Buy Nothing, an experiment in anti-consumerism

Its only been 6 days since our ‘buy nothing’ experiment began, and I’ve already had to make a tough decision. Last month I promised my sister I’d see The Golden Compass with her, and unfortunately we didn’t see it in December. That meant that I’d either have to break my rules or break my promise. After debating the idea with my parents, I eventually decided to go to the movie.

Although I didn’t technically spend money (my parents bought the tickets), I still feel like I compromised my values. Part of the idea of the experiment is that if we do spend money, it should be to support things we like, and the Century Cedar Hills Crossing movie theater is definitely *not* something I want to support. The theater is part of Cinemark, which is a chain of 404 theaters in the US and Latin America (not quite ‘local economy’, if you know what I mean). On top of that, the place is part of the sprawling Cedar Hills Mall which completely auto-oriented and has lousy bike parking (I had to leave my racing bike attached to a cheap bike rack in the rain for 2 hours).

I actually think the most ethical thing to do would have been to just sneak in.

As for the film – it was pretty good, but I’d suggest waiting until the trilogy is out on DVD (the end of the film was basically a ‘to be continued’). Also, if you really need to spend a couple hours watching a screen, I think you can do better for the planet by seeing something like DiCaprio’s inspiring film about climate change, The 11th Hour.

I’m glad I was able to keep my promise to my sister, but if I do need to go to another movie this year, I think I’ll see an independent film at an independent theater.

– Peter