Elder, John. 2006.

Ego in the Shopping Cart: Stephanie Kaza on buying, being,

and becoming. Tricycle 15(3) spring: 46-51.

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b e i n ga, n db e c o m t n g
S T E P H A N |K
E A Z Ao n b u y i n g ,

t20051'is an anthologyof
andthel)rge to Consume
Stephanie
years'
thirty
over
writfor
A studentof Zen
essaysfrom dharmateachersand
provocative
Vietnamese
by
for engagingthe
Kazahas beenstrongtyinftuenced
ers that exptoreBuddhisttoots
environmental
and
Hanh
Nhat
ZenteacherThich
of modernconsumerism'
chaltenges
shehasbeena pro1991
Since
Macy'
in divinityand
Joanna
activist
ln additionto her master'sdegrees
the
at
Program
in biotogy'
fessorin the Environmental
StephanieKazahotdsa Ph'D'
education,
environmental
"truthBuddhist
Vermont'
of
her
in
University
trainingis reftected
scientific
This
in socialchange
Hooked!
thoughtand the roteof activism
seekingurge,"and in the emphasisin
thereandto
teaching
her
to
both
time'
centrat
same
havJe"n
ctarity'At the
uponnonjudgmentat
her writing.
to musicand her practiceof
Kaza'stifetongdevotion
Rain:
Aharma
her schotarty
Kaza'spreviousbooksinctude
tyricatnaturewriting comptement
co[2000'
Environmentatism
of Buddhist
the powerof imaginaSources
rigor.Theyexpressa bel'iefin
cotteccomprehensive
a
Kraftl,
"you
Kenneth
with
caninventsomething
edited
that
tiJn,anda conviction
themes'
environmentaI
on
tion of Buddhistwritings
newif Youneedit"'
[1993)'meditativereftecover tea In my
and lhe AttentiveHeart
I spokewith Kazatast January
recent
most
Her
trees'
with
tionson humanretations
tivingroomin Bristol,Vermont'
Greed' Desire'
on
Writings
_JOHN ELDER
Buddhist
book, Haoked!

In a practical
Howwoutdyoudefineconsumerism?
and
is a beliefsystem culturethat
consumerism
sense,
andt":1,^
promotesconsumingasthe path.to.selfeconomrc
and
i-prorr.-..tt' It's a completepolitical
marketingtechby sophisticated
ldeotogy,sponsored
significantprofitswhile stripping
niquesthat generate
As a dominantculturalforce'
the earthof resources'
2006
4 6 I r n r c v c r es P R I N G

everydissatlsoffersproductsto address
consumerism
conditionsthat
factionwhile actuallycreatingsocial
stability'
undermineequityandenvironmental
you makeit soundtike
Whenyoudescribeit thatway'
strategyimposedon
catcutated
a wett-thought-out,
in the
ideol"ogy
our societyf rom the top down'an

NicoleKidxtar lz StepfordWives (2004)

ls that
is an ideotogy.
samesensethatcommunism
just
reattywhatyoumean?0r is "consumerism"
anotherwordfor the powerfutforcesof desireand
whichhavebeenaroundfor as [ongas there
cLinging,
havebeenhumanbeings?An ideologyis a setof ideas

new, it's just more exap;geratednow. It's much more

that drivesaction.In the caseof the consumeristideology, the ideasarediscussedin corporateboardmeetings

as evidenced by hor.vcandidates sell themselves through

and in advertisingsuitesand in governmentoffices,and

they shapedecisionsabout which adsrvill be placed

about selling the army to yollng men. A lot of fairly

whereand why, and rvhowill control which communrcation mechanisms,and whackind of energysolrrces

could be cliscussedin public fbrums-have

will be developedand which will not, and rvl-rorvill

decidethe fashionsfor a preteenkid. The ideasare
about getring people to buy stuff, and thus abor-rtmaking money.So rhat is a reigning ideology-to drive

sophisticated, more technological, more effective, more

codified. And it's much more accepted as an established
way of doing business.So that now elections, for example, have a lor of the hallmarks of the consumer society,
sound bytes and advertising. Military recrr-riting is
complicated ethical dilemmas-public

dilemmas that
been boiled

down to what seem like competing consumer prodr,rcts.

is indeedon the rise,whyis that?Did

lf consumerism
increase
atongwiththe
asan ideology
consumerism
anclproForonething,extraction
rise of capitatism?

profits up, and to find consumerswhereverone can.

Consumerismbecomesa whole rvayof seeingthe world.

duction technoloplieshave become extremely efficient at

And of course,yes,it's built on desireat the individual

level.But on top of that, rhe ideologyis saying,"Let's

eariy history, most people did not have disposable

producedesirefor more things. And the more desirewe

produce,the more profits we will make."

goods. You were l-rappy if you got some salt and ltnttcr,

harvesting resourcesand generating material goods. In

income. There was not an option to go and br-ryluxury
or something like that. But with the acceleration of
communication and transportation in tl-retwentieth

A n d d o y o u v i e w t h i s a s a n e w i d e o t o g ya, b o v ea n d
b e y o n dt h e i m p u t s et o b u y ,s e [ t ,a n d t r a d e g o o d st h a t
has atways existed in human society?I won't sayit's

century, even a small amount of discretionary income

could then be spent on things like TVs, autos, trlnp.g5-goods that reduce our discomfort in life, and that

TRIcYcLE lr7

areattractiveand entertaining.So the scaleof consumpis more rapid in the iast quartion, and its acceleration,
ter centurythan any other time before'
Also, our societyhasfr-rllyembracedconsr'rmingasa
way of life. In the past, rherewas a stronller countervailing forceof religion-and/or somekind of secular
s1lli65-1hn1pllt somerestrainton people'sdesires'In
societyof the United States,rheserestraints
the secr-rlar
areat apretty low ebb. The marketinfaindustry has
for selling
developedextremely sophisticatedtecl-rniques
dissatisfaction
products,and evenmore, for Promoting
with your life the way ir is. And peoplearoundthe
world want to emulatethe materialstandardsof industrializedcountries.\7e arenow dealingwith a growlng
consumerclassin China and India, rvhichwill add an
evengreaterburden ro the planet'sproductivecapacity'
i n c o m e ,t h e i n c r e a s e d
T h e i n c r e a s ei n d i s p o s a b l ' e
e f f i c i e n c yo f t r a n s p o r t a t i o n t, h e i m p r o v e ds t a n d a r do f

And in this country,they'vebeendriven by enrrepreneurialcorporateownersinterestedin taking large-scale

profits. So whereI 5;etvery ethicallyconcernedis rvhen
the consumeristideologyis taking advantageo[people's
needsfor very basicgoodslike healthcareand water and
energyand transportarionand 5h6l1s1-lh1oughindividual legal and governmentaldecisionsthat haven't
protectedthe consumers'interests,but haveprotected
the corporateinteresrsofthose producing the goodsfor
the consumers.
H o w h a s t h e i n c r e a s ei n c o n s u m e r i s ma f f e c t e dt h e
K a l l e L a s n ,t h e
h u m a n p s y c h eo r c o n s c i o u s n e s s ?
"microauthor of a book calledCtltureJattt, speaksof
j o l t s o f c o m m e r c i z rpl o l l u t i o n " t h a t f l o o d o r - r r
[12in5-n[6ut three rhousandmarketing messages
per day.This has a tremendor'tsimpact on our cons c i o u s n e s sI t.' s a m a s sc u l t u r a l e x p e r i m e n tt h a t m a y
have penetrating effectswe can barely imagine' One

has
T h ed r i v et o c o n s u m e
d i s p L a c et hde P S Y C hsi-cP a c e
o n c ef i L L ebdYr e L i g i o fna, m i L Y ,
a n dc o r n m u n i t Y .
tiving,the greateraccessto goodsthat reducesuff e r i n g - a r e n ' t h e s eg o o dt h i n g s ?A r e n ' t h e yt a u d abtegoats?Theymaywell be.Br-rtin Americen
by entrepretheyhavebeenmostoftenpursr:ed
sociecy,
neurs in the context ofan individuaiistic, capitalistic
or
society-not by a carefully rhought-out government
social program. So, for example, if you really thought
carefully about transportation as a way to recluce people's discomfort, you rvould have built up a very wellthought-out train ancl public transportation system, as
they've created in Europe. \Thereas the resistance
jusr
we've had ro that in this country has been not
enormous, but calculaced. For instance, there was a
good public transit system in Los Angeles' and it was
systematically clismantled to promote automobile use
and highway transPortatlon'
The question is: What ideology is going to drive
these decisions that affect people on a very big scalei'

/r8

rntcvcrr

, F t

. r L rI

of the biggest impacts is the widespreacldiseaseof

greecl,statusenvy,overstimulation,and clissatisfaction. Children are especiallyvulnerableto brainwashing from commercials'\7e find them developing u
senseof identiry baseclon brands beforethey can
b a r e l yr e a d .T h e B u d d h i s t w r i t e r a n d s c h o l a rD a v i d
that the drive to consLrmehas displacetl
Loy sr.rggests
chepsychicsPaceoncefilled by religion, family' and
community. More time spent on personaliifestyle
s p e n ti n c i v i c
[ ' l e a s u r etse n . l sr o m e a nI c s st i m r
e n g a g e m e nat n d P u b l i c l i f e .
I n a c u r i o u sw a y ,t h i s c r i t i q u ee c h o e st h e t a m e n t o f
t h e r e t i g i o u sr i g h t - t h e d e c t i n eo f m o r a l s , f a m i t yv a t u e s ,a n d s o o n . O h , v e r y m u c h ' I r e a l l yt h i n k t h a r t h i s
is somethingwe on the left havein common rvith them'
Part of what'stearing cheirFamiliesapart-like oursto their kicls'
arethe consumermessages

q
E
2
o

S o w h a t u n i q u ei n s i g h t sd o e s B u d d h i s mh a v et o o f f e r
In my
i n c r i t i q u i n ga n d c o u n t e r i n gc o n s u m e r i s m ?
book I suggesttl-rreefunclamenralBuddhist critiqnes,
which areprobtrblyobviousto any beginning student
of Buddhism. The first focuseson the processof pericleaof self is seen
sonal-identityformation. The r-rsual
asa significant delusionin Bucldhistthought, yet cona senseof self
slrmersareconstantlyurged to br-rilcl
urroundrvl-ratti'reybuy. Consumergoodsbecomesympolitical or religiousviews,socialgroup,
bols of sturrus,
and sexr-rality-all of rvhich solidify a senseof self.
Almost all consumerismtendsto activelypromote

minds withor-rt the consnmer knorvinq that's lvhat's

golng on.
Unlearning this conditioning is a challenging
p r o c e s s .I t h i n k i t ' s n o c c ' l i s s i m i l a rt o u n l e a r n i n c r a c i s m
or unlearning sexism, when an entire society collaborates on presenting certain principles ancl you are
expected to aclopt them trsa member of that socislt.

Buddhistcritiques
threefundamentat
Youmentioned
Whatarethe othertwo?Thesecond
of consumerism.
leg of the Buddhist critique of consnmerism is that consumerism promotes ancl condones harming. Tl-refoun-

self-involvement,eitl-rerro soiveunpleasantproblems
(towardwhich we experienceaversion)or to enhance
pleasurablestates(for which we experiencegreed).

clational principle behind all Br-rcldhistethics is

From a Budclhistperspective,tl-rarself-invoivement
to the delusionof a separateautonomousself.
only aclcls

manufacturers may not intend to cause harm, the

Thr-rs,for example,we htrvetl-recoffeeclrinker'sselfinvolvedpleasurein favoritebrandsor methodsof

and in jury in tl-reirwnks-c^16x1-cuttinElfbrcsts, pollut-

preparation.The path of liberationfrom this clelusionis

to understandthe selfasa reflectionof multiple czruses

tremendous harm to many forms of life to meet the bot-

vielv of coffee
and conditions.A lessself-involvec'l
would include the laborersin CostaRica, tl'repesticides

non-harming or abinsa, expressedin the first precept as

"Do not kill" or "Do no harm." \While consumer goods
extraction and procluction processesoften leave cleatl-r
ing rvarerways,abusing r.vorkers.Producers jr,rstify
t o m I i n c o f p 1 6 f 1 ,r r n dg a i n .

tradersanclshippers,ancl,ofcourse, olu local coffee

merchants,rvho make a living from selling a stimulat-

g e a r eh a r m i n gt o
B u ta n yt i m ew e c o n s u m a
e n y t h i nw
ptants,cut down
and
a certainextent.Weeatanimats
t r e e sm
, i n eo r e .D o e st h a tm e a nt h a tc o n s u m i n g
a n y t h i n igs p r o b t e m a t i c0 ?r a r ew e a g a i nj u s tt a t k i n g
abouta matterof scate?It's the conundrumof thepre-

ofthe day.
ing beveragerhat helpsus meet the stresses

cepts: A humzrn being cannot survive rvitl-ror-rtcausing

and plantation soils,the global economyof coffee(trsthe

secondmost tracledcommodity in the world), the

harm. Bur yoll try to c2lrrseas little as possible. If your

D o e s d e fi n i n g o u r s e t v e sb y o u r t a s t e s a n d w e a t t h w h a t w e b u y - d i f f e r s i g n i f i c a n t t yf r o m b u i t d i n ga n
i d e n t i t ya r o u n d ,s a y , g e n d e r ,f a m i t y ,a p p e a r a n c e ,
a n d t h e [ i k e ? \ V e ' r ea l l s u b j e c tt o a l l k i n d s o f c o n d i -

bodl-risattvavows are co reduce suft-ering,then you clon't

w : r n r r o ( i r u s ( e x c e s ss u f L r i n g .
If you're ovenvhelmed by this conundrum, you could
just start with the principle of not harming and ask the

tioning forcesthroughout our life, from parentsto

scl-roolto religion to markets, et cetertl.\What'ssignif-

question: Tl-risproduct in my hands, how much harm

icantly different now is thzrtthere are active and

extremely aggressiveforcesall around us wantin$ Lts

less harm, knowing that you're not going to be able to

to be shapedmore by consumerismtl-ranby anything

able to live if you don't causesome harm yourself.

I teach a classcalled "Unlearning Consumerism" in

e l s e .I t ' s l i k e l i v i n g i n a c o n s t a n tt o r n a c l oo f c o n s u m e r
mess.rLes
on everything rhat yolr see,in every sitr,ra-

does it carryi' And then choose tl.re product that car-rsed

fincl one that causes no harm, and yor-r'renot going to be

which, for example, I l.ravethe students keep a food log.

t i o n w h e r e v e ry o L rg o . S o i t ' s a g a i na s c a l ei s s u e .I t
cor-rldbe comparedto, szry,racism beforethe civil

They write dorvn everything they've eaten for rhree clays

righrs movement in tl-reSor,rth,when everywhereyou

went there were racial messagesbeing given. An hor-rr

l-rowfar was it shipped, how much packaging it has, how

o f r e l i g i o u st e a c h i n go n S u n d a ym o r n i n g c a n ' t c o m p e t e w i t h t w e n t y o r t h i r t y o r f o r t y h o u r so f t e l e v i s i o n

procluction. They rate etrchone on urnumerical scale,

w a t c h i n g a w e e k . S o i t ' s t l ' r es c a l eo f i t , a n d t h e
s o p h i s t i c a t i o no f g e t c i n g t h e m e s s a g eisn t o o u r

procl-rction. Tl'rey can very qr-rickly see that some prod-

ancl tl.ren next to each tl.ring they make an estimate of

much energy and time and hr-rman labor went into the
Iooking at those three aspeccs:shipping, packrging, and
ucts hzrvea relatively low impact and some have a rela-

TRIcYcLE t+9

tively high impact. So something like a local loaf of breacl

is pretty low on the scale, rvhereasa soft drink or aimost
chocoiate, coffee, 664-hnvg [ssn
shippecl pretry far and have been highly procluced, using
many clifferent i ngred ients, massive Factoryproduction'

all beverages-hot

lots of shipping, Lotsof raw materials like glass'

So tirey can say,"Well, I coultl choose to reLllrcemy
consumPtion of these high-impact items and I cor-rld
choose tcl increasemy consumption of the iow-impact
items." So that's an exzrmpleof how you cor-rlcluse nonharming as a kind of ethical guicleline or minclfulness
practice, not as a moral zrbsolute.
And the third aspect? The third aspect of the Ruddhist
critique is that consumerism promotes desire and clisin
satisfaction, the very source ofsuffering, as explained
dissatisof
the Buddha's For,rrNoble Trr-rths'The state
craving, i mpulse, thirst' attachmcnt'
the very oprposireof contentment irncl

fn61is6-6ll1ging,
compulsion-is

equanimity. Marketers stimulate desire and clissatisFaction very effectively, offering a plethora ofproducts ttl
relieve almost every form of human sr'rffering' N7hat is
unique about the Buddhist approach is that it goes to
tl-revery root of the urge for more, the desire, rhe hook
thac keeps Lrsconstzrntlysearching for what will relieve
our dissatisfaccion.

Youstatein the bookthatit wasimportantto youto

Zen,
Tibetan,
fromTheravada,
inctudeperspectives
Aretheredistinctive
andPureLandtraditions.
thatcanbe drawnfrom
insightson consumerism
book
theseparticutartraditions?I felt a single-autiror
less
andmight be
wouldbe too narrowin approach
Drawing on a rrrngeof
accessibleto zrrviclerar-rdience.
woulclrepresentthe traditeachingsand perspectives
For example,Thcrevada
tion more fully anclzrccurateiy.
teachingsseemto be very usefulin clarifying rvhat is
actuailygoing on in the act of consumption'Minclfi-rlnesspractice can be very helpful for observingyour own
reaclinga
behaviorsin a shoppingmall or rvhile yor-r're
catalog.Aiahn Amaro, zrTheradavamonk practicingin
Caiifornia,rvritesabourcoreBuddhist valuessuchas
which can act asrrnticontentmentand moc'leration,
dotesto greedfor more tl-rings.
On the other hand, theZenwriters in this book are
terrific for cr-rttingthrough rhe clelusionsof attachment
to materialgoods.SunyanaGraefopenly recommends
that parentsget rid oftheir televisionsasone ofthe best
50

rn cvcre

things they can do fcrr their cl'rilclren'Norman Fischer

writes of the very intimate, deeply embodied experience
of life that is misseclby most consumer activity' He
LrfgesLrsto practice "true materizrlism" by payin5; deep
J t t ( n t i o n t o t h t t l r i n g , sw ( ( n c ( ) L l n t ecr v c r y t l t r yi n o u r
kitchens ancl at our dinner tables.
The contributors from the Tibetan lineages offcr
excellent analytical tools for penetrating the worlclviews
s l r p p o r t i n g c o n s u m e r i s m . T h e T i b e t a n s e n s eo f l o g i c i s
clevelopeclto such a high clegree tllrrt it can ['e very
useful for deconstn-rctingindivic'lualand social conditioning regarding consnmPtion Patterns' Juclith SimmerBrorvn, for example, points ollt that economic encl
"unmade"
cultural globalization is not a given; it can be
just asit was "made."
Pure Lancl teachings offer rhe wonderful gift of a very
positive vision ofa fnture that is truly possible' A pure
lancl on earth woulcl be one tl-rat you acrually rvork for str
tl-ratit is fillecl with more happiness than sr-rffering This
is something one can wish and pray for with others-a
very Proactive approach ttt creating a lessconsumerdominated worlcl.

In her chapterof the book,DianaWinstoncharacterizesthe Internetas "for the mostparta time-wasting,

channet"'Doyou
gLorified
shopping
greed-inducing,
Oneof
probtematic?
thinkthe Internetis inherentty
rhebiggestliabilitiesof the Internetis the speedwith
deciinformation'Yor-rr
nowprocess
computers
wl-rich
sion-makingtime on the computercan be reduceclto a
Browsing an online shoppingsite, you can
nanosecond.
purchaseicemsso much more quickly than everbefr-tre'
Vhy take rime for reflection<lrrestraintwhen with a
click tl.reitem is yours/ Internet shoppinghas
sinSSle
it supportsimpulse buyin5;'
becar-rse
beensr-rccessful
Tl-ratis also rvhy fast fooclplaceshave multiplied so
McDonald'sand Burger
quickly acrossthe landscape.
King know very well that if even i to 10 Perccntof
their consumersresistedtheir impulses,the fast food
zrseriousblolv'
industry rvould sr-rffer
B u t o f c o u r s et h e I n t e r n e ti s a t s o b e i n g u s e d f o r p o l ' i t i c a I e n g a g e m e n t i,n f o r m a t i o na c c e s s ,c o m m u n i c a t i o n ,
c o m m u n i t yb u i t d i n g . . . O h , i t ' s a n i n c r e d i b l et o o l ' I t ' s
rve might talk about,
very powerful.So in my classes,
for exampie,what might be someguidelinesfbr consuming on the Interner.We might just havea cliscussion aroundhow cluicklyshouldyou buy something'

Shor-rlcl
you builcl any r.vaitingperiod in? Or for what
k i n d s o f i t e m sm i g h t y o u b r _ r i la
d w a i t i n g p e r i o di n /
Or whicl"rkinds of items rvor-rlcl
you wanr ro consulr
somebodyelseon beforeyou bought rhem online/ Or
which kinds of \Webpr-rrcl.rasing
are actually more pleas_
urableif you go br-ryrhem in yorrrown community/ My
favoriteassignmentis the three-daytechnologyfast,
rvherestudentsgive Llp the Internet, their car, rl.retele_
vision, or someotl-rerforms of everydaytechnologyro
s e eh o w d e p e n d e n t h e y a r e o n r h a r t e c h n o l o g y .
W h a t k i n d s o f o t h e r c h a n g e sd o y o u s u g g e s tt h a t
p e o p t em a k e i n t h e i r c o n s u m i n gh a b i t s ?I d i d n o t
want rhis book to be prescriptive.I didn,t rvantpeople
to seizeon somestandardrhat any of the authorspur
out there as rhe only stanclard.BecauseI don,t think
that's skillful means.I think it's muci.rmore skillful

ThubtenChodron's
contribution
to yourbookraises
the issueof spirituatmaterialism,
critiquingthose
who "coltect"spirituatexperiences
andinftatetheir
egosthroughassociations
with hightyregarded
teachers.Spiritr-ral
experience
anclgoodscancerrainly
reinfcrrcea consuming mind too, and it is no surprlse
to seerhis happening in a consumerculrure. Marketers
are successfullytargeting spirirual consLrmers
as ir
market niche and figuring out exactly rvhat fulfills
their self-centerecl
yearnings.How many of tl.rese
productsare necessary
fcrrspiritual enlightenmenri
Probably nor a one.
W h i c h l e a d st o a n o b v i o u sq u e s t i o n :D o y o u e x p e r i _
e n c ea n y a m b i v a t e n c eo r u n e a s ea r o u n dt h e m a r k e t i n g o f y o u r o w n b o o k a s a c o n s u m e rp r o d u c t ?N o . I
don't haveany mixeclfeelingsabor-rtthar at all, because

A n h o u ro f r e L i g i o u
t esa c h i n g
o n S u n d am
y o i n i n gc a n ' t
c o r n p e tw
e i t ht h i r t yh o u r so f
t e L e v i s iw
o na t c h i n ag w e e k .
lust to enter the struggle. Don't jr-rstadopt sorne easy
thing like "I'll be a vegerarian." Becauserhen you won'r
look at the source of your plant foocl. And you won,t
realiy think about the ecologictrlimpact of shipping
your mangoes, say,from South America so yoLrcan
enjoy them in Searrle.So if there's one recommenclation
that's consistent rhroughout the whole book, it's ,,inves_
tigate, go deeper, ask questions abour every single thing
yolr consume."
But I will say that the things one should pay the
most attention to if you're going ro srarr th.isinves_
t i g a t i o n a r e y o L r rh o u s i n g - t h e e c o l o g i c a l f o o t p r i n r
of your housing and the energy ir uses-and your
transporttrtion. A few extra CD covers or soiled dia_
pers are not a big impact. It's nor worth getring
c a u g h t r - r po n p l a s t i c b a g s a t t h e s u p e r m a r k e r . B u t
r

those two things-the

=
U

r
o
z

r e s e a r c hi s v e r y c l s 2 1 - 2 1 s t h 6
most lmportant places to make careful consurner
decisions: Transportation, anclhousing and energy.

And they're difficult.

I knorv thtrt this really is a clharma book, a book of

skillful means tl'rat could reduce a lot of suffering and
provicle a lot of insight. So it's a good invesrmenr.

Soarethe tootsof consumerism

themsetves
neutrat?
l s i t p e r m i s s i b lteo u s et h et o o t so f c o n s u m e r i s m _
advertising,
marketing,hype,pR-to se[[something
thatyoufeetwitt actua[[ybe to somebody's
benefit?
Skillful meansis a reallyimporranrand usefi-ri
con_
ceptin Buddhism-to checkverycarefullywhat you
can cio that will be effective in the system of whicl-r
yoll're a parr. Ir wor_rldnot be very effective for mc ro
take all tl-resewords and scratch rhcm out on a chalk
tablet, or walk around and sing them like a rrouba_
dour and catch a ferv people's ears, entertainirrq as
that might be.
The book comes at a price. It's paper, it uses trees. So I
r-rnderstandtl-rat it's causing some suffering ro proclr_rce
the book. But I hope ir's an investment,
;rrrrr of the
turning torvard a mofe sane world. V

I rR cycLE

51