Conscious Consuming brings big ideas to small groups on a monthly basis. To post an event, click here.”
UPCOMING EVENTS :
Annual Events:
Take Back Your Time Day
Last Week of October
Take Back Your Time Day is held during the last week in October to signify the nine weeks extra that Americans work until the end of the calendar year compared with their Western European counterparts. Educating the public about the costs of overwork and time poverty allows us to press for the national "Time to Care" agenda, which would guarantee paid child care leave, one week of paid sick leave, and guaranteed paid vacation leave, among other things.
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Gift It Up!
December and Holiday Season
Gift It Up! is held each December in Boston and on-line during the holiday season. This Alternative Gift Fair affords holiday shoppers the opportunity to make donations to a range of non-profits in the name of a family member or friend. Shoppers receive a certificate that they present to their loved one outlining the type of items purchased in their name. Alternative gift fairs like Gift It Up! reduce consumption of material goods for those who already have enough, and allow people to give gifts that really make a difference to those in need. . You can buy alternative gifts securely on line via the Gift it Up! website or other alternative gift sites.
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TV Turnoff Week
Last week of April
In April we celebrate TV Turnoff Week by sponsoring an event at a local café with music and an "open mic" feature. We educate the public about how television has become a vehicle for selling a commercial, consumer culture, and how outcomes for children who watch excessive television are grim:
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Wake Up the Earth
May
Wake Up the Earth is one of several community-building festivals with an environmental focus in the Boston metro area, and it's one of our favorites. The Wake Up the Earth Festival began as, and still is, a celebration of what can be accomplished when people of all traditions, cultures, ages, and beliefs come together. A great many individuals, local artists, community groups, and schools join forces every year to make a unique community collaboration. Recent festivals have included an enchanted puppet forest, side shows, live bands, dancers, acoustic performers and a giant pageant. The Wake Up The Earth Festival takes place at the Southwest Corridor Park, adjacent to the Stony Brook T stop in Jamaica Plain.
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Downshifting Week
US Downshifting Week JULY 7-13th
International Downshifting Week April 19-25th
U.S. National Downshifting Week builds on the work of Tracey Smith, the founder of National Downshifting Week in the UK (renamed International Downshifting Week in 2008). U.S. National Downshifting week is scheduled for July 7-13th, and is designed to help participants "Slow Down and Green Up." The dates for National Downshifting Week were chosen to coincide with the birthday of America's most famous downshifter, Henry David Thoreau (born July 12, 1817). "Modern downshifters don't have to move into a cabin in the woods to simplify their lives. Happiness depends on knowing when you have enough, and finding ways to do the things you love to do without spending a ton of money," says Susan Donohoe, co-founder of Conscious Consuming. "Downshifters can live deliberately, leave a lighter
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OTHER EVENTS:
We also host occasional potlucks with speakers or film screenings on relevant topics. If you don't see an event that you think Conscious Consuming should be doing or involved with, suggest it; or better yet help organize it!
Question about an event? Email us!