Why Green is the new Black
24th Nov 2017
Every year people go crazy for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and last minute Christmas discounts. This often results in chaotic behaviour, high tensions and needless spending. At Noah’s Ark we would like to support the growing movement away from Black Friday and impulsive spending and towards a more positive movement, Green Friday.
The American flash sale, Black Friday, was introduced to the UK in 2013 supposedly by ASDA. The event has grown dramatically over the last 4 years and is now a week long sale event including Cyber Monday. According to the IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) over £7 billion pounds will be spent this weekend. Last year ASDA decided enough was enough and joined in the boycott for the sake of shopper and staff “fatigue”. MPs and the police force have also repeatedly urged stores to reconsider the event as it consistently requires the police has to divert their valuable staff resources away from their duties to assist with the chaos and violence. Small businesses also suffer as a result of Black Friday as they are unable to compete with the drastic discounts of the larger chains.
The Green Friday movement is less about spending and more about giving; to your community, the environment and to charity. Green Friday is all about helping your neighbours rather than fighting with them over the last pair of half price trainers.
5 ways you can get Green this Black Friday:
- Fall in love. Find some time to take a stroll outdoors and re-fall in love with nature. Make sure you stop and look around, see if you can identify the flowers and animals around you.
- This weekend why not volunteer in your local community, this could be something as simple as baking some food for your neighbours.
- Get crafty. Let your creative juices flow; get painting, sewing or crafting. You could even save some money and create your Christmas presents.
- Instead of needlessly spending money during Black Friday on something you will only use once why not give that money to a charitable organisation to help someone else out this Christmas season.
- Raise awareness. Talk to the people around you about the Green Friday movement and what it stands for.
How are we getting involved?
This weekend our staff will be practicing for their debut performance. On Saturday 9th December the Ark Angel choir will be performing at 2pm in the Ark Arena. Come along and join in with some festive favourites as our Zoo Keepers sing some tunes to fundraise for the Crisis Centre.
As well as singing the staff at Noah’s Ark will also be getting crafty. This year the animal teams have engaged in some healthy competition with each team decorating a Christmas tree to raise funds for their chosen charity.
This year Noah’s Ark are also getting involved with the Send a Cow Mother and Child appeal. The campaign is fundraising to give mothers in East Africa the skills and tools to grow their own food and feed their families. During December a beautiful willow statue of a mother and child will be taking centre stage at the entrance of the zoo. Visitors are encouraged to tie a ribbon onto the statue and donate towards the cause.
You can find out more about what we do at Noah's Ark to stay Green, for native wildlife and to help conservation efforts on our conservation pages.