On a drizzly Saturday morning late last month, the basement of the New Paltz United Methodist Church filled with old lamps, blunt knives, malfunctioning sound mixers, and busted zippers. About a dozen volunteers welcomed the broken goods and their owners to a worldwide movement that's evangelizing new relationships between people and their things. Repair Cafes—free events where volunteers with technical know-how help neighbors fix myriad household items—are part of a new brand of anticonsumerism that's trying to offer an alternative to the mass-produced disposable goods that have dominated the global economy for the last half-century, per the AP.
Helping fuel that move to repairing, not buying, are US consumer prices, which climbed sharply again last month as the war with Iran delivered higher gasoline prices and more pain for Americans. After starting in the Netherlands with a single event in 2009, Repair Cafe has grown into a global nonprofit with more than 59,000 members, some 4,000 cafes, and close to 850,000 items fixed a year. "We need to change our mindset. We need to change the economy," Repair Cafe founder Martine Postma said. "Even if Repair Cafes can't solve the problem alone, then still they are a very clear sign that change is needed on a much higher level."
In today's modern, disposable culture, many people have lost the ability to repair household goods, a skill that was once nearly universal, says Peter Counter, an engineer who's studying Repair Cafes and working on a doctorate at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, England. Community repair is thriving, Counter says, because it's volunteers who spend their time, making it financially viable even if you need to buy spare parts. The Buy Nothing Project, "right to repair" legislation, and a growing number of tool libraries also are dedicated to repairing, trading, and giving instead of buying and selling. Started in 2013, the Buy Nothing Project maintains an app and social media presence that links people giving things away with people nearby who want them.
The "right to repair" movement wants consumers to be empowered to repair their own products instead of being forced to go to the manufacturer for tools and instructions. Meanwhile, around the US, some jurisdictions are hosting tool libraries that allow people to borrow expensive tools just like library books. In New Paltz, Bob Morton, an 82-year-old ex-IBM electrical engineer, says he enjoys using his skills to stay intellectually busy and help people. "I've been blessed to still have a brain," he says. "It's a chance to do something." More here.
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