How Capitalism Stole Christmas
Heyyyo! Hope this email finds you well. The holiday season is upon us, and with presents, wrapping paper, food, and waste galore. This week’s video dives into the environmental impact of the holiday season and why capitalism might be to blame. Enjoy!
Three Quotes:
“Americans plan to spend roughly $998 on gifts, food, and decorations in 2021”
— Investopedia
“In 2020, for every 200,000 hours worked at an Amazon warehouse in the United States — the equivalent of 100 employees working full time for a year — there were 5.9 serious incidents, according to the OSHA data. That’s nearly double the rate of non-Amazon warehouses. In comparison, Walmart, the largest private U.S. employer and one of Amazon’s competitors, reported 2.5 serious cases per 100 workers at its facilities in 2020.”
— Washington Post
“These rituals, which occurred any time between St. Nicholas Day (a Catholic feast day observed in Europe on December 6) and New Year’s Day, had for centuries been a means of relieving European peasants’ (or American slaves’) discontent during the traditional downtime of the agricultural cycle. In a newly congested urban environment, though, aristocrats worried that such celebrations might become vehicles for protest when employers refused to give workers time off during the holidays or when a long winter of unemployment loomed for seasonal laborers.”
— Paul Ringel
Three Links:
Why Do People Give Gifts on Christmas? (The Atlantic)
Leftists Need Holidays Too. Let's Imagine Anti-Oppressive Ones. (Truthout)
Average Cost of American Holiday Spending (Investopedia)
Hope you have a wonderful weekend,
Charlie