“Last year, shoppers spent $7.9 billion on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. An additional $6.59 billion was dropped on Cyber Monday. This year, Black Friday sales alone are expected to jump to $9.1 billion.”
Can you guess where most of that stuff came from and how it got here? Nearly everything sold on Black Friday comes from Asia, on huge, fuel-guzzling container ships. The fuel they use: marine bunker fuel which is somewhere between diesel and tar. If we want to be a part of the effort to stop drastic climate change, we have to stop consuming so much unneeded and frivolous stuff. It is as simple as supply and demand. If we stop demanding more and more crap from Asia and elsewhere then we can slow the transportation monster that pollutes the entire globe. Instead of shopping on Black Friday, we can do something healthy and enjoyable outdoors.
Is this really who we want to be?
What is important here, is knowing that we can make a difference and it is not really all that complicated. We need to stop demanding endless crap. If you ever feel despair about the crashing climate, remember, it is due to our devouring of the planet’s resources. The solution rests, to a large degree, on stopping our relentless demand for more. We have a choice. We can make a difference.
Having said that, I know that I have no control over what you do. I can only control what I do, so I am going to take a peaceful outing via ferry to Whidbey Island instead of shopping on Black Friday.
Further Resources
Stores that will close on Thanksgiving Day so that their employees can be with family
Boycott Black Friday on Facebook
The Human Cost of Black Friday
Actually Jane it’s worse than it appears, these ships don’t run on diesel. They use marine bunker fuel which is somewhere between diesel and tar, this is the stuff that forms the big tarry lumps and the oleaginous slicks that coat seabirds etch. whenever there’s an oil spill. Diesel would be much less of a problem.
Wow, thanks for the correction. I will edit the post now with your information.