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Why care

Always interested in hearing about other people's reactions to ever-expanding consumerism...and funnily enough around this time of year is when this type of discussion pops into the media more often.

I find it intriguing that there is a such a need to define movements such as this...why can't it be more of a spectrum of involvement. Still, the more people we get thinking about this topic the better in my opinion!

The story

Late one night in San Francisco, USA, a group of partygoers discussed how consumerism is destroying the world and how they all own far too much anyway. In a burst of Earth-hugging bravado, they accepted a dare to go six months (later extended to a complete year) without buying anything new. Thus was born The Compact, so named for a cryptic variety of reasons outlined in their blog:

...To go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of US 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
To reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er)
To simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)

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