When the holiday shopping season commenced Friday, about 15 Terra Firma members gathered to greet it at The Gateway complex.
Decked out in masks, carrying signs, shopping bags and singing altered carols, the student group celebrated Buy Nothing Day and strove to make shoppers aware of the environmental costs of consumerism.
“Advertising and marketing play such a role in what people feel like they need and what they want,” said Kevin Emerson, Terra Firma co-director. “Buy Nothing Day is a day to consider, ‘What do I really want?’ And especially, ‘What do I really need? What are the possible environmental impacts?'”
People in the United States make up only a small fraction of the world’s population, but they use a much larger share of its natural resources, according to Patrick Adamson, a U student who participated in the demonstration.
“If the entire world did that, we’d need many more worlds,” he said.
The holiday season needs its focus shifted, according to Adamson.
“I think it’s not enough about love. It’s more about just gifts,” he said. “I make Christmas presents instead of buying them.”
However, making picture frames and blankets ends up being just about as expensive.
“But there’s definitely a lot more sentiment involved,” he said.
After being asked to leave Gateway, demonstrators hopped light rail to Crossroads mall and the ZCMI Center where they continued their demonstration, singing altered Christmas carols.
“To some folks, Christmas means a time for gathering with friends, and enemies might take it as a time to make amends, but TV says its time for pricey gifts and selfish ends,” read lyrics set to the tune of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”
Both Emerson and Adamson said the response they received from passers-by varied from supportive to hostile.