Guilt-free shopping at last?

The poem below was written by Danny Chivers (see video of poem at his 'MySpace' here and his blog here) - the poem also appears in a book of poetry celebrating the 10th anniversary of Corporate Watch.

The poem has been circulated on some Green party email lists and Danny Chivers has kindly given me permission to reproduce it here. The photo I took recently of a Shopping Mall sign seemed to fit with this poem! It is quite extraodinary and an indication of how far we still need to travel - indeed as Danny in the poem says, we need to tackle head-on our rush to Consumaggedon. He suggests this link here for info about green consumerism.

"Don't Buy It"

I’ve always been seen
As a little bit green
In my cosy, middle-class social scene
Ever since I made that lentil stew
For Abigail’s birthday do
Wore Birkenstocks to Brina’s wedding
And got those rainforest patterns for the children’s bedding.
My friends all think it’s nonsense
But I’m proud to be their conscience;
Their commitment may be scanty
But my bottles of Chianti
Ride the back seat of the Mazda to the bottle bank at Asda.
And the second home in Rome has such amazing double glazing!

But that young fellow on Newsnight
Keeps talking ‘bout the planet’s plight
And I get a niggling feeling I’m not doing this quite right,
Driving to the protests in the seven seater,
Discussing climate change under the patio heater.
I turn on Radio 4
It’s ‘You and Yours’
(which I adore)
But they’re discussing what’s in store
For the planet, with Jude Law
Whose made a film about a war.
And then they interview Al Gore
And I realise in an instant that I should be doing more.

Thank goodness ‘In Style’ magazine
Has a special pull-out section: 20 tips on going green.
And it turns out the solution
To global destitution,
Exponential air pollution,
Endless wars of retribution,
Isn’t global revolution,
Power devolution,
Wealth redistribution,
Or the long-overdue reform of some of our fundamentally compromised international institutions:
Don’t listen to ‘experts’ who dare to proclaim
That our crazy mass consumption levels might just be to blame;
For everything you need to know
About economic policy just ask Bono.
He knows the way out of this fix:
SHOPPING; It’s the new politics!

To halt our mad rush to consume our blissful way to eco-doom,
To build a world not based on greed for things that we don’t really need.
The answer is – you’ll never guess -
We’ll shop our way out of this mess!

Anyone who’s got the gumption
Can do “ethical consumption”
And thus turn the global tables
Buying things with pretty labels.

So now all my silk pyjamas
Come with shots of smiling farmers.
Our sound system’s been upgraded
But the box was fairly traded.
As I sit beside the hot tub to remove my sandals
I breathe the guilt-relieving perfume of organic scented candles
They grew these pears with love and care, 5000 miles away
And I got these natural shampoos on the flight back from Bombay

The local shops are closing down
But there’s no need to panic:
That big new Sainsbury’s, out of town,
Does everything organic.

I’ve even managed to persuade my crazy uncle Rhys, he’s
Using eco-friendly bullets now to hunt endangered species.

As for the global warming warnings,
Here’s what I can do:
Plant a few plantations
For the carbon sequestration
(Based on flimsy calculations)
Strip the native vegetation,
Shift the local population
To some piece of desolation barely fit for habitation
And with misery and poverty: ‘offset’ my CO2.

Now, please don’t think this poem’s unfair,
I’m not saying it’s wrong to care,
To think about the things you buy,
To ask who made them, how and why:
But if you’re promised cheap salvation,
Easy wealth for every nation,
An end to global poverty!
Avert climate catastrophe!
It’s easy – it will be enough
To simply buy more of our stuff.
Don’t buy it – try to understand,
We need to change far more than just our washing powder brand.
The answers to our global woes
Won’t be found with shiny logos on a special aisle at Tesco’s.
We need to tackle head-on
Our rush to Consumaggedon.
Leave the shopping in your trolley
And resist this global folly.
We’ll fight back! – we’ll all play a part,
There’s much to do, but here’s a start:

To keep humanity on the map
Please, just stop buying
So much crap