Plenty Epicurean Pantry

image courtesy of www.adbusters.org

We will be closing the till at Plenty on Friday, November 27th, 2009 in support of Buy Nothing Day.

As mentioned in an earlier post, Buy Nothing Day is a day to pause and reflect on the need to make our consumer choices more sustainable: eco-friendly, organic, and socially responsible.

At Plenty we will be closing our till and hosting a celebration of these principles on November 27th.  Here’s the schedule so far:

• 10 - 11 is a Coffee Break Open House (tea, coffee and samples of organic, fair trade chocolate etc)
• 11:30 - 1:30 a drop-in origami workshop led by local artist Gillian Gravenor
• 2 - 4 is a Furochic (furoshiki is a japanese tradition of wrapping in cloth) wrapping workshop and book event with Jenn Playford the author of Wrapigami (click here for details - preregistration required)
• 4 - 6 is a Happy Hour Open House (tea, coffee and samples of organic, fair trade chocolate etc) with local guitarist Stuart Munro

Hopefully people will be duly bemused but not upset with us if they arrive looking to make a purchase on the 27th.  We’ll have a hand-out offering 10% off BC-made items during the following week and there’ll be a small note explaining our support of Buy Nothing Day.  Please mark your calendars and stop in for a workshop or a cup of tea - but be prepared to Buy Nothing at Plenty on November 27th.

Adbusters is taking Buy Nothing Day a bit further this year by also calling for a “Wildcat” general strike:

We want you to shut off your lights, your televisions and other nonessential appliances. We want you to park your car, turn off your phones and log off your computer for the day. We’re calling for a Ramadan-like fast. From sunrise to sunset, we abstain en masse. Not only from shopping but from all the temptations of our five-planet lifestyles.

That’s taking it further than we will on November 27th but I endorse the sentiment, if not entirely the approach.  We do need to reflect on and rethink how and what we consume.  In the Small is Beautiful, Support the Local and global peasant posts I’ve suggested that we need a more discerning, meaningful culture of consumption: one that places greater value on goods that are smaller, simpler, and more personal.  A day of fasting from consumption to reflect on its place in our lives is in my mind a healthy thing but I think it needs to be combined with something positive - a revolution akin to Alice Waters‘ Delicious Revolution where the focus is not so much on what we need to give up but on the richness of experience that we can gain.

The quote from Adbusters (above) mentions Ramadan, a Muslim holy month of fasting which is followed by a feast and celebration of community and values.  I hope that the focus of the strike being planned by Adbusters includes not just opposition to reckless consumerism but that it also includes a celebration of consumer choices that can help to build and strengthen our communities.