{"id":52721,"date":"2022-11-17T13:09:53","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T13:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=52721"},"modified":"2025-08-25T13:07:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T13:07:26","slug":"make-smthng-is-about-people-action-to-build-a-better-planet-for-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/blog\/52721\/make-smthng-is-about-people-action-to-build-a-better-planet-for-everyone\/","title":{"rendered":"MAKE SMTHNG is about people-action to build a better planet for everyone."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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It\u2019s November! Hold on to your carts makers, because we\u2019re going loud on responsible consumerism. It\u2019s also that time of the month where everywhere you turn, Black Friday deals keep screaming at your face. So, what is Black Friday and why should we care? This is a popular American shopping day which traditionally marks the beginning of Christmas shopping that has progressively become very popular across the globe; including Kenya. It is characterized by huge discounts of huge sales which promotes overconsumption and generates huge volumes of waste.<\/p>\n\n

MAKE SMTHNG is an international series of fun, hands-on events that celebrate creativity and use a positive message to challenge consumerism and its impact on the climate. It serves to counteract Black Friday, and we do this the last week of November. Planet-One Ubunifu Hub will be marking this year\u2019s festival from 22nd to 26th November; filled with fun and interactive activities all week long starting with a Twitter Storm and Twitter Space on Responsible Consumerism, and we\u2019ll wrap up the week with a hands on workshop and display- which we refer to as Ubunifu Day.<\/p>\n\n

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JOIN OUR TWITTER SPACE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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REGISTER FOR A MAKE SMTHNG EVENT<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Sharing this maker space encourages and empowers consumers by teaching new skills or improving them. We learn how to upcycle used items, repair, mend, fix electronics and create innovative things by repurposing what we already have. Having an opportunity to make something that would otherwise end up as waste makes you have a conscious approach to consumerism and presents ways you can care for and repair what you have which helps to limit the impacts of over consumerism on our planet. When I was growing up, we would always mend our clothes when they were torn, or add buttons if any were missing or fell off. And the clothes we outgrew we would hand over to our aunties and so on.  <\/p>\n\n

Clothing production has doubled between 2000 and 2014 which means we are buying 60 percent<\/a> more clothing, and we wear them for half as long. The problem with this is that we\u2019re not buying durability or quality; rather we are driven by an insatiable desire to consume more. Making clothes last also means caring for them by repairing, and swapping them when they don\u2019t fit anymore or donating them to initiatives that make use of used textiles like Africa Collect Textiles<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

MAKE SMTNHG is a culture that reminds us of what it means to always carry conscious consumerism. It\u2019s so easy to get swept away by the attractive discounts and we ignore the monster that comes along with them; a never ending mountain of mostly single use waste. <\/p>\n\n

How can you get involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n