Shop for Jesus

Argh. Sales. They have made the streets of London even more desperately crowded this month. Sitting on the bus on Oxford Street watching the masses sway and shove from shop to shop has burdened my little heart. "I shop therefore I am" seems to be a pretty common paradigm for people, which poses concerns on loads of levels- spiritually/well being of individual, society/ impact on global poverty/ impact on environment.

BUT, I am not ranting today, I am just going to point out a few little cool sites to do with consumerism, here they are- the cream of todays crop!

The Compact are a bunch of friends who decided to get out of the consumerism grid for a year, buying pretty much nothing for 12 months.

Buylesscrap- Is bit of a mockery of Bono’s RED concept (but also gives you the opportunity to donate directly to the RED charities.) I love Bono, he is radical, but I have always felt pretty dubious about the whole RED thing (you know buy a RED tee shirt from Gap and a few cents goes to charity) You simply can not shop your way to a better world!

Green my Apple is an exciting wee venture from Greenpeace- if you like Apple visit that site and get them doing the right thing.

Here are two truths:

We can impact big business through our ethical choices: that vote in your wallet matters!

To consume ethically we must consume less. It doesn't get much more simple than that!