Be careful what you blog.
In May I did a post about being able to buy the gift of ‘nothing’. What did I get for Christmas?
You guesed it – nothing! (Thanks Sis!)
I do like the packaging, though:
Nothing – for the person who has everything.
Instructions: step 1 – carefully open the pack / step 2 – experience nothing
Warranty: This product is guaranteed to do absolutely nothing. If something happens, return for a full refund.
Warning: If any of this is swallowed, please consult a psychiatrist immediately.
Back in the dim and distant past (December 2009) we began to experiment with life without a TV and gave my reasons why. The experiment is now officially over and it’s not good news for the television.
I haven’t missed it. Hardly at all, we’ve watched some films on computers and a couple of progammes online, but most of the time just not thought about it (not even enough to blog about it). 
Emma, has missed it a little bit more, but not enough to seriously consider reversing the decision.
So I shall soon be cancelling my licence to the BBC and saving a hundred plus pounds of hard earned money. The TV will be given away (seeing as it was a free gift to us) along with assorted other TV related gadgets.
I’ve enjoyed having one less distraction and I feel a bit more focussed as a result. I think I suffer from what John Naish calls ‘infobesity’, too much information. I’m wondering about restrictions on computer use and mobile phone (that one just involves switching it off a bit more) but I think I’ll find the computer a harder challenge.
Why do it? To spend my time and energy on the things that matter most, to detox my head and heart of things, noise, distractions and temptations that if I thought about it I don’t really want. To be more present to the people I’m around, to be more devoted to family, less distracted and hopefully more fruitful.
I’m a big fan of technology, I read about it, fascinated by it and use it daily, but as with most things things designed to be servants make poor masters and we must always be aware of what has mastery over us.
Book out your diary. Cancel the cosmetic surgery. Reschedule any childbirth commitments.
The Breathe Conference in London (with Elaine Storkey) will take place on Saturday 15th May at St Paul’s Church, Hammersmith. Not only that, but we will also be holding an event at St George’s Church, Leeds on Saturday 5th June.
More regional dates are in the process of quite literally trickling in! Watch this space…
Last month Third Way magazine published an interview with Franny Armstrong to coincide with the BBC screening of her film The Age of Stupid (which has rightly caused a flurry on this blog). The film makes a very strong statement; I found it helped a lot to read the interview alongside it.
One of the most striking things to discover from this media attention is that Franny Armstrong isn’t miserable. Her interviewer commented:
“You come across as very cheerful and very positive… and yet you’ve got the gloomiest message in history.”
Armstrong went on to comment that all her ‘climate-change friends’ are cheerful too. She puts this down to a sort of consolation of honesty – better to look at the full face of the truth than to hide in a corner with a “huge monster over your shoulder”.
You can see the sense in it. It reminded me of some reading I did years ago about the experience of people who are dying. Silence and evasion are the perfect prescription if you want to depress the terminally ill. Carers and families can form an unspoken pact that they won’t mention the ‘D’ word, and patients who never speak their fears go through a suffering beyond the influence of morphine. Conversely, people who address the issue sometimes find that suddenly they feel unburdened.
I know a new year becomes a peg for all sorts of things, but this is a significant decade. If we haven’t made a difference to the climate by the end of it then we’ve missed our best – probably our only – chance. But now could also be a good time to face the mess we’re in as fully as possible, because, oddly, it might actually make us feel better.
By the way – contemplating our ruin, searching for the truth, honesty the only chance for salvation – what does all this remind me of?
Ten things Breathe is not…
…anti-capitalist (but we want to change the shape of consumer culture)
…anti-shopping (but we want to buy carefully and with a conscience)
…anti-business (but we believe the economy can work better for people and planet)
…escape to the country (we want to transform the communities where we live)
…glorifying the past (we just think technology is better our servant than our master)
…the ‘good’ life (only one person is truly good, and that’s God – we can’t clean up our act without him)
…a ‘nice’ life (this is going to be costly)
…a joyless life (it will also be fun)
…one size fits all (you don’t have to live in my commune; I don’t have to share your quiche)
…finished (join us…)
Register your concerns before Friday (see earlier post). For what it’s worth, here are mine…
Dear Mr Gandy,
I write to express strong opposition to your department’s intention to relax the legislation on product placement.
Something has changed. What was once unacceptable in the UK is about to become acceptable. Unless we can change the government’s view, the adverts are about to creep into the programmes themselves. And why the change? Have children suddenly become more resilient to constant advertising? Has turbo-consumerism receded? No. The change is due to recession. Money is tight, so consumerism will be allowed yet another stealthy advance.
Until this Friday, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is consulting on plans to fulfil its aim (‘to improve quality of life for all’) by relaxing the rules on product placement. If, like me, you have doubts about this. Please register them at ppconsultation@culture.gsi.gov.uk (you can view the full consultation doc here).
As The Guardian pointed out today, the BMA is against the plan, as is the National Union of Teachers, Which?, the British Heart Foundation and the Children’s Food Campaign. None of these bodies are convinced that the safeguards being proposed are adequate. All of them are concerned about the impact on children and young people would be significant (Ofcom figures show that children mostly view ‘adult’ programmes such as soaps and X-Factor, so excluding ‘children’s programming’ from the legislation would make no difference).
The BMA’s response is telling:
The BMA is deeply concerned about the decision to allow any form of product placement in relation to alcohol, gambling, and foods high in fat, sugar or salt as this will reduce the protection of young people from harmful marketing influences and adversely impact on public health. By its nature product placement allows marketing to be integrated into programmes, blurring the distinction between advertising and editorial, and is not always recognisable. Studies show that children are particualrly susceptible to embeded brand messages and these operate at a subconscious level.
They’re absolutely right. Send and email to the DCMS, sign the Downing Street petition. Let’s safeguard the airwaves, call a halt to consumer creep, and keep Coke off the X Factor!
Recommending the Age of Stupid on the Breathe monthly email has already rippled out in fruitful ways.
More than one person has been in touch to say they watched the film and found it extremely challenging. One friend Jon watched it and then came back to me with an article from Third Way magazine. In it, one climate expert recommended the following:
cut out foreign flights, drive less, walk and ride more, change your lightbulbs (easy peasy), go vegetarian 6 days in 7 (hard!!), turn down your thermostat and insulate your house.
Now here’s how the power to change takes effect. There’s Jon and me sat in his front room discussing how we can change our lives – discussing the difficulties; daring each other to do more, to be braver. This is how we’ll do it – by conversation, by filling the networks we already have with the questions and challenges that provoke grace-filled change. A conspiracy of freedom (now there’s a name to conjure with…).
So who are you talking to about this, and what changes are happening as a result?
I was really struck by The Age of Stupid movie on BBC4 last week (currently available in the UK on iPlayer). The Times, The Telegraph and Time Out all gave it four stars, deservedly so. It’s very provocative and obviously a dramtic scenario, but it looks at the issues of hyper-consumption and climate change in a powerful and helpful way. (The popular science documentary The Climate Wars episode two is also worth watching, for some of the arguments about global warming).
Watching these terrifying prognoses of earth’s future has left me with a question: would God allow climate change?
Anti-consumerism group Advent Conspiracy have been featured in Time Magazine. This is a good thing.
“But to a growing group of Christians, the focus on the commercial aspect of Christmas is the greatest threat to one of Christianity’s holiest days. “It’s the shopping, the going into debt, the worrying that ‘If I don’t spend enough money, someone will think I don’t love them,’ ” says Portland, Ore., pastor Rick McKinley. “Christians get all bent out of shape over the fact that someone didn’t say ‘Merry Christmas’ when I walked into the store. But why are we expecting the store to tell our story? That’s just ridiculous.”"
