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Session 2: The Christmas Effect
In Session 2, we had presentations from Matt Grady, Coordinator for the ALTERnativity charity, and Raymond Bryant, a Reader in Geography at King’s College London. Matt explained the work of ALTERnativity to the group, and how Christmas can be a soft entry into wider life issues, from reflection on personal practices to matters of global injustice. The point is not to condemn consumption, but rather to respond to people who have said they aren’t happy with the way Christmas is celebrated and offer them alternatives. (See the links page of this website to find out more about ALTERnativity.) Following this, we discussed the importance of thinking about what we do and why we do it, and not just doing things because we have always done them that way at Christmastime. Is it possible to think about things differently, but also avoid taking a puritan, anti-Christmas approach? Working in communities (religious or non-religious) could help to sustain change.
From the perspective of the planet, it could be said that Christmas is an annual disaster, as Raymond Bryant pointed out. Yet capitalist society is addicted to Christmas. A department store could be called a landfill waiting to happen! He raised the important question: what is alternative consumption? There will be good and bad alternatives, so they should be examined carefully. Not every alternative is necessarily good.
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, Dec 10 2008, 11:25 AM EST
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