According to Bill McKibben in his latest wake-up call Eaarth, the energy in a barrel of oil is roughly equivalent to 25,000 hours of human labor. By extrapolation, we (I, you, Americans) use up 300 years worth of human labor in a year. In other words, we live more lavishly than feudal lords. In terms of energy consumption, we live like a nation of single-family Napoleons and Genghis Khans. What do we get for it? Immediate stimulus followed by strife and dissatisfaction. We get attention deficit, heartache and longing. We get hours on the freeway and 2 weeks of paid vacation, if we’re lucky.
It’s time to reinvestigate what it means to be happy and successful on this planet. Today is Black Friday, the day when the onslaught of consumerism rises to a feverish pitch. The day when credit cards come out to stave off the stinging pain of malaise and depression. The day when we make a hasty calculation and come up with the result: “Yes, I do deserve to live like the Pharaohs of Egypt. I deserve to have what I want now, and f#$k all else”.
As always, there are certain choices that many of us are at liberty to make. Today, I’m staying in. Maybe I’ll walk to the river. If you’d like to celebrate Buy Nothing Weekend with me and my family, I invite you to partake in a new collection of songs meant to cut through the madness and amplify the earth ringtone in your life [ right here ].
This will cost you nothing. You can share these few songs with friends if you like. Do it in public on FACEBOOK if that’s your thing. It aint much, but it’s something. Let me know how it goes, ok? Stay strong. Buy Nothing.
