Independent.
Fearless.
Reader funded.
Events, contests and other initiatives by The Tyee and select partners.

Join Us to Launch JB MacKinnon’s New Book: ‘The Day the World Stops Shopping’

Expect provocative conversation about the future of consumerism, and our planet, at this live event May 27.

Ian Gill 12 May 2021TheTyee.ca

Ian Gill is a contributing editor to The Tyee and co-owner of Vancouver bookstore Upstart & Crow.

“People are drowning in things. They don’t even know what they want them for. They are actually useless.” So said James Baldwin, 50 years ago.

Since then, there has been a near continuous increase in the consumption of every major natural resource. We are using up the planet at a rate 1.7 times faster than it can regenerate.

Today, the average person in a rich country (hello Canada!) consumes 13 times as much as the average person in a poor one. Our consumption is fuelling climate change and making the whole world vulnerable to viruses like COVID-19.

“The 21st century has brought a critical dilemma into sharp relief: we must stop shopping, and yet we can’t stop shopping.”

So says J.B. MacKinnon, the co-originator of the 100-mile diet concept, in his brilliant but confronting new book, The Day the World Stops Shopping.

On the evening of May 27, join MacKinnon and culture editor of The Tyee, Dorothy Woodend, in a spirited discussion about our obsession with stuff, and whether, as MacKinnon argues, ending consumerism is what “saves the environment and ourselves.”

Tickets are available here.

This event is free with registration. Books are available to purchase.

Woodend is known for her insightful culture commentary and has written about her love of clothing, from the perfect coat to her favourite threadbare sweater. As a lover of fine things with a critical eye for consumption, she is the perfect host to engage in an honest and deep discussion of consumerism in all its delights and darkness.

You can jump right into the debate as we conduct a live poll during the event when we’ll ask what “things” really matter to you. What can you live without? What are you prepared to give up?

Or, are we truly doomed to shop till we drop?

This event is a partnership between The Tyee, Upstart & Crow and the Festival of What Works.

FEATURING:

J.B. MACKINNON is the author or co-author of five books of non-fiction. An award-winning journalist, his work has appeared in the New Yorker, National Geographic, and the Atlantic, as well as the Best American Science and Nature Writing anthologies. He is an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of British Columbia, where he teaches feature writing.

MacKinnon’s latest book is The Day the World Stops Shopping, a thought-experiment that imagines what would happen — to our economies, our products, our planet, our selves — if we committed to consuming far fewer of the Earth’s resources. Previous works are The Once and Future World, a bestseller about rewilding the natural world; The 100-Mile Diet (with Alisa Smith), widely recognized as a catalyst of the local foods movement; I Live Here (with Mia Kirshner and artists Michael Simons and Paul Shoebridge), a ‘paper documentary’ about displaced people; and Dead Man in Paradise, the story of a priest assassinated in the Dominican Republic, which won Canada’s highest prize for literary non-fiction.

DOROTHY WOODEND is the culture editor for The Tyee. Born in Vancouver, she was raised on the East Shore of Kootenay Lake, where nothing ever happened. She and her twin sister hightailed to Vancouver after graduating, where they lived on bags of frozen french fries and worked a series of crappy jobs. Dorothy holds degrees in English from Simon Fraser University and film animation from Emily Carr University. She has worked in many different cultural disciplines, including producing contemporary dance and new music concerts, running a small press, programming film festivals, as well as writing for newspapers and magazines across Canada and the U.S.

Dorothy is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Vancouver Film Critics Circle, and is the senior festival advisor for DOXA Documentary Film Festival. She won the silver medal for best column at the Digital Publishing Awards in 2019 and 2020 and was nominated for a National Magazine Award for best column in 2019. In 2020, she was awarded the Max Wyman Award for Critical Writing.  [Tyee]

Read more: Local Economy, Media

This article is part of a Tyee Presents initiative. Tyee Presents is the special sponsored content section within The Tyee where we highlight contests, events and other initiatives that are either put on by us or by our select partners. The Tyee does not and cannot vouch for or endorse products advertised on The Tyee. We choose our partners carefully and consciously, to fit with The Tyee’s reputation as B.C.’s Home for News, Culture and Solutions. Learn more about Tyee Presents.

  • Share:

Get The Tyee's Daily Catch, our free daily newsletter.

Tyee Commenting Guidelines

Comments that violate guidelines risk being deleted, and violations may result in a temporary or permanent user ban. Maintain the spirit of good conversation to stay in the discussion.
*Please note The Tyee is not a forum for spreading misinformation about COVID-19, denying its existence or minimizing its risk to public health.

Do:

  • Be thoughtful about how your words may affect the communities you are addressing. Language matters
  • Challenge arguments, not commenters
  • Flag trolls and guideline violations
  • Treat all with respect and curiosity, learn from differences of opinion
  • Verify facts, debunk rumours, point out logical fallacies
  • Add context and background
  • Note typos and reporting blind spots
  • Stay on topic

Do not:

  • Use sexist, classist, racist, homophobic or transphobic language
  • Ridicule, misgender, bully, threaten, name call, troll or wish harm on others
  • Personally attack authors or contributors
  • Spread misinformation or perpetuate conspiracies
  • Libel, defame or publish falsehoods
  • Attempt to guess other commenters’ real-life identities
  • Post links without providing context

Most Popular

Most Commented

Most Emailed

LATEST STORIES

The Barometer

What Culture Coverage Do You Want to See in the Weekender?

Take this week's poll