Holiday Greetings

Send Midnight Monkey Monitor Holiday E-Cards to your friends and family

Dear Monkey Readers,

Here's wishing everybody a happy yuletide season and a great 2009 ahead. What a year 2008 has been. Do read on if you're interested in my little holiday update for all of you.

Thank you for supporting the leafmonkey's inconsistent rambling over the year(s). Many apologies for not working hard at creating regular content on this blog. If you're wondering what I've been up to, I've been somewhat regularly updating my research blog. So for now, I'm contemplating my career upon graduation, publication and writing my thesis, in that (somewhat warped) order of priority. Nonetheless, I've been collecting an arsenal of things to share on this blog, just waiting for a moment of inspiration to unleash it!

Of course, as usual, to save unnecessary paper use, I've designed my own christmas ecards to share the holiday season with friends and family. Feel free to use them to send to your own friends and family. Last year's series is also available for use and is tied in with Buy Nothing Christmas.

2008 has been a very eventful year but yet time flies and already it's December and soon, 2009. I do hope that the coming year will be one that is fruitful, peaceful and with more positive action around the world and in our own backyard. In 2009, I will be finishing my last semester in my Masters at NUS. Time has slipped out of my hands before I know it, it's time to graduate! Guess it's my new year resolution to work harder in 2009 to be the change I want to see in the world. I will work harder with my research, with the leafmonkey workshop and of course in my own daily green actions.

Thank you all who have taught me, shared their wisdom with me, helped me, worked with me, collaborated on projects, learned with me, laughed with me and just given me friendship and support in 2008. Here's wishing 2009 to be a great year ahead for all of us, for the environment, for the other 99% of the planet and for the world. Thank you again. What would I do without all of you? :)

Lots of love, laughter, hugs and kisses; always,
Monkey

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Monkey's Yuletide Greetings

Dear Friends and Readers,

For Christmas this year, in support of Buy Nothing Christmas, I've designed a series of cards to send to each of my friends and of course, all of you.

Buy Nothing Xmas is really about remembering the true meaning of giving, sharing and spending time with friends family and loved ones. Instead of buying and lavishing meaningless gifts at the prompting of advertisements and retailers, how about just spending some quality time with your friends?

I will be out of the country from 17 Dec - 6 Jan so here's wishing all of you a very blessed yuletide season in advance. Happy Yuletide!

Much love,
November aka Monkey

Feel free to download and use the christmas cards for your own friends. There are 4 other designs for you to choose from.

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Daily Green Actions: Buy Nothing Day

• it is really a challenge finding alternative things to do away from television, computer and mobile phone. I actually suffer from withdrawal about 16 hours ago
• Today's lights out was spent bathing and cooking dinner in candlelight; dinner on the bench outside my house and strolling in full moonlight about 16 hours ago
• going offline for lights out today. 1st time in a week that Im finally going to totally not use any electricity! Bathing in the dark is fun! about 18 hours ago
• Thanks to the carnival, I felt so reconnected and decided to take a detour along the river (canalized of cos) on the way home. rejuvenated! about 21 hours ago
• The Lapiz Lazuli Light Carnival was inspirational. I bought portable reusable chopsticks. It's buy nothing day but I dun feel guilty! about 21 hours ago
• Happy Buy Nothing Day. Have you succumbed to black friday yet? I hope not. 09:41 AM November 24, 2007

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USA Black Friday

Buy Nothing Day is precisely a response to Black Friday.

Black Friday is so called not because of dooms and glooms but because in the US, every retail business would be in the "blacks", making a profit. It is the only day in the whole year where every business is guaranteed to make money.

Why? Just watch the video above and you can guess why. And it is precisely Black Friday that Buy Nothing Day came into existence. To curb this kind of extreme consumerism in ONE DAY. I guess it's like After Christmas Sales for us or perhaps the Great Singapore Sale. One month of consumerism madness. Perhaps there should be a local Buy Nothing Day targeted at our consumer quirks.

Today I will be spending Buy Nothing Day at Fort Caning. Lapiz Lazuli Light is having a Holistic Health Green Carnival called "an ant's endeavor to move a tree". Although it's not a problem for me to resist buying really cool things, I suspect I will be spending most of my time trying to persuade my friend not to succumb to the allure. Unfortunately as she reminded me, we're supposed to be there to support the cause. We'll see. Anywho, we have made a home-made lunch to picnic at the park later. That should be fun :) We've made sure we didn't use any luxurious ingredients. Having an Indonesian food theme picnic later!

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Buy Nothing Day

Tomorrow is Buy Nothing Day in Singapore. A project that started in Canada as an informal day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. It is usually held a day after Thanksgiving on 23 Nov - a mega shopping date for consumers in North America. A day of cheap sales and buying things you never need.

Sounds familiar?

Internationally, Buy Nothing Day is observed on 24 Nov 2007. Although there are no flash mobs or conspicuous protests organized in Singapore, everybody can participate by not participating.

Resist the taunt and temptation of consumerism on buy nothing day this saturday, 24 Nov 2007! Buy nothing more than bare necessities. Reflect on your shopping habits. Think!

Since Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Singapore, a season for shopping we could relate to more would be the upcoming Christmas holiday. A season of buying and buying. Thus you would be happy to know that in addition to Buy Nothing Day, there is Buy Nothing Christmas!



To be honest, I am, like you, deeply entrenched in our urbanite consumerist lifestyle. I am deeply dependent on buying buying and more buying. We use and we waste without a blink of an eye. Most of us don't know or don't care how our daily essentials are produced. We like our comforts and our conveniences. We buy exorbitantly priced consumer items because the magazine says its now a trendy status symbol and fashionable statement. We buy cute adorable ornaments that serves no purpose. We succumb to advertising. We buy things that we don't need.

Yes I am guilty of all of the above.

My Daily Green Actions project has honestly been very tiring for me because I now have to make myself to face all my every little action. I am making myself more responsible for my own actions. To stop, think and reflect.

But like how alcoholism is treated, combatting consumerism begins with a single step. Acknowledging the problem and taking responsibilities for our own actions!

My name is monkey. I am a wasteful consumer, disconnected from production and enjoy urban conveniences without considering consequences.

Join me in taking this first step! You will not be alone. More than 170 people have pledged their support for Buy Nothing Day in Singapore on facebook alone.

Related News:
End of the High Street hunter-gatherer?, BBC News, 23 Nov 2007

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