Mission Statement

English

French

German

Italian

Japanese

Korean

Portughese

Spanish

[ Opens in own window ]

I(nternational) Buy Nothing Day is a wide-open, un-organized, informal international partnership project that was orignally cobbled together by a small team within The Commons , with the objective to create a cooperative, open international "learning and communications" space, making best use of leading edge communications technologies and organization to advance thinking and practice on what might quickly be referred to as the "buy nothing agenda" (see Short History for details).

This site gains its power as a group work tool through quite an impressive array of carefully linked information and communications tools, with the Menu bar just to your left providing a first set of indications and means of access to the site's contents. How all this works may appear to be reasonably clear at first glance; however we suggest that before going into the site and its various specialized programs, you first take a moment to familiarize yourself with the terrain. Probably as good a way to start as any is to work your way right down through the first set of links on the opening menu to your left.

What is I(nternational) Buy Nothing Day

Let us start with what we here at The Commons think this is all about, and then in quick order lead you to the views and preferences of others . You will see that there is variety galore. But first the view from The Commons:

The primary purpose of a Buy Nothing Day (in addition to having a terrific neighborly time out in the street) is to see what we can do as activists to urge and provide people with a period of respite, a pause for reflection from the incessant rigors of the consumption economy, which is the main thing that dominates the media and perhaps a few too many of our daily life choices and aspirations.
Individually and collectively we in the hyper-North badly need a breathing space, but this is not a point that is easy to get across to the kind of broad public which must be reached and convinced if this is to play a significant role in our societies. The closest thing that we have to proof of the communications challenge we face is that, if you bring up the topic of a "buy nothing" day in conversation, nine times out of ten the person in front of you will give some indication that they think you are really quite mad (or, perhaps, only stupid).
The perhaps strange looking "I(xxx)" in the I(nternational) BND is intended to work both to introduce a perfectly normal word, but at the same time to point up the importance of personal choice. It is our view here at The Commons that people need not all join in some common action or mind-set, thought that can be a good idea too. But above all we believe that the importance is in the personal reflection and whatever choices you chose to exercize to celebrate on this one day of the year.
We here at The Commons see the BND not simply as a one-off annual media event (thought the media and activist elements are absolutely vital to its success), but as a concrete instrument that can be useful in advancing the sustainable development movement that, in our view, has to be built from the ground up, and which in the final analysis needs actions more than words.
On the other hand, more thought and work is needed to close the gap between enthusiasm and action, and reflection and deeper understanding. One of the goals of this site is precisely to make a contribution to do just that, building on the past work and considerable international network that have been built up by and with The Commons over the last years.

There are thus in our view three co-equal tasks that now need to be addressed, namely: (a) a deeper and fuller understanding of the issues, (b) action and visible demonstration, and (c) the creation of an ever larger constituency of people and groups who not only understand but also improve and extend the basic thrust of ideas and values behind this day. Now, to put this all together is no easy task. But that precisely is the challenge.

Confused about the date?

BND NORTH AMERICA 2009 - November 27
In North America BND is traditionally held on the last Friday of November, the day after Thanksgiving and traditionally one of the most important shopping days of the year. (Check national sites on the menu for clarification.)

BND - Rest of World - November 28
Buy Nothing Day is held in Europe on the last Saturday in November. This is because most Europeans do their shopping on Saturdays and the merchants are already aggressively pushing end-year holiday sales.

Our job

One question that needs to be asked up front is: Does not what you see here unnecessarily double up with existing programs, materials and tools (some of which you will see just to your left under the ironic heading, "Official Sponsors")? Our first quick answer to that, from our perhaps somewhat special viewpoint here at The Commons, is: certainly not! And that on several grounds:

First, because this is a situation in which all able hands are needed. The BND movement is still in its earliest stages of development and as yet not very well known and, perhaps as important, not particularly well understood. Additional channels of communication and different approaches are needed. After all, we are going for critical mass, and that is not achieved by restraining new sources of energy and inputs..

Second, we are hopeful that among the contributions that The Commons might bring to the movement as an established program and fairly good pipeline of communications is some additional thoughtfulness and support from other people and places. There is considerable room for creative synergy with others of the programs and supporters of The Commons and this new site provides an instrument for this future collaboration and exchange.

Third, because the movement is by definition (at least that's what we think) a "self-organizing system". This means that it is destined to be highly diverse, with each participating group in each place free to chose its own modus operandi and approach (and how!). This great diversity, however, seems to us to be the sort of thing in which at least passive communication of information and even a fair amount of detail from other sources and places can only be helpful to local organizers and the communities that they are trying to influence and help.

Fourth, because we feel strongly that the movement needs a "hook". But if a major goal is to attract support, we must bear in mind that Buy Nothing is of course an entirely negative concept. On the other hand, we know that people respond better to positive incentives and choices. So, if that is true, what about seeing what we might do to give BND a strong positive tilt. There are a number of areas of economy and society where BND partnerships could be mutually beneficial. We look at a few of these candidates in the Idea Bank section here, but for now wish just to stress the principle that this is one of the main reasons that The Commons has decided to become, in Adbusters' words, a co-conspirator.

And last, because we think that not only does the world as a whole need all the good networking it can get, but also that it can be useful to energize and involve directly many of the individuals, groups and institutions that are publicly involved in the sustainable development movement, that see themselves as leaders or active agents in the push to sustainability -- and here we are thinking of such people as university professors, researchers, civil servants, people working in foundations, non-profit groups and public agencies... just check the contents of the latest books or conferences on the topic to see whom we mean -- are themselves in need of, let's call it, grass roots bonding. Many of these people are content to be sustainable in theory and on paper, but have yet to come to grips with what they and their families and their friends can do in order to unhook the world from its present path to egregious, system-driving consumption. They need to embrace new tools and new approaches, and this site under The Commons can give them a gentle nudge is the right direction -- and all the more so if we can convert them into active participants.

A One-Start Shop for Information on the IBND Movement

You are familiar with the concept of a one-stop shop? The merchant's dream: the brimming commercial emporium to which you go to deal with all of your problems in a given area. For example, the full function computer one-stop shop might ideally supply us with hardware, software, communications, training, finance, and psychiatric help. For example.

In the case of this particular virtual exercise, the objective is quite different. In bringing together these several tools and this bit of information and points of view, we set out some years ago to see if we could provide a ONE-START SHOP for anyone interested in learning about the Buy Nothing Day concept. So here you have, for those of you who want it, a handy port of entry and contact point that may serve some as a place to come to start to get a broad overview of this fast growing universe of activities, philosophies and approaches that constitute the international buy nothing movement. This is, thus, a beginning, not an end in itself. For some it may prove useful, for others surely not.

The BND images you find here

You will find that this site salts here and there a fair number of BND images "borrowed" from programs and sites around the world. Many of these were originally created by Adbusters, while others are from national or local BND sites. And if you are looking for more, there is a fine supply which you can access by clicking the BND Images link on the top menu here. At last count there were more than 2500, with only a few duplicates. Thanks Adbusters. Thanks all of you.

Why has The Commons got behind BNDs world-wide?

Because the idea of a BND lines up quite exactly with what we call a "pattern break" in the push to sustainability. A sustainable world -- and a just one -- is one where we have to do many things very differently. And for that the first sep is to challenge our thinking and our imagination. Which is exactly what BND's are intended to do.
Because we like working with young people and activists who are concerned with the shortcomings of our present unsustainable patters, and are ready to devote their energies and persons to make the case for other ways of thinking and doing things.
Because all these BND efforts are asking us all to question the ways in which we spend our time and money -- and since everything that is carried out on and through The Commons is entirely "off the economy", by which we mean that 100% of everything done here to advance this work is done on a volunteer basis and without using $$$. In this sense, we 'buy nothing' 365 days of the year.
And finally because we feel that we have something to learn from being associated with and trying to make a contribution to a movement like this.

Diversity of Views

This little support program for BNDs around the world, like The Commons, is a big house indeed and a place where diversity is not only permitted but also actively encouraged. To this end we are hopeful that once our communications structure is up in place that it will be a place not only to lodge good ideas and joyful accouterments of success, but also a place where anyone can turn for negative views or critical opinions on what we are all trying so hard to achieve.

For this reason we are setting up here a section that for now is being called the Contrarian Corner, which is where we intend to place alternative views and criticism. It is our expectation that some of this may be unjust, some possibly uniformed, and some little more than an advertisement for mind sets of the authors. But there may well be more to it than that, and that is why we feel that this is such an important part of the whole.

Even after a first decade the BND movement is still nascent and diverse. It can be improved, and one of the ways of doing this will be to listen to what others have to say. Even if we may not like it the first time around.