21 November

In an effort to draw attention to global over-consumption, online zero waste store, EarthSavvy will be temporarily closing its virtual doors this Friday, 23 November. Buy Nothing Day is an international day of protest against consumerism that was started in 1992 by a Canadian artist and subsequently taken up by grassroots activist collective, Adbusters. The day is held on the same date as Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, when stores slash their prices and encourage people to buy up large. Although Black Friday initially began as an American shopping day, in recent years, it has gained in popularity around the world, including here in New Zealand.

According to NZ Post GM Business Marketing, Chris Wong, ““Black Friday (23/11) is now one of the biggest single shopping days of the year, up there with China’s Singles day (11/11) and Cyber Monday (26/11).

“Our experience shows us that a few days after these sales, we start to see huge volumes of parcels coming through our network. Between 2014 and 2017 the annual parcel volume sent through NZ Post increased by 21%. Across the same period though, the average parcel volume sent just in November rocketed up by almost 50% thanks to Singles Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.”

But EarthSavvy founder, Kristy Lorson says "It's crazy that, despite knowing we are causing enormous damage to our climate due to our consumption and that we live on a planet with finite resources, we continue to consume as though we have another planet to go to once we've finished wrecking this one".

With New Zealand recently being named as the most wasteful country in the world (per capita), it would appear that there is cause for concern. Ms Lorson, who is also the founder of Zero Waste in NZ!, a facebook group with 20,000+ members, says that there is a growing number of people who are concerned about environmental issues and who would like to see New Zealand living up to our "clean & green" image. "We want to encourage people to take a serious look at the impact that their lifestyle choices are having on the environment and to make positive changes in order to live more in harmony with that environment."

Ms Lorson's business, EarthSavvy, sells a range of reusable zero waste products which help people to reduce household waste. "At EarthSavvy, our focus is providing resources to help people be conscious consumers. Not just buying for the sake of satisfying short-term wants, but purchasing something functional that is going to help you lessen your impact on the planet. So, although we go to a lot of effort to be a sustainable business and provide tools that help people reduce their waste, we will be closing our doors this Friday to show our support for Buy Nothing Day. We want to throw a spotlight on the problem that is our global over-consumption and encourage people to step away from the credit card. And not just for a day." As Adbusters points out, "Buy Nothing Day isn't just about changing your habits for one day" but "about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste."

ENDS

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