We are a group of individuals committed to a 12-month flight from the consumer grid (calendar year 2008). The Compact has several aims:
To go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of disposable consumer culture and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- a step that, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact.
To reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er).
To simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)
We've agreed to follow two principles:
1. Don't buy new products of any kind.
2. Borrow, barter or buy used.
The exceptions:
• food, drink and necessary medicine (no elective treatments like Viagra or Botox)
• necessary cleaning products, but not equipment
• socks and underwear
• pajamas for the children
Sources: groups.yahoo.com/group/thecompact, sfcompact.blogspot.com
Just as Lawrence Kazmerski, a top official at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was about to give the keynote address at the University of Minnesota's annual E3 conference at the RiverCentre in St. Paul, the lights went out, bathing the audience in darkness and a deep sense of irony.
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