Try as I might, I don't think this place is it for me. But I'm very active on Threads if you're there.

I fear I am winding down on social media not winding up.

So was your book stolen by META to train AI as well? Because I'm pretty pissed off about it.

Jewish students at Columbia university today organized a demonstration in solidarity with anti-war student organizer Mahmoud Khalil and to denounce Trump's attacks on public education and protest. Photo via @/Columbia_psc

Nothing makes me feel more 1984, more dystopian than watching Israel broadcast a literal genocide and to see any actions against the genocide be chalked up as antisemitism: edition.cnn.com/2025/03/10/u...

Here are some Black environmentalists we're shouting out this week. @ajabarber.bsky.social, Urban Creators, Maiya May, and Samuel Ramsey. #BlackHistoryMonth #ClimateJustice

Actionable item: instead of supporting that guy and guys like him, follow @ajabarber.bsky.social and join her Patreon instead: www.patreon.com/AjaBarber?ut...

“Sustainability isn’t fair…” For who? Just you, the consumer? What about the people producing those cheap goods? @ajabarber.bsky.social

I’m realizing I can’t really deal with chronically online people anymore. Some folks really got touch grass.

There is no way around this: funding for our work is rapidly drying up. We are fundraising to plug the gap and remain committed to expand our network of regular supporters. Garment workers will not be silenced, and we won't stop fighting alongside them ✊ www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/labour-beh...

I know Elon is frothing at the mouth over this one

Me and the cats are in our winter depression era where we wake up for a few hours but mostly we all want to sleep this month away.

Tracking your clothes is a sure fire way to buy less. I’m doing inventory and I recommend everyone do that once a year. I’m finding things I haven’t worn in ages which means they need a new home.

There is *a lot* going on right now. My hot take, as I try to keep up wrt our planet: “These executive orders will make our air dirtier, make people sicker, make energy more expensive, and make our communities less prepared for extreme weather.” apnews.com/article/trum...

These conversations about consumerism are starting to break my heart. Because it's killing the planet. It's killing your child's future. We're doing things we don't even have to do because we feel like our only power is buying a mug from Target by someone who looks like us. It's really sad.

This is getting interesting.

Maybe it's time for EVERYONE to boycott Target. You know? If you power that with an Amazon boycott you might find ... you can be okay without either of these brands. This might surprise you.

White allies ... you gonna join Black folks in this Target boycott? Because you are absolutely not excluded from the action here. Imagine how impactful we'd all be together.

am convinced that any person that divests from big box overconsumption for one year (Amazon, Target, fast fashion etc) and limits social media consumption will absolutely recognize the overconsumption element of it all and never go back.

I think what a lot of people are going to find is actually, it's not super hard to not spend money on things you absolutely don't need and stores like Target are a fine example of a store that's laid out to help you do that.

I think now is probably the best time to really streamline what you consume on the internet and block out a whole buncha noise.

A bit excited to for people doing no buy to get to the end of the year and realize they could do it, we didn't need to be buying all this shit and maybe our entire society is pretty full of shit about what we believe we "need". I just hope we'll be able to have an honest conversation about that.

I think we have to admit there are some people who do not want to learn about these consumerist systems because ignorance is REALLY blissful on a burning planet. It's easier to stick one's head in the sand and lean into not knowing, than it is to realize it's a system to step away from.

I hadn’t signed in here in a few days and wow, the numbers really grew! I’m actually not doing anywhere near as much public social media as I used to instead opting for nurturing my Patreon community and putting the bulk of my energy into my daily newsletter. Join us ♥️ www.patreon.com/AjaBarber

if there is one funny thing about yesterday’s blitzkrieg of executive orders is that it makes the “democratic opposition went too far last time” crowd look like total dipshits

Wow, what are the odds?!

This is another reason why I put more of my work behind paywall and more of myself there as well. This shit is weird and I hate it.

Did you know that the Ballet Beautiful woman is married to a hardcore Trumper and one of the architects of Project 2025? Surprise!! www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/a626...

Hey I’m on the PBS News Hour right now. You can watch it live here: www.pbs.org/newshour/live

Listen in 2025 please wear what you want. The sooner you do that the less you’ll want to buy fast fashion. Today I dressed like a giant candy cane and I love that for me.

One thing I teach my Patreons constantly is that playing with your wardrobe is going to be your best tool in stopping yourself from shopping needlessly. Every time I take the time to play around joyfully I find that I am so in love with my clothes the desire for newness evaporates immediately.

The Swarovski Foundation reached out to me about becoming a mentor for their sustainability thing. The foundation has £3,838,816 expenditure. They don’t pay. The Swarovski family a lot of billionaires. I will never do anything for free for a billionaire foundation. EVER. EVER EVER EVER. PERIOD.

Seeing people start Substack and get hundreds and thousands of paid subscribers immediately when I've been chugging away on Patreon for years has me side eyeing. I've been thinking about a way of explaining that folks should subscribe to the folks funding their work this way all along first.

Like many of you, your goddess sometimes feels the time pressures of the holidays. On occasion I’ve been known to partake of modern conveniences, such as shopping from the comfort of my celestial abode, summoning Amazon drivers to leave parcels at my threshold. Not this year, my loves. ✨

Don't be a scab and cross the Amazon picket line this holiday season. Go to a store if you really need it. Making that effort will make you decide if you really need it pretty quickly, won't it?

If you're looking to stop buying in 2025 and wind down, y'all gotta fix your social media. Brands: UNFOLLOW Influencers: UNFOLLOW Mailing lists: UNSUBSCRIBE If you do these things sticking to your goals is going to be A LOT easier.

People are ridiculous. Someone sold me a practically new pair of uggs for like £30. We are a ridiculous society. There is no need to buy a damn thing new.

Someone on Threads tried to make an argument that overconsuming books in our society is a bad thing and lemme tell you, that interaction lowered my IQ.

Overconsumption is a scam. Stop falling for it.

My other Roman Empire: if you are consuming public intellect about race, wealth, class from folks who have no means of funding themselves but books and subscriptions and you aren’t doing either but YOU are signing up to pay someone who’s life you envy, you need to get a life and stop being goofy.

In 2025 my Roman Empire (which was once “poor people aren’t keeping fast fashion profitable” … wrote an entire book on that) switches to most influencing is conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure.

Agree. And Family Circus does suck.

Every time I see something that is clearly an ad I’m going to share details about the company. Uniqlo. Uniqlo is not a sustainable or ethical company. Brands that exploit workers are neither sustainable or ethical. Influencers are lying to you about them. labourbehindthelabel.org/take-action-...

From now on any time I get any sort of ad in my feed I’m going to tell you about the terrible ethics of the company,

The only reason more people don’t think influencers are cringe and on par with QVC is because they give you a little glimpse of their life so the bond you have is parasocial and therefore less critical no matter how many layers of dishonesty you ignore in order to be able to consume and absorb.

If you are paying an influencer who sells fast fashion $5 a month to continue to have them sell you fast fashion, you are a fucking schmuck.

I’m waiting for the day when folks realize all their favorite influencers have sold them the climate crisis through overconsumption and are now trying to convince you to pay them to do it on Substack.

I believe that those of us who once supported fast fashion but no longer do because we understand the systems harm should take what we’ve spent on fast fashion in the past and put some of those funds towards those harmed. That’s always been a part of my work and I intend to do more.

So many systems in the US are domestic terrorism on the people but half the people refuse to see it that way.