Benson December 14, 2011

Does anyone else find Thanksgiving and Christmas a bit of a contradiction? We spend a couple of days focused on Thanksgiving; usually setting up the menu, grocery shopping, or juggling travel plans for a day spent with our families. What started as a day for family and gratitude, is often replaced with family watching football on TV, mapping Black Friday’s shopping spree, or eating turkey sandwiches while camped out overnight in the parking lot of a big box store to be first in line to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Transition Tagged With: Buy Local, Christmas, consumerism, materialism, Thanksgiving, Transition US

One more reason to go local

By Staff Reports September 1, 2011

For Visual Loop's third exclusive infographic they picked up on an issue that really has a visible impact in our lives: Consumerism. Of course, we all enjoy shopping around, and getting access to worldwide items bought through a simple click of a button. Or driving around in our brand new cars feeling free, independent, and happy. Or going to some exotic restaurant, tasting the mysterious flavors of foreign cuisine. But, here’s the thing: when we look up at the numbers behind the impact … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: communication, consumerism, economy, local economy, relocalization

Meet the Percapitas: we’re greener than you are

By Tim Murray August 2, 2011

Hi there! We're the Percapitas. We've cut per capita consumption and our per capita waste. We compost, we conserve, we re-use and we recycle. And we're going to teach our three carbon footprints -- Mark, David and Robert -- to do the same. Carbon-neutral cul de sac Yes, we know that each of us will require more than 38,000 pounds of mined resources each and every year to maintain our cosmetically green American lifestyle, or 2.96 million pounds in our average lifetime of 77.9 years. That's … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy, Transition Tagged With: consumerism, metals, suburbia, waste

Why adbusting is more important than ever

By Erik Curren June 10, 2011

Culture Jam: How to Reverse America's Suicidal Consumer Binge and Why We Must is not a new book -- it first came out in 1999. But given how important it will be to the world's climate and energy future to dislodge Big Oil, Big Coal and other polluting corporations from control of government -- and given how hard this will be to do -- the guerrilla approach of culture jamming seems like just the slingshot that anti-corporate Davids may need to slay the plutocratic Goliath. Like Mad Magazine, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: activism, Adbusters, Buy Nothing Day, consumerism, culture jamming, Kalle Lasn, plutocracy, Wisconsin

Doorbuster nation, a recipe for chaos

By Lindsay Curren February 7, 2011

In a New Yorker article this week titled "Crush Point: When large crowds assemble, is there a way to keep them safe?" writer John Seabrook retells the chilling events of November 28, 2008. On that date, at a now infamous Black Friday "doorbuster" sale, Long Island Wal-Mart employee Jdimytai Damour was trampled to death, losing even his tongue to the thronging crowd as they surged forward in pursuit of hot deals, slashed prices, and one-time opportunities to secure electronics and more from … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: consumerism, dystopia, economy, global climate disruption, local economy

Readers and authors talk

Erik Curren on Seeing Berry’s Wilderness again » Thanks for your nice comment Stepheny. We're big fans of Wendell Berry too and you might enjoy some ...
Stepheny Houghtlin on Seeing Berry’s Wilderness again » I found this wonderful piece of writing while following the trail of a favorite Wendell Berry quote ...
James R. Martin on Economics for a finite world » A Kaleidoscopic Sense of Possibility': Interview with David Graeber on Democracy in America http://w...
James R. Martin on Economics for a finite world » "We all get to invent whatever new economics system that comes next, because we must.” I agree that ...