There are 17 Global Goals set by the United Nations for 2030. Goals such as decent health services, high-quality education, clean drinking water, attainable green energy, gender equality and economic growth. 2020 data of UN shows that there are still 3.6 billion people who don’t have access to sanitary plumbing, 2.3 billion people live under conditions that are devoid of basic hygiene and 2 billion have no access to clean drinking water. These numbers are expected to rise as the effects of climate crises get more concrete.
An increasing demand for a solution
The fact that a vast number of people around the world don’t yet have access to decent living conditions is gut-wrenching, to say the least. On the contrary, individuals and societies are not even on the same page on equality, racism and discrimination. Although some of the biggest brands are taking prominent steps on social responsibility and discriminative content is regulated, the progress is quite slow. Therefore, people have to individually fight for their rights in a world where patriarchy and male hegemony are unbreakable, and the societal norms are hard to overcome.
COVID-19, which has caused many problems in the economy for both individuals and corporations, also had a negative on the gender pay gap, bringing women into the workforce and security of women. There are over 10 million girls affected by child marriages, according to UNICEF data. Approximately 137 women are killed every 24 hours by people close to them, a member of their family, or their partners.
An uprising in the metaverse
As the demand for a solution to these global issues increases, METActivists are organising uprisings in the metaverse. As the world transitions into Web 3.0, the METActivists, an NFT collection that aims to raise awareness about global issues, are hoping to last on the Ethereum blockchain. This collection with over 6,000 NFTs, contains over 400 unique messages that call for equality and justice and underline gender equality, hoping to become the voice for some of the world’s most frustrating issues.
What sets apart the NFT collection, co-founded by Onur Hakan Bal, Yiğitcan Yılmaz, Uğurcan Demir, and Mehmet Ali Ekmekçi, is its sustainable income model and its direct donation mechanism, where 15% of the income is donated to the NGOs of the community’s choice. This allows people to donate to a cause of their choice by purchasing an NFT they identify with.
“We can’t save the world but we can draw attention”
“People change their profile pictures to NFTs on social media, and there has been an incentive for that. A profile picture reaches thousands, tens of thousands of organic users. Displaying the messages that individuals identify with in their profile photos creates overall awareness, leading to “earned media”. What separates us is the way we use this “earned” media power, to announce the demands of people all over the world. An NFT bought by a single person, a demand that covers millions of people, and to be their voice… While we were thinking about how to globalise the project, our paths crossed with Chivas from the Netherlands and Macka from the USA. There are about 15 people on our team, but to us we are millions in the world.
Our only goal in the short, medium and long term is to touch the lives of as many people as we can. We know we can’t save the world but at least we can draw attention. 15% of the income of the project is allocated directly to the civil society. We will create a donation mechanism with a sustainable income model by collaborating with the three NGOs we have chosen together with the community. Web3 should benefit the world, not just micro-groups.” – Ugurcan Demir, Co-Founder of METActivists
