We’ve been hosting Sunday Pick Me Up every month for the last three years, and it has become one of our most successful events, with hundreds of Worldies in attendance, and over two tons of trash collected since 2019. We even had a Japan Times article written about us in 2020!
It’s undeniable that SPMU has become synonymous with the Small World brand, and many of our core tenets are demonstrated in the event, notably its focus on community, being responsible stewards of the city of Nagoya, and connecting people regardless of their nationality, age or background. SPMU excels in each of these aspects.
That said, after three years, it’s time for a change.
Environmental issues undoubtedly deserve our attention as we head towards a warmer planet. We should all be more conscious of what we consume and how we deal with our waste, and our Eco-Habits do what they were intended to do – to introduce our audience to simple changes to our everyday lives that have powerful, positive compound effects – but with a new Eco-Habit being introduced every month for the last 36 months… even we find it hard to keep track of them.
We’ve decided to scale back this list of Eco-Habits to three core habits:
- Bring your own bottle
- Bring your own bag
- Bring your own chopsticks
These three habits are much easier to remember, and much easier to implement! We also believe that these three habits exemplify the purpose of the Eco-Habits at large – to be more mindful of what we use, and what we waste.
It also means less explaining and lecturing from us, and more time for you guys to enjoy interacting with other attendees.
Furthermore, after asking regular attendees, we’ve decided to lean into what people enjoy the most about the event, which is the community (not the trash). For most of you, cleaning the streets is simply an excuse for you to get out and meet some new people in an environment that isn’t a bar or a party. So let’s lean into it. We’re going to give you more opportunities to meet new people, to talk and to make friends, and that begins with the reintroduction of something we used to do (when our group was much smaller), post-event lunches!
Every month we’ll be hosting a sit-down lunch at a local restaurant to give you more time to chill with your new friends in an environment that isn’t quite so… trashy.
So hopefully this little shake-up will help you guys to get even more from this event. The next event is on Sunday, February 12.
In the meantime, here are some photos from the last SPMU of 2022!
– Matthew
