Kathy Willens/AP
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Reverend Billy is one of the green movement's most fascinating figures: he and his Church of Stop Shopping have ingeniously used stage, film, and street performance to promote an anti-consumerist stance for over ten years. He's arranged mass demonstrations, bizarre and compelling performance art pieces, and gotten himself arrested while preaching against overconsumption and advertising-fueled mass media. And he's one of the most vocal proponents of (and chief participants in) Buy Nothing Day.
His film, What Would Jesus Buy? is probably the best introduction to the man available—the Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me) produced movie follows the Rev from such hallowed bastions of consumerism as Disneyland and the Wal-Mart headquarters, as he spreads a message we should all be paying attention to:
Buy less. And buy from local, independent stores—not from mass production behemoths like Wal-Mart.
If you live in the New York area, you can gear up for Earth Day with a screening of What Would Jesus Buy? followed by a speech from the man himself. It's going down Friday, April 3rd at 6:30 pm in Brooklyn at the Pratt Institute, as part of Sustainable Pratt's Green Week. It's well worth checking out—not only does the Reverend Billy have great green ideas, but he's a hell of a showman, and you're guaranteed not to be bored. Oh yeah, and the event is free.
See you there.
More on the Reverend Billy:
Consumerize Me. The Shopocalypse is a'Coming
TreeHugger Steps It Up
Lady Liberty Dumps the Car and Marries Mass Transit
