Small San Francisco anti-consumerism group getting international attention

[JohnyCanuck]

From the San Francisco Chronicle

San Frisco anti-consumerism group 'staggered by response'
Members of 'the Compact' vowed to buy few new items in 2006


(02-16) 14:50 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A small group of Bay Area residents who made an informal vow to not buy anything new in 2006 have found themselves in the middle of an international fury over consumerism, ecology and middle-class hypocrisy that has spread around the world in just days.

"It's been totally insane. We've had a lot of people say we're smug, self-congratulatory braggarts," John Perry, one of the founders of the original Compact group, said today. He has spent much of the week fielding calls from national TV and radio stations.

"And we've had other people say it gives them hope for the future. It has definitely touched a nerve," he said. "We've been staggered by the response."

SNIP

"If it's national news when a small group of professionals decide not to buy anything new, and it bothers people so much, it really speaks to how deep we are into consumerism in this country," he said.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/16/MNG2KH9P4767.DTL

[wtbymark]

1. average savings of Americans in 2005 = -1% n/t

[Initech]

2. Where can I sign up to join them?

I realized how fucked up consumerism is when last year people started beating the shit out of each other while waiting in line at WalMart last year. :nuke:

[formerrepuke]

3. I'm intrigued; heres their blog:

http://sfcompact.blogspot.com/

The mission statement seems to be this:

1) to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- a step, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact

2) to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er)

3) to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)

...sounds like a good idea.

[Tsiyu]

4. The hardest thing to change is the way we feed the beast

It's not gonna happen, but suppose every American cancelled their pay-TV, bought no new clothes, cars, furniture or doo-dads and rather than watching the Boob Tube, they took their kids for walks or volunteered to help someone fix up their home or planted a garden?

What if we cut the money off from the beast? What would it do?