Winnipeg, Canada

I’m dumbfounded every year at this time when I see hordes of crazed consumers out shopping for unneeded things they can’t afford. I’m convinced that a focus on material things causes easily-avoidable stress and dampens the creative spirit within a culture—and we well know the devastating effect that over-consumption is having on our planet.

Save some shoppers. Save the planet. Give some folks a hearty hug. Who cares if you know them or not… think of it as an intervention of sorts. (While you consider your hug-deployment strategy, here’s a nice tune by Joel Kroeker to put you in the mood).

Image: one of a bunch of poster designs I’ve contributed over the years to Buy Nothing Christmas, an initiative started by Aiden Enns (former managing editor at Adbusters and founder of Geez magazine).