Hollow people know damn well to keep their money in the valley. They realize the fragile line that local family businesses walk each month, as overhead grows faster than income. Most are willing to pay the 20% extra at the local hardware store. Sure, they can drive 25 minutes to some other store and save a dollar; but life sure would be tough if you had to do that every time you needed a lock washer.

All of this sustainable wisdom disappears before the Thanksgiving turkey is cold. Time to hit the big box stores and take advantage of all those deals under one roof. The more you buy—the more you save! You can see the tumbleweed rolling down Main Street. The cafe has coffeed up the town, then off they go to increase the family debt. We spend a lot of money this time of year. What’s up with that?

First, there is all the stuff you needed anyway, but you were waiting to the last minute to buy. You know, the duct tape, plastic, salt, flat fix in a can type stuff you stock up on before winter anyway. Then there is the clothing thing. You had better moonlight in Vermont—it takes 3 complete sets of clothes and footgear just to get out the door! On top of that there is the gift thing.

Ahhh, the gift thing. Gift equals love. No gift equals no love. Lots of gifts equal, more love? Or is it something more insidious. Consumerism is something only a psy-ops adman could have dreamed up. It took a generation of movies, television, and radio to create this culture of consumerism, but it sure did work. Consumerism has mass appeal because it plays at the hard-wired inner humanness of each of us. All humans have pangs of self-doubt, insecurity, and depression. These are very real parts of the human experience. All of us forget who we are; and imagine that we are actually the various roles forged by outside influences, and expressed by the society we currently find ourselves living in. By occupying ourselves with stuff; buying it, maintaining it, wrapping our status and self image in it, we are able to avoid looking at, and dealing with, our own insecure essence.

When a person receives a gift, whether bought for themselves or received from others, they feel good for a while. A very short while. Then the luster wears off and we are back to where we started; another junkie in need of a fix. When she was depressed, Imelda Marcos bought shoes. While her countrymen went barefoot, Imelda bought more shoes—rooms full of them. There are not enough designer shoes in existence to fill the void in the soul of that particular piece of work.

Look, addiction is addiction. And we Americans got it bad. With 4% of the world’s population, we use over 20% of the energy. Hello! We are talking energy addiction folks. They are the same really; consumerism and energy addiction. Both involve a sense of entitlement. I can, so I will.

I guess everyone has an addiction. Ben and Jerry made a mint on it. So did Green Mountain Coffee. And Otter Creek Brewing, an addiction dear to my own heart. I know for an absolute fact that many people are addicted to Vermont Soap, for all the right reasons. I am addicted to breathing. And books. Or as Woody Allen once said: “My brain! Why that’s my second favorite organ!”

I am not advocating complete abstinence from Big Box Land. I found a very good deal on solar lights at Home Depot the other day. What I am advocating is to shop locally most of the time; to buy American when you can, and from your neighbors as often as possible. This keeps the money circulating around and around, enriching your town and your local businesses. They thrive, and they hire your neighbor’s kid Johnny. Johnny learns responsibility, and now there is one less crackhead standing on the corner. Around and around it goes. The Hollow version of a sustainable economy is one where 40% is local (20-mile radius), 40% is regional (250-mile radius), and 20% comes from far away. If I were to guess I would put today’s current mix and 10% local, 10% regional, and 80% far away.

When we Big Box it, most of our money goes overseas, to places like China, a country that believes its historical purpose is to rule the world. If you do not support this concept, buy local. And don’t forget, Big Box profits are not shared among the employees, but released as dividends to the passive investor. US factories close, and Johnny is on crack.

In London, 1832, the Election Reform Bill was doomed to fail. The populace would not have it, and took their money out of the Bank of England, threatening to destabilize the entire economy of England. Parliament did an about face, and the rest is history.

How you spend your money is important! It is the single most important thing you can really influence in this world. Voting with your pocketbook is much more influential than voting in national elections. Conscious consumerism will slow the hemorrhage of our economy and our ecology. Decreasing population growth, return to a simpler diet and a simpler, more local lifestyle, and a tempering of our addictions will, in the end, lead us to a sustainable economy and ecology; possibly saving our species and hundreds of other species in the process.

These essays were written for entertainment purposes only. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Vermont Soap, its employees, board of directors, our Web host, Web designer, the neighbors who live up the road; or any of the thousands of people who use our stuff. Originally published in edited form by Comic News. Many thanks to Seasoned Books, without which, life in the Holler may never have become a reality.