BEFORE2030 - A LIVABLE FUTURE For people, planet, and all life
MAKE RIGHT TO REPAIR MANDATORY
Similar to built-in obsolescence, another deliberate ploy by manufacturers to make us buy more stuff with similar environmental repercussions. However, there is a new local small business economic development opportunity with this: Repair shops, does anyone remember those? Locally I’m already doing this in the form of a ‘Repair Café.’ 4 times a year, on a weekend, about 10 of us get to use the cafeteria of a local school: toolboxes, sewing machines, soldering irons at the ready, we repair almost anything that comes through the door for free, at the amazement of those who bring their broken stuff.
Lots of people no longer know how to repair things. They’ve even been raised in a society that doesn’t repair. The Repair Café International Foundation has been trying to reverse this since 2011. Founded in the Netherlands, the movement has spread around the world.
It’s certainly a generational thing. In the 1950s, when I grew up, it was unheard of not to repair something. Then as we moved into the 1970s, I think, products were being produced in very low-income countries that for a person in an industrialized country to repair, was only a little less than buying a new one. So accelerated the throw-away-society. But by this time, we know that even if the consumer/citizen isn’t the biggest direct loser, the environment is, planetary resources are, and ultimately it degrades the human species and others ability to exist.
Manufacturers now make products that are deliberately un-repairable. So, we are going to need legislation to change this also. Unless of course, through social media and product awareness, we will also pressure companies to change, once a critical mass of people realize this necessity.
Further info:
https:/repaircafe.org
Similar to built-in obsolescence, another deliberate ploy by manufacturers to make us buy more stuff with similar environmental repercussions. However, there is a new local small business economic development opportunity with this: Repair shops, does anyone remember those? Locally I’m already doing this in the form of a ‘Repair Café.’ 4 times a year, on a weekend, about 10 of us get to use the cafeteria of a local school: toolboxes, sewing machines, soldering irons at the ready, we repair almost anything that comes through the door for free, at the amazement of those who bring their broken stuff.
Lots of people no longer know how to repair things. They’ve even been raised in a society that doesn’t repair. The Repair Café International Foundation has been trying to reverse this since 2011. Founded in the Netherlands, the movement has spread around the world.
It’s certainly a generational thing. In the 1950s, when I grew up, it was unheard of not to repair something. Then as we moved into the 1970s, I think, products were being produced in very low-income countries that for a person in an industrialized country to repair, was only a little less than buying a new one. So accelerated the throw-away-society. But by this time, we know that even if the consumer/citizen isn’t the biggest direct loser, the environment is, planetary resources are, and ultimately it degrades the human species and others ability to exist.
Manufacturers now make products that are deliberately un-repairable. So, we are going to need legislation to change this also. Unless of course, through social media and product awareness, we will also pressure companies to change, once a critical mass of people realize this necessity.
Further info:
https:/repaircafe.org
