Posts Tagged ‘Consumerism’

Last year, Americans spent over $10 billion on Halloween

Monday, October 31st, 2022

Halloween may have a long and complex history, but today it’s more a creature of the marketplace than anything else. Last year, Americans spent over $10 billion on Halloween — over $3 billion on candy alone. Dentists must love Halloween. Here’s an interesting feature of Halloween: we may get dressed up scary — but we Read more

Here’s real climate action: Cancel Christmas and…

Monday, September 30th, 2019
climate change

Columnist Duncan Garner is suggesting that one way of contributing to slowing climate change is to give up celebrating Christmas. “Christmas is killing us. Mad consumerism, rubbish by the planet load and dirty air travel that dumps pollution on us like no other industry. So no presents. No holidays. Just stay home and plan the future.” Read more

The Rich List is ‘unhealthy, disturbing’

Monday, July 24th, 2017

University of Auckland senior lecturer in sociology Ronald Kramer says the list was unhealthy. He said it encouraged people to value wealthy people and wealth – at the expense of social considerations. “It’s ideological. It comes out in publications owned by wealthy people produced for mass consumption but targeted at other relatively wealthy consumers.” Continue Read more

It’s time for the Great Wardrobe Clean Out

Thursday, March 30th, 2017

The Tearfund has issued a lenten challenge –The Great Wardrobe Clean Out. Set a time to look in your wardrobe Repurpose, reuse recycle Stop it building up again The challenge is part of the Tearfund’s Lenten campaign. People who signed up, received a daily email suggesting people to rethink ethical consumption Read more

Rising sea levels — only 160,000 people so who gives a damn?

Friday, March 11th, 2016

The Pacific Island nations often cited as the most likely to disappear because of rising sea levels include Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu. Kiribati has a population of just over 100,000. The Marshall Islands about 52,000. And Tuvalu close to 10,000. The problem for small Pacific Island nations is that on a world scale Read more

59 % say Kiwi Christmas too commercial

Friday, December 18th, 2015

According to Colmar Brunton’s annual Christmas survey, 59 out of 100 New Zealanders think the Kiwi Christmas is too commercial Colmar Brunton CEO Jacqueline Farman believes the findings are the result of consumers feeling bombarded with straight sales-driven messages that fail to capture the “true” spirit of festivities. Continue reading

Family time under threat in the Shop Trading Hours Bill

Friday, November 6th, 2015

New Zealand’s Catholic Bishops are disappointed that workers’ family time is under threat in the Shop Trading Hours Amendment Bill. MPs have voted 75 to 45 in favour of the bill, moving it to the Commerce Committee for consideration. “We are disappointed that the vote in favour of sending the Shop Trading Hours Amendment Bill Read more

Easter trading takes away choice from working families

Friday, August 28th, 2015

“We know from long experience how precious our few remaining shop-free days are for families and communities,” says Caritas Director Julianne Hickey. She was responding to the announcement by the Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Woodhouse that The Government will change “arbitrary” national Easter Sunday trading restrictions and put the onus on local councils Read more

Cardinal warns against reading encyclical in puritanical way

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015

English Cardinal Vincent Nichols has said that people should not regard the Pope’s encyclical “Laudato Si’” as puritanical in its message. At a press conference following the release of Laudato Si’, the cardinal was asked about the encyclical’s appeal for “sobriety and self-denial”. Cardinal Nichols said that people needed to go beyond reading the encyclical Read more

Consumerism in religious orders key to decline in England

Tuesday, March 10th, 2015

A drift into consumerism and a preoccupation with money and finance are key reasons for the stagnation of religious orders in England, says an historian. Dom Aidan Bellenger, former Abbot of Downside Abbey and a leading historian of the monastic life, made this assertion in an article in The Tablet. He suggested that communities had Read more