My first Buy Nothing Day of the year fell on the one day a week I’m not in college, so though I cycle in and out it made things easier in one way. It also meant I had most of my reading to do and was in a race against time before my laptop died. I’ll admit that when it did, I plugged it in. Other than this I stayed away from recharging my phone or using appliances, not counting light switches (I’m not at candle light stage on BND, yet).
My housemate works from home so I did hang around the kettle a bit to see if he boiled enough water for two cups of tea that I could take advantage of; undertaking Buy Nothing Day can stray into looking for loopholes I find. I stayed out of the shops though, and kept my usage much lower than it generally is, so it was a pretty legitimate BND for me, and also one that I found rewarding.
I’ve found myself considering my footprint that bit more since, and curbing it somewhat in line. It’s nice to feel a little less of a Global Northerner driving the climate crisis for a day. We’ll all have to soon limit our consumption significantly one way or another I reckon, so it’s good to get a head start.
Feel free to give it a try this 25th and let us know how it went for you.
Finnian.