"Buy Me" Busters - Resources  Buy Me Busters Home Buy Me Busters Ideas Buy Me Busters Resources

1. Concerned Educators Allied for a Safe Environment (CEASE)
55 Frost St., Cambridge, MA 02140,  (617) 661-8347;
www.peaceeducators.org 
or info@peaceeducators.com, surr@his.com.
CEASE, which sponsors this sheet, is a network of parents, teachers, and other concerned individuals who are dedicated to creating a safe world for our children, including the removal of the root causes of violence through peace, justice, and economic opportunity

2. TRUCE:  Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children’s Entertainment
P.O. Box 441261, Somerville, MA 02144
www.truceteachers.org.
TRUCE works to raise public awareness of the harmful influence of unhealthy children’s entertainment, and to provide parents and educators with information about toys and activities for healthy play.  TRUCE publishes an annual toy action guide and a media action guide.

3. Center for a New American Dream
6930 Carroll Ave., Takoma Park, MD 20912; (301) 891-ENUF, or (877) 68-DREAM
www.newdream.org. , or newdream@newdream.org.
The Center publishes a number of studies and periodicals “to reduce and shift consumption to enhance quality of life and protect the environment”.  The publications include Tips for Parenting in a Commercial Culture, and the More Fun, Less Stuff bumper sticker.  Annual dues are $30 ($15 low income), and provide the periodical, Enough!

4. Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood
CCFC, Judge Baker Children’s Center, 3 Blackfan Cir., Boston, MA 02115,  (617) 278-4172
www.commercialfreechildhood.org
CCFC is a coalition of organizations that educate and advocate against the exploitation of children by corporate marketers.  CCFC conducts an annual summit and demonstration to oppose the continued intrusion of marketers into children’s lives, and publishes an e-newsletter.  See Linn, below

5. Commercial Alert
3719 SE Hawthorne Blvd., #281, Portland, OR 97214
www.commercialalert.org.
Commercial Alert is an advocacy organization, spun off from Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen, that tries to restrain the scope of commercial culture, by preventing it from exploiting children and subverting the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity, and democracy.

6. Kids Can Make a Difference (KIDS), teens helping to minimize poverty and hunger
P.O. Box 54, Kittery, ME 03905;
www.kidscanmakeadifference.org

7. Taylor, B., What Kids Really Want That Money Can’t Buy:  Tips for Parenting in a Commercial World
(Warner Books, NY, 2003, $22.95) The Center for a New American Dream asked America’s children: “What do you want that money can’t buy?”  This book includes excerpts from over 2,000 responses from children of all ages to that question, and it also provides resources and strategies for parenting wisely in a commercial world.

8. Kasser, T., The High Price of Materialism (MIT Press, 2002, $17.47)
Kasser, an Associate Professor of Psychology at Knox College, offers in this book a scientific explanation of how our contemporary culture of consumerism and materialism affects our everyday happiness and psychological health.  He also proposes ways we can change ourselves, our families, and society to become less materialistic.

9. Linn, S., Consuming Kids:  The Hostile Takeover of Childhood (Anchor, 2005, $14)
A call to action to protect children from commercial exploitation that’s taking them over.

10. Carlsson-Paige, N., Taking Back Childhood:  Helping Your Kids Thrive in a Fast-Paced, Media-Saturated, Violence-Filled World (Hudson St. Press, 2008, $23.95)  An offering of many steps we adults can take to restore the essential building blocks of healthy child development.

11. Levin, D., & Kilbourne, J., So Sexy So Soon:  The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect their Kids, (Random House, 2008, $25).  Offerings of essential, age-appropriate strategies to counter the commercial culture’s assault on childhood’s innocence.