I found out about this amazing day on the Internet today. Now I am working all day on Saturday (for my American and Canadian readers, your Buy Nothing Day is on Friday) so it will be quite easy for me not to buy anything, but I wanted it share it with everyone else in case you wanted to have a go! I think its principles are great.

The day is designed to encourage people to shop less and spend more time with their family, along with reinforcing the very serious message that we, in developing countries, are consuming a disproportionate amount of resources. This in turn deprives the developing world of these resources and causes environmental damage.

I've been trying to make some changes in my shopping habits. I try to 'buy British' and take note of where my food comes from. We need to be aware of how far it has flown to get to the supermarket. How much did those people get paid? Where they paid fairly? What are their working conditions? I am also looking at how much packaging comes with my shopping and trying to reduce that. When I have stopped living in two cities and have settled down a bit, I am quite keen to start getting deliveries of vegetables from local farmers to cut down on both of these. I also need to work on my recycling much more than I actually do.

If you have any other suggestions or are going to try to "Buy Nothing" on Friday or Saturday, let me know!

The heavens are the LORD's heavens,
but the earth he has given to the children of man.
Psalm 115:16