The Last Post

Raj — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:35:41 -0700

Stuffed and Starved has been running for, lord, three years - thank you all for making it such fun to do. But what with the new book, and what with my wanting to write about things that aren't exclusively linked to food, it's time to migrate everything over to RajPatel.org. And, alas, if you're receiving these posts via email, I lied: you're going to have to click on this link to sign up again after all - many apologies. ... read more »

Buy Nothing Day

Raj — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:56:17 -0700

The Friday after Thanksgiving is traditionally the day when US consumers rush to the shops, and spend until their eyes bleed. But tomorrow doesn't inevitably have to involve running around with a credit card and bags of crap we don't need.

One man who takes shopping's stigmata very seriously is the Reverend Billy, preacher at the Church of Stop Shopping.

With an ear for scripture (the movie's called What Would Jesus Buy) and an eye for viral marketing (the church is inspired by the "groundbreaking empire building of Staten Island's notorious Wu Tang Clan") the good Reverend is taking the message of salvation-without-shopping to the people.

And it turns out that it's entirely possible to be happy without oodles of new consumer debt and spangly new toys. Who knew?

So, celebrate Buy Nothing Day in spiritual style either tomorrow in the United States, or Saturday Nov 28, by not shopping and discovering life without consumerism.

And, if you must buy something, my British publishers tell me, wait until next week, and then buy Nothing. ... read more »

The Value of Nothing in the UK

Raj — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:32:35 -0700

I'm going to be in the UK for the launch of The Value of Nothing next week, and I'll be giving talks at the London School of Economics on Tues Dec 1, the Bristol Festival of Ideas on Weds Dec 2, and City University on Thurs Dec 3.

Full details here - if you're a UK reader, it'd be lovely to see you there. ... read more »

World Hunger, A Breviary

Raj — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:12:53 -0700

The World Food Summit has just ended in Rome, at which the head of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, lauded the declaration as “an important step towards the achievement of our common objective - a world free from hunger.”

Sadly, the declaration itself is written in UN prose, a bloodless language created in committee and intended to be as bland as possible. Even the snappy summary, found in the press release, reads like it has been translated from English to Esperanto and back again by someone armed only with a dictionary of international management consultancy: ... read more »

The Value of Nothing - a preview

Raj — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:10:47 -0700

Here's a bit of a plug for the new book - out in the UK in December, in the US in January. I was lucky enough to get to make this book trailer with Scott Hamilton Kennedy, whose documentary about the South Central Los Angeles farm, The Garden was spectacular, well deserving the Oscar nod that it got (and it was a particularly good year to be nominated ). ... read more »

Record: 49 Million Hungry in America

Raj — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:52:47 -0700

The USDA has released its data for hunger in the United States, and the numbers aren't good.

In 2007, 36 million people were classified 'food insecure'. In 2008, the figure was 49 million - an increase of 13 million.

Children were badly affected, though older children took the hit if they had younger siblings. Those in the front lines were, of course, women. The graph shows the differences in US hunger between 2007 and 2008: single mothers and women living alone were worst hit. ... read more »

Beyond the Label

Raj — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:52:10 -0700

Photo: G Online

I often get asked whether I think fair trade is a bad idea, and my response is usually "it's much better to buy fair trade than to buy unfair trade- but if you care about farmers, ask them what they want". In general, I'm not favourably inclined toward green consumerism.

The notion that somehow we can transform the world by shopping is a debilitating one, and it's one that George Monbiot has recently done a fine job of skewering. In his latest, he references a piece in the journal Nature in which it appears that consumers who buy green goods feel that their purchases allow them to behave in ways that are environmentally far worse. The researchers call it 'the licensing effect'. ... read more »

How to Save the Forests

Raj — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:59:35 -0600

One of the central ideas in my new book, The Value of Nothing, is that there are other ways of governing ourselves than either the free market or central government. While there’s plenty of evidence that the state-market dichotomy is a false one, it’s always good to have more data.

One of the latest nuggets comes from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ... read more »