Giving out of abundance
Although holiday shopping is near pre-pandemic highs 鈥� despite
inflation, shipping delays, and shortages 鈥� another type of giving has聽begun to take off this season.
It鈥檚 the Buy Nothing Project. Founded in 2013, the movement has grown
to 4.3 million members in 44 countries. It welcomes participants to
abide by very simple rules: no buying, selling, trading, or bartering
of gifts. Instead, it encourages people to give away items to others,
most often strangers, in a local area.
Two friends near Seattle, Liesl Clark and Rebecca Rockefeller, hatched
the idea to 鈥渂uild community by connecting people through hyperlocal
gifting and reducing our impact on the environment.鈥� They were struck
by how disconnected their own community had become and the plastic
strewn in the waters near their Pacific Northwest homes in Puget
Sound.
People join Buy Nothing for various reasons. Those in need seek
respectful, nonjudgmental assistance. Others give to spare the planet
from new, resource-depleting consumption. Many have been up to their
eyeballs in pandemic decluttering. Most see how they can save money
and live better.
But whatever an individual鈥檚 motive, participants end up weaving new
relationships into an expanding and giving community. 鈥淧eople are
buying nothing in hordes,鈥� Ms. Clark recently told NPR鈥檚 Marketplace.
Despite its simple and direct moniker, Buy Nothing remains moderate
and flexible about people鈥檚 ethical choices. Participants still both
patronize local stores and shop online. Many also host garage sales or
donate to Goodwill or other charities.
鈥淵ou could say this is consumption with a conscience, with
sustainability in mind, but it is absolutely consumption. We鈥檙e just
sharing resources,鈥� Ms. Clark explains in Fortune magazine. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not
a movement of austerity.鈥�
This approach to 鈥渟haring resources鈥� is perhaps what attracts people
who are uneasy with overconsumption and waste. The movement has also
grown as the isolation and tight budgets of the pandemic have forced
many to rethink their habits of consumption.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a growing dis-ease with consumer culture and the way it
operates,鈥� Boston College economist Juliet Schor tells Fortune. 鈥淭he
wastefulness, the cycle of acquisition and discard, is increasingly
unappealing to people.鈥�
Co-founder Ms. Rockefeller suggests many people buy new items out of a
belief in scarcity and a Darwinian contest for survival.
鈥淭hat is not the reality of the world,鈥� she says in an interview with
Yes Magazine. 鈥淲e believe our innate human nature is one of compassion
and generosity that understands that we survive only together. That鈥檚
the only way we鈥檙e ever going to be able to make it and live
sustainably on this planet.鈥�
Talk with a Buy Nothing participant and you鈥檙e likely to hear one of
the movement鈥檚 mantras: Giving out of abundance. And this holiday
season, that may be the most novel of gifts.
