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Don’t-buy-anything-new-wave is on a roll

February 24th, 2007 by v.navarro

This wave is moving fast, hitting several continents, gathering people along the way.

The force driving the wave is simple_ the promise to buy nothing new, other than food and other absolute essentials- The group is called the Compact. It is building a mega wave of supporters, doubling in size since the fall, to nearly 8,000 members from 3,000.

Want to save money and time and feel good about it?  Go here: groups.yahoo.com/group/thecompact

9 Responses to “Don’t-buy-anything-new-wave is on a roll”

  1. on 24 Feb 2007 at 9:22 am   nadja

    This is a very interesting phenomenon. It reminds me of the yearly international ‘buy nothing day’ that I’ve found very inspiring - and more or less been able to observe… And it definately makes you more aware of consumption. Thumbs up to that new wave…

  2. on 24 Feb 2007 at 2:24 pm   Katrine

    Had to happen. We’ve got so much money in Western society that we can all buy cool. So whaddaya do when everyone else can buy the same cool as you? Don’t buy cool.

    I am actually putting my money on (as opposed to spending them) on the next new cool thing being knowledge. This will include, I predict, not only participating in worthwhile knowledgemaking activities such as this very space, but buying knowledge in order to make yourself look cool. Booksales will rise (are they already, does anyone know?), the get-clever-quick industry providing punters with, say, weekend courses, workshops and seminars on all sorts of established and soon-to-be-established and perhaps even grassroot academic and interdisciplinary disciplines, will boom. Weblogs with disciplinary and professional angles will multiply and perhaps outnumber the more personal ones. Cords will return, as will horn-rimmed specs and sensible leather backpacks with plenty of room for books and the obligatory ibook. Chicklit will become bookiechicklit.

    Perhaps, and I am crossing my fingers, ‘academic’ will become a positive term. But there’s me getting carried away. Although I guess that if I wanted to make some money (in order to not spend it, of course), I should get onto writing that bookiechickbook right away. I guess I’ll get onto writing my dissertation instead…

  3. on 24 Feb 2007 at 2:27 pm   Katrine

    Mmh. I should add that I think that buy-nothing-new is a pretty bloody good idea that I really, truly hope will be a huge wave. I am just kind of sadly pessimistic as to the lasting effect of trends. Oxymoronic, right?

  4. on 24 Feb 2007 at 2:38 pm   Katrine

    Last comment today, I promise: I checked out the Compact on Yahoo and they also have a substantial collaborative weblog: http://sfcompact.blogspot.com/. I noticed two amusing things: 1) There is a certain Californian bias, what with the Really Really Free Market where people, it seems, simply give stuff away that they don’t need. I’m impressed and filled with love for Californians. 2) Even dedicated folks panic at the thought of living without an Ipod. Difficult to recycle a broken one of those.

  5. on 25 Feb 2007 at 6:24 pm   nadja

    @ Katrine - wauw…wouldn’t I just love it if you were right and knowledge became the new big thing…

    I love the scenario you predict…and aren’t they all speaking of the ‘knowledge economy’?

    But I’m impatient…when will your dream come true???

  6. on 27 Sep 2007 at 2:17 am   daniel

    this will efect the governments gross domestic product also known as gdp

  7. on 27 Sep 2007 at 8:57 am   V. Navarro

    I think it’s going to have a positive impact on economics, abeit a microscopic one. The more you give away, the more you buy. Even if it is used.

    Anyhow, isn’t there a tsunami sized wave of knowledge available for free aleady? Like the WGBH Forum Network, PBS Frontline, New York Review of Books and poetry blogs…just to name a few.

    I find I have to take in small drops. Otherwise the opportunity to experience the joy of being physically rather than virtually alive may pass me by…

  8. on 15 Jan 2008 at 10:35 am   Barry

    daniel - I had someone tell me today that doing what we are doing is Un American! All I could do was laugh and thank them for the compliment.

    Hey, one look around Chicago’s O’Hare airport and you’ll know all too well that consumption, over-eating, and laziness is alive and well in the good ‘ol USA. The GDP has absolutely no worries if a few of us want to attempt to curtail our impulsive and unconscious consumerism for 52 weeks.

    http://www.NothingNewIn2008.com for some good old Un American behavior :)

  9. on 17 Jan 2008 at 9:08 pm   Nadja

    @ Barry - there you go. Nothing new for a year. wauw. Good luck. I’m very excited to follow your blog and see how it turns out.

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