Citizen Friday

#CitizenFriday is an anti-Black Friday campaign that began in October 2023. Companies use sales events like Black Friday to manipulate people into buying things they don’t need (or even want). This annual overconsumption frenzy has a high toll on our mental health and the health of our planet too.

#CitizenFriday provides an alternative to the ‘everything at all costs’ approach that promotes agency, benefits body and soul and limits our impact on the environment: share, repair and get out in the fresh air.

Share

Sharing is a way of collaborating to reduce the amount of stuff we all need to own. It can be as simple as renting, lending or borrowing equipment that you don’t need on a regular basis. It also includes buying pre-loved / second-hand items.

Sharing doesn’t have to involve kit either. Find your agency by sharing your time, your knowledge and / or skills. You never know where it might lead.

Repair

Repairing your clothing or equipment prolongs the life of an item and is a vote against buying new. Repairs can be invisible or celebrated. We prefer the latter, making patches and getting creative to celebrate the life of a particular item.

Learn to repair yourself (online tutorials are great), or find someone local to you who can fix your kit. It’s cheaper than buying new, you get a professional job AND support a creative member of your community.

Get out in the Fresh Air

We’ve become dopamine addicts, getting our hits from screen time, social media and online shopping. The companies selling these highs have created algorithms to keep us coming back for more. But there is another way, and it involves getting yourself outdoors.

Exercising outside stimulates you into producing dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, vitamin D and immunity boosting endorphins. This means you, and the people you get outside with, can expect positive mental and physical health outcomes with no downsides.