From Consumers to Communards
Surely the most striking thing about the promise of the direct economy and P2P production for a generation that has been separated from production by crisis and precariousness is the end of the figure of the consumer.
Consumerism
Fierce Assaults on the “Attentional Commons”
Sellers are using every possible technique to colonize our minds and emotions at the most elemental levels in a relentless attempt to prod us to buy, buy, buy.
Sustainability for Whom?
Is eco-business leading us to ecological sustainability?
Waiting for the Sunrise
By the time many of my readers get to this week’s essay here on The Archdruid Report, it will be Christmas Day. Here in America, that means that we’re finally most of the way through one of the year’s gaudiest orgies of pure vulgar greed, the holiday shopping season, which strikes me as rather an odd way to celebrate the birth of someone whose teachings so resolutely critiqued the mindless pursuit of material goodies.
My year without Amazon
Exactly a year ago today I wrote a piece on this blog called The day I closed my Amazon account. It set out why, and how, I had decided that Amazon was so at odds with my values that I was withdrawing my support for good
Unveiling the 2014 Transition Christmas TV Advert
I have sometimes been asked "if you had a prime time TV advertising slot to promote Transition, what would you put on it?"
Geegaw Nation
Maybe the true act of love for our planet, our home, is to repaint, tidy the garden, repair the torn pants, patch the jacket, sweep the sidewalk, bake some bread and give it to the neighbors. Maybe less can still be more. Maybe less is still abundance.
A brief history of contemporary “consumerism” and anti-consumerism
History books usually study social movements of the second half of the nineteenth century from the point of view of the split between anarchists and Marxists.
Questions We Should Have Asked about Technology
It is surely time to start exploring and outlining the ingredients of something new and relevant that starts with and is bound by respect for nature, its limits, and its wildlife, as well as people.
More Fun, Less Stuff
Sarah tells us about life beyond consumerism, translating online community into on-the-ground action, and more…
The Transition Movement: Questions of Diversity, Power, and Affluence – Part 2
This raises the question: To what extent can the Transition movement avoid the pain, hardship, and conflict historically associated with significant social movements…?
The Birth of a Freestore
We discussed the idea of a FreeStore several times…Could we provide lived, joyful experiences of alternatives for those not involved in the work of Transition?