Santas Against Excessive Consumption (SAEC) went out to play for the second year running on Saturday December 16th 2006, dropping in on the Shell-sponsored Natural History Museum (NHM) on the way to the consumer hell that is Oxford Street.
At the NHM we wandered through the crowds holding our ‘Lappland is melting’ and ‘Reindeer can’t swim’ placards, explaining that excessive consumption was melting our ho-ho-home, and as such it was going to be tough to ensure a good supply of presents in the future. We had a bit of interaction with people waiting to skate on the British Airways-sponsored ice rink. Half the rink was closed because it was too wet and slushy – the ice had melted. The employee with the thankless task of trying to herd us out disagreed with me when I suggested that this was symbolic. His word? ‘Ironic.’
‘See you next year!’, promised the mouthiest Santa as we left, (since monthly visits are planned by SAEC’s friends London Rising Tide in 2007.) Then it was on to join reinforcements in Oxford Street, using the tube journey as a chance to thank the punters for taking public transport a well as smiling at bewildered nippers wondering if we could have any connection to the real thing. Taking up residence at Oxford Circus, some anti-corporate carols were given a good seeing to, and leaflets distributed. A festive foray into Niketown resulted in a swift but friendly expulsion, while a minstrel-like wander into the big Apple shop triggered a grumpier response. The plea to ‘Sing your own songs to eachother this Christmas!’ was interpreted as some sort of advertising by a competitor, and this as well as some live and direct carolling inside the shop led to the police being called. But we stood our ground when asked by the humbugging coppers to move away from the shop window, and soon enough they evaporated.
By that time we were pretty much Santa-d out, so decamped to a caff to fill up on caffeine and divest ourselves of the magic but by this time somewhat bedraggled beards and suits that made people smile at us and take our subversive leaflets. Take care until next year…
www.londonrisingtide.org.uk
www.artnotoil.org.uk/gallery/v/Shell
www.shelloiledwildlife.org.uk
07708 794665
london@risingtide.org.uk
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Text of the Oxford Street leaflet:
LAPPLAND IS MELTING!
Today is the busiest shopping day of the year. Oxford Street is crammed with consumers all scrambling for the latest must-have item, the perfect present that will buy Christmas joy. Most of us find this part of Christmas incredibly stressful – there’s never enough time, tensions run high, and the obligation of gift exchange rules the season.
So why do we buy in to Christmas shopping madness? Maybe it’s time to start figuring out why we so desperately need a 5-speed electric toothbrush in the first place, or why our children will be devastated if they don’t get the latest McNikeSoft Godzilla Action Figure that tops The List. It might well boil down to the fact that we are each exposed to 3,500 adverts per day. (No really, try counting!)
Corporate advertising can actually be seen as the largest single psychological project undertaken by the human race. We are told from the day we are born that increasing our material wealth will make us happier people, and if we want to show someone that we love them, we must buy them something – the more expensive, the more we love them.
Christmas consumption causes climate chaos!
The problem is, corporate consumer culture doesn’t just breed stress – it creates environmental catastrophe. If everyone in the world were to consume at the level we do in the West, we would need 5 extra planets. But it’s not just about disappearing rainforests and mountains of rubbish. Our excessive consumption is also causing climate chaos, with disastrous effects like hurricanes, flooding and other freak weather patterns.
We know that climate change is directly caused by the burning of fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural gas) to power our offices, heat our homes, and fuel our cars & planes. But tackling climate change is not only about taking the bus and switching off lights. Every product that is produced, transported, bought, used and thrown away eats up energy that we don’t have, and creates pollution that our climate can’t handle. And if that product is made of plastic (and think how many are), then it’s literally made of oil.
Us Santas aren’t suggesting you don’t give your loved ones presents this year. But why not make one or two of them, trade with friends, or buy locally. Think about the products you’re buying – what they’re made of, where they came from, how they got from there to here…and whether they’re actually going to make someone any happier.
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Text of NHM leaflet:
WHAT LIES BENEATH SHELL’S WILD LIE?
Hello and Merry Christmas. We are Santas Against Excessive Consumption, and we’ve dropped into the Natural History Museum on our way to Oxford Street, to sing a few carols and to remind museum-goers that excessive consumption of oil is causing Lappland – our home! – to melt.
Why is this relevant to the NHM? Because Shell, the world’s third largest oil company, is also the new sponsor of the its Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.
Could you join the campaign opposing this sponsorship, write to the Museum or lend images to our ‘Shell’s Wild Lie’ counter-exhibition?
Despite attempts to ‘greenwash’ its reputation via blanket advertising and cultural sponsorship, Shell is still heavily implicated in producing ever-greater quantities of the oil and gas that are destabilising our climate to such an alarming degree. Climate change is set to wipe out millions of plant and animal species and to devastate the poorest regions of the planet. Shell’s activities also result in oil spills which are major causes of death and destruction for many varieties of life. Its planned refinery and pipeline project in Country Mayo, Ireland, threatens a pristine ecosysystem, not to mention the homes and livelihoods of the inhabitants. Lastly, Shell is currently constructing a massive development at Sakhalin Island in Russia which is threatening the survival of the Western Pacific Grey Whale. For all these reasons, Shell should not be sponsoring the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. We call on the Natural History Museum to end its sponsorship deal with Shell.
Tell NHM boss Michael Dixon directly what you think of Shell (not to mention BP, which is a Museum partner):
(020) 7942 5000; m.dixon@nhm.ac.uk, cc’ing to feedback@nhm.ac.uk & us.
…and get more involved in the Art Not Oil campaign/exhibition via London Rising Tide, taking creative direct action on the root causes of climate chaos
london@risingtide.org.uk
http://www.londonrisingtide.org.uk