Why We’re Not Celebrating Black Friday
In America, we live in a world of abundance. Even for those of us who have much less than others, we still have so much to be grateful for—and so much that we also often take for granted. The best example of this scenario is happening later this week: Black Friday, the day when we toss aside what we’re thankful for so we can rudely elbow past our fellow humans for the best holiday deals.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to buy gifts for your friends and family to show them how much you care. Giving is an important part of being human, and bargain prices can help us stay on budget. But our consumptive habits have become so taxing on our planet, our resources and our human decency, that here at The Organic Whey, we are choosing not to participate this year. You will not see a blow-out sale on our whey or new greens products.
Black Friday weekend will rack in more than $60 billion in the U.S. this year. And while that may be good for the economy, it’s not doing the planet too many favors. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, the U.S. will generate 25 percent more waste than usual. This includes 125,000 tons of plastic packaging, 74 million holiday cards and 8,000 tons of wrapping paper. “The wrapping paper alone is the equivalent of approximately 50,000 trees, an indication that holiday waste is nothing to scoff at,” reports the Huffington Post.
The Organic Whey is committed to making the world a better place not just through our business practices and our commitments to environmental responsibility, but also through providing our customers with healthy foods that makes us all better people. We cherish the precious future and the resources we’re borrowing from our grandchildren. We value the water, power, fossil fuels, fibers, plants, animals and human resources that go into all of the products we sell and buy.
So on this day, when the country is busy shopping until it drops, we ask you not to. We ask you to think of just how much goes into each and every product you purchase today and every other day. Are there gifts you can give that don’t require as large a footprint? Can you opt for fewer gifts that are gentler on the planet and our finite resources? Can you evaluate each gift critically before making a purchase? Is it something that will be used and cherished for years to come or will it likely meet its fate in a landfill before this time next year? What we purchase matters. Won’t you join us in making healthy decisions this year for ourselves and for our planet?
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